Lying on bottom of tank...

[cerulean]

zigzag is lying on the bottom of his tank next to the decoration all day. he's breathing but he doesn't want to come out, even offered food. usually he'll eat all he can immediately. seems to be hiding (usually he is very active and not shy) or sick? he's in a cycled 5 gallon tank w/filter, heater, light, plants and i tested the water parameters and they are all normal, water doesn't need to be changed. he's been in the tank about 9 months. he seemed fine yesterday, fins looked fine then, no spots dots or nothing weird that i noticed. can't really tell today because he's laying down up against the decoration...the only thing new is we put in a snail last week to help clean the algae in the tank - it's about 5 feet to the side of a bright window so it does get a bit dirty. the light is off and we're trying to let him be in case something just scared him. could it be the snail? any ideas?

 

[RandomWiktor]

What is the current temp in your tank? When my betta Dickey gets too hot, he acts like that.

 

[cerulean]

it's 78 right now so it should be fine. the heat has been steady in the house. he did just eat a little, maybe something just scared him.

 

[SRC]

Maybe add some salt (1tsp to 1 gallon water) and see if that perks him up a bit? And maybe raise the temp to 80*..I know all of mine much prefer 80 over anything lower...otherwise they get a lil sluggish.

 

[BettaMomma]

He could be terrified of that little "decoration" that's moving around in his tank (i.e. the snail.)

My fish was acting like this one day, and I could NOT figure out why. He hid in the back on the bottom of the tank like he was terrified. I was convinced he was dying, but had no idea why.

Lo and behold, later that day I grabbed our camera (with a big ol' lens staring him in the face) from near his tank and he was pretty much instantaneously back to normal.

That's not to say that there is not something wrong with your little guy, just keep an eye on him and watch for stuff like color loss, rapid breathing, darting and scratching. He should perk up within a few days to a week - he's probably just scared of mr. snail.

You might consider getting him a little hidey-thing like a piece of pvc pipe so he feels safer in the tank - i just decided i'm going to get some of that for my fishies and see how they like it.

Good luck!