sick betta fish

My betta fish was fine before, but I just cleaned him last thursday and after he was fine, but yesterday i noticed that he was staying at the top of the bowl and sort of tilting to the almost as if he was a dead fish floating on its side. when you tap the bowl(which i know you shouldn't) he moves. He moves some but nowhere as much as he used to. He doesn't eat and it seems as if he's not using his top fin or back fin. He's making me really sad because I dont know whats wrong with him and I want to help him. There are other bettas here and the other owners said it was because he doesn't have enough oxygen so I changed his water again yesterday, but he's still the same.

Sorry to hear this. I have had bettas show that kind of behavior before too. He definitely is not feeling his best. How often do you change his water and at what temperature do you keep it? Sometime the water can make them ill. They can breath air which is why they can survive bad water longer than most fish. With bettas about half the water should be changed every week. Please keep us updated.

okay what hes got is a swim bladder dissorder cause most of the time with over feeding and stress... how much do you feed him? what size bowl is he in?

He's moving a lot better now, but he still won't eat though. I didn't want to change him again because I didn't want to stress him out more, so I dont know what else to do.

I'm guessing that it might be a half gallon huge bowl, becuase i have him here at my job so it can't be too huge. I was thinking about going a little bit bigger but he seems to have enough room because he doesn't have any plants.

What should I do about the swim bladder disorder?

2.5 gallon tanks for perfict size for an office and they look better and you can decorate it and the betta will be A LOT happyer. how offen did you clean his bowl before? and about how much did you feed him? you cant really cure a swim blader problem but it can get better sometimes on its own and most of the time its only temperary

Do you know how much the 2.5 gallon would be? Well now I know that I have to clean him at least once a week, but you know what, this is the first time that I have heard about people cleaning only some of the water not all the water. I was feeding him twice a day, three pellets. Now he's swimming on his side a little bit, but he did eat one pellet and keep it down. He did spit the pellet out then eat it again. It seems like he's hungry but can't keep the food down, but he definitely looks a lot better from when i sent that first post.

Not long ago, PETCO had a 2.5 gallon acrylic tank kit for about $30. The kit includes an under gravel filter, small air pump, hood and light. Of course, that's still a small aquarium and will need careful maintenance. The 20 or 25 percent water changes will keep the aquarium clean without producing rapid changes in water parameters. Fish can tolerate a variety of water conditions, but rapid changes can put them into shock. In addition, if you dump all the water out of the fish bowl and clean everything, you will kill the beneficial bacteria that are needed to remove the toxins produced by fish and food waste.

well what about the waste and dirt at the bottom of the bowl, or would I not have to worry about that if i got a tank with a filter?

No, you will always have to clean that, no matter what kind of filter or tank you get.

That's right. The waste at the bottom of the bowl will produce toxins like ammonia and nitrite. The bacteria that help neutralise those things live in the aquarium gravel and on plants and decorations. To learn more, use the "Site Search" button and look up nitrogen cycle.