I rescued a Betta today and when we took it out of the tank it was hiding in an ornament and we actually thought it was dead as it had apparently been in there since yesterday without moving. When I put it into a bucket it just laid there like nothing happened. When we got it home and put it in the tank it continued just laying there. Now it looks a little better it's still not really moving , occasionally it goes up to the top of the tank and then back down to lay on the bottom.
When it does swim it looks almost like it's carrying a weight and can't stay up, it's definitely not leaning to one side but I don't know if his trouble swimming is due to a swim bladder problem or just straight lethargy from the stress of it's life the past few months/since he was put in that tank -.-
I got it from a tank that probably hadn't had a water change in 3 months since the last time when the person responsible for the tank claimed it had sprung a leak and the betta had to share a 5 gallon hospital tank with its tankmates; a fantail and comet for about a week -.-
I have no idea if there was any fighting between the fish it had been in that tank for over a year (probably something like 2 years so I don't think that was an issue).
So from that I can assume the water quality was terrible, also the water temperature was at 20C (68F) and it probably has been like that since about November last year and every summer since it was put in the tank, if not all the time (it was in an air conditioned room with no heater).
We've moved it to a cycled 5 gallon tank with a heater (we eased it into the water over about an hour)
There doesn't seem to be any disease or wounds on him the only problem is lethargy and his ability to swim - and he's not terribly interested in eating since he won't move.
So long story short: Is he just going to need time to recover or does he have a swim bladder problem and what should I do to make it easier for him / fix the problem?
P.S the Fantail apparently died and the Comet was moved to a pond; the tank was cleaned and restocked and is now being looked after by someone who'll actually look after it
When it does swim it looks almost like it's carrying a weight and can't stay up, it's definitely not leaning to one side but I don't know if his trouble swimming is due to a swim bladder problem or just straight lethargy from the stress of it's life the past few months/since he was put in that tank -.-
I got it from a tank that probably hadn't had a water change in 3 months since the last time when the person responsible for the tank claimed it had sprung a leak and the betta had to share a 5 gallon hospital tank with its tankmates; a fantail and comet for about a week -.-
I have no idea if there was any fighting between the fish it had been in that tank for over a year (probably something like 2 years so I don't think that was an issue).
So from that I can assume the water quality was terrible, also the water temperature was at 20C (68F) and it probably has been like that since about November last year and every summer since it was put in the tank, if not all the time (it was in an air conditioned room with no heater).
We've moved it to a cycled 5 gallon tank with a heater (we eased it into the water over about an hour)
There doesn't seem to be any disease or wounds on him the only problem is lethargy and his ability to swim - and he's not terribly interested in eating since he won't move.
So long story short: Is he just going to need time to recover or does he have a swim bladder problem and what should I do to make it easier for him / fix the problem?
P.S the Fantail apparently died and the Comet was moved to a pond; the tank was cleaned and restocked and is now being looked after by someone who'll actually look after it
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