HELP! WHAT’S WRONG WITH MY BETTA??

[Ftg2003]

Hi! I’m a new betta fish owner and my betta is acting off. I got him a little over a week ago, and since I put him in the tank, he’s been gliding along the glass and staying at the top of the water. I checked and there is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates, and the ph is about 7.4. I also have a filter, air stone, and a heater and the water is 78 degrees. After a few days of him not swimming, he began to float on his side and not eat, so I did a large water change with conditioned water. He got better and began to float upright again and even swim down a few times, but now he looks like he’s getting worse. His face scales and eyes look irritated and he’s starting to float on his side again. He also is gasping at the top of the water. I thought it was SBD but not I’m not sure. I’ll attach a few photos to show what I mean. Please help!!

 

[Sprinkle]

Water is too cold, set it 80 F (26 C). Your tank is not cycled, do 75% water change now with water conditioner to dechlorinate any new tap water and check water parameters every day and do 75% water changes whenever ammonia and nitrite levels are above 0ppm until these are 0ppm for 7 continuous days, then you will see your nitrates rising, from there you will have to do your weekly 75% water changes.

 

[NoodleCats]

78F is the minimum temperature for a betta, you are fine there.

He does look particularly thin, I would be questioning if he may have some internal parasites. These can affect eating habits and swim bladder as well.

Has he made any poops lately? Sometimes parasites show as long stringy white poops, basically the fish is passing mucus lining from the agitated digestive tract.

 

[Ftg2003]

78F is the minimum temperature for a betta, you are fine there.

He does look particularly thin, I would be questioning if he may have some internal parasites. These can affect eating habits and swim bladder as well.

Has he made any poops lately? Sometimes parasites show as long stringy white poops, basically the fish is passing mucus lining from the agitated digestive tract.

he was this thin when I bought him, so I hope I didn’t accidentally buy a fish with a parasite! His poops are fine as far as I can tell, not stringy. I think it may be the temp because even tho the heater is preset to 78, my thermometer says 76

 

[NoodleCats]

Increase it a bit more then, let the temp stay 78-82

 

[NoahLikesFish]

Yeah he looks underfed and honestly 78 isn’t minimum for betta, I have mine thriving at 74 because of how the tree canopy’s and stuff covering the pools of water making it colder