betta question?

Question

my friend at my job has a betta and he is floating on top of his fish bowl on his side. looks odd. my friend is out of the office till tomorrow. is there something wrong. i told her (my friend)
the water she put has too many chemicals. i told her use spring water. ANy suggestions.

it is till alive

it is alive still. he floats around when i tap on bowl

Answer 1

My fish has just started doing that a while ago. He's pretty old, but I always tap on the tank just to make sure he's alright. He swims around and floats and sleeps on his side at the top of the tank. It is rather strange looking, but he's fine. I use regular drinking water. I've never used tap water. Your friend's betta may be very old. But I don't think there's anything wrong.

Answer 2

If he is not showing any lethargy, discolouration or clamped fins, he's probably just sleeping that way.

Check to see if his belly is swollen and bloated, or if he is trying to swim to the bottom of the bowl but keeps floating back up. If this is the case, he is constipated. Fast him for a couple of days. Then, put a frozen pea (not canned or fresh) into a dish of tank water and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Shell the pea, mash it up and feed the betta about a quarter of the pea. Then fast for another 3 days.

The pea will act as fiber and cleanse out your fish's digestive system. What has happened is that your fish has been overfed, resulting in excess gas in his swim bladder. To avoid this, be careful not to overfeed. Bettas have stomachs the size of their eyes and can go up to a week without food unharmed. I feed my bettas only 3 pellets a day and have not had this problem.

By the way, I do hope your friend's bowl is at least 2 gallons in size, and that she is dechlorinating the water she uses with water conditioner.

Answer 3

Cutie,

My Betta does that from time to time. I'd swear that fish is dead. Sometimes he chases the white clouds around, sometimes I find him face down in the gravel and fins all over the place. Unless you see some discoloration on him I wouldn't stress it too much. Betta's are very hardy fish. I don't know about spring water either, because you have to consider the temp differential. As long as its not extreme, and you make sure the water is dechlorinated, just change out that water daily. The Betta should also be in a filtered tank and not a bowl.

JV

Answer 4

Bettas in a bowl don't live as long as in a tank, but if you want to save it, do the following!!!!!


Get a 2.5 gallon tank with filter and heater, put washed gravel in there, a real plant (bettas love plants to rest on), fill the tank up with water and put waterconditioner as directed in there
Let it stand for about 2 hours, then take your betta and put it in a plastic bag, like when you buy them, and put the bag in your tank for at least 30 min that your betta can acclimate to the new temperatures

you will need your temperture between 76-82 degrees, so you also need to get a thermometer for aquariums

you're going to see that your betta is going to swim around and be happy and healthy
Also buy a small gravel siphon that you can do partial waterchanges of 25% once a week
You also need to turn off the light at night for 12-14 hours and leave it on for 10-12 hours during the day, a timer would take care of that
You can use tap water, but don't forget to put the conditioner in it
Regards the water heater, it takes about 24 hours to adjust, so if your water temp is to high the next day, you have to turn it down a bit, and repeat that until the temperature is the way it's suppose to be


Hope that helps
Good luck


EB

Answer 5

if she uses regular tap water she needs to use a conditioner that will take the chlorine and other chemicals out of the water. Tap water is just fine as long as you use a conditioner. Otherwise, the water will kill the fish.

Answer 6

He's dead, most freshwater fish thrive in different kinds of water, their pH levels and ammonia levels must be just right. Regular tap water has so many chemicals added to it, it might be time to visit the shop where the fish was bought and ask what the perfect levels are.

Answer 7

bettas normally have their own little way to sleep, or rest. I have a betta and all he does is sleep on the bottom of the tank. He normally stays there for hours. When I first got him, I thought he was dead, but he moved right away when I tapped on the tank. They are supposed to live for many years, but some just get unlucky.

Answer 8

Well, here goes...If you use tap water you should use a conditioner but there is a downfall - Betta tanks are usually so small the conditioner is usually used to treat 1 gallon of water or more. So, it is way safer to just use Spring or filtered water.
I use tap water (w/out conditioner) for my fish and have no problems. I would also ask myself how old the fish is and how long she has had it. Bettas normally don't have long lives especially if they are not active. They need to have another Betta to "fight" If she just got the fish it could be stressed.

Answer 9

Run to any pet store, buy a water dechlorinator like "Amquel+" by Kordon, and poor a capful into the water. If that doesn't help, there is nothing you can do. Make sure your friend wants you to add the dechlorinator before buying it.

Nosoop4u

Answer 10

i use to have a betta and when mine died it was on it's side so sorry to say it's dead but you buy another one. i know it's not the same as the old one but it's a new fish.