# Help! My betta is just floating near the top...



## emirald56 (Jan 3, 2011)

I've had my betta for almost a year, and I've never seen him do this before. Usually he's very active, and he likes to sleep near the bottom of his tank behind a fake plant, so when he started floating near the top of the tank yesterday I started worrying.

He lives in a 2 gallon tank with no filter system, but I change and treat all the water on a weekly basis. He's also got a heater in his tank. He eats a lot, I feed him those betta pellets once or twice a day and he always eats all that I give him (10-15 pellets). He stopped seeming interested in his food about four days ago, but still ate a little.

Since yesterday he's just been floating near the top of his tank, with his mouth at the surface. He is breathing, but doesn't move much. I changed all his water today, but it didn't seem to help. It also looks like the area right under his head is englarged, but he's a large fish already, so it's hard to tell.

Any suggestions/ideas are very appreciated! Thanks!

Nicole


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## fredythefish (Nov 29, 2010)

"He eats a lot, I feed him those betta pellets once or twice a day and he always eats all that I give him (10-15 pellets)."

^^^^ 10-15 pellets A DAY?!?! woah, that's toooo much. :-?

please fill out this form and post back here. http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=49233


my first question is though, how warm is his tank?


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## Creat (Dec 6, 2010)

Yeah your overfeeding the guy most likely and his is probably bloated or has swim bladder disorder. Betta's stomachs are the size of their eye, so one or 2 pellets is sufficent for them. Hold off on feeding him for a while. He probably has a block in his digestion and thats why he is floating you cant feed him until it passes. Also heat up the tank to about 80* it helps them usually and also if he is bloated or has SBD epsom salt will help him 1 tsp/gallon. But more info and pictures usually help.


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## ANHEL123 (Jul 21, 2010)

U definitely overfeed him. One time one of my friend did it. I took betta home to watch him. He had the same as ur fish enlarged area under his head. He refused to eat for about 4-5 days. I think on day 5 he started eat a little bit. And i gave him a few dried blood warms. I started with a little bit. He didn’t have any other symptoms. And i think only on day 4 his stomach got smaller.

I think even 6 pellets at once it too much. I feed my bettas 2 pellets in the morning and 2 pellets at night. And i also give them dried frozen blood worms 3 times a wk between pellets. Betta love to eat, they probably will eat until they get sick.

I don’t know if it can lead to something else like swim bladder disorder but my friend’s fish may be lucky that he recovered without any side effects.

I


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## ANHEL123 (Jul 21, 2010)

I tried to think what happened to my friend fish and I just realized he didn’t floated on the top or swim on the side. Just that enlarged area under his head that only symptom he had. I don't want to mislead to wrong decision.


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