Betta Is Lethargic, Curved Spine/bloated Abdomen, Inflamed Gill?

Hey all! I have a male veil tail betta named Swim Shady and he's been with me for a little under a year. He was the scrappy guy at the LFS. He's been doing well since I got him about 11 months ago but he's always been super peaceful and kinda lethargic.

Before this he was in my "community" tank with a single platy and her fry (Bill Nye the Science Fry) but I removed him earlier when I noticed he was laying on the bottom of the tank not moving.

The ammonia is 0, nitrite and nitrate 0, and the rest of the water parameters are okay. Temperature around 80 degrees although that is a decrease from the past week in which it was holding around 82-84 because it's summer and I don't have central air.

Anyway, today I came home and noticed him laying there and immediately put him into a (very*) small isolation tank and dropped two pellets in. He didn't budge. I slowly warmed the water up a degree to around 81, didn't budge. Now he's still laying there, not budging, but not gasping for air or anything. I lowered the water level to half so in case he has swim bladder he can get air.

However, besides the lethargy and the not eating, I've noticed he has a rather curved spine, which seems new? By curved I mean that his body/abdomen dips in toward the center and kinks toward exactly where the swim bladder would be. Would that be a spinal issue or swim bladder? Holding a light up to it shows his swim bladder very well, but I know you can sometimes see it coming out on a normal betta. He is floating ever so slightly tilted, but I've seen betta at my pet store I work at like that when they have a genetically curved spine.





Lastly, he's had this inflamed gill for what seems like a month now and to no avail can I cure it. I've tried aquarium salt, water changed ~2 days, everything. It's just one. Almost looks... prolapsed.





Do any of these things strike anyone as... (I hate to say it) fishy? I read about fish TB but I'm trying not to diagnose that before something else. He doesn't have any white lesions, but he has lost a lot of his color in the past month. But he's also over a year old.

Pictures attached include his tilt, spine viewed from above, and several of his gill. Those are the best quality I can get, but I think they do enough.

Please help my little guy.

 

Welcome to the forum, sorry it's under these conditions.

Honestly the first thing that popped into my head on reading your description was TB. I'd also double check the nitrates because some of his symptoms sound like nitrate poisoning. Have you ever had a nitrate reading? Do you shake the heck out of nitrate test bottle #2?

 

Sorry he's having trouble- love his name. Is the Platy still healthy? Is so, that would seem to rule out any highly communicable disease. I think he might need a bigger 'isolation tank' if you're going to keep him in for any length of time. I normally think fresh water is the way to go, but if he doesn't perk up after a couple of twice daily 50% plus changes, it might be time to try something like BettaFix, after reading up on it and watching for the adverse reactions it can have.

 

I would far rather try Betta Revive than Bettafix, which contains melaleuca oil and has been proven to cure nothing.

 

I would far rather try Betta Revive than Bettafix, which contains melaleuca oil and has been proven to cure nothing.

I have no experience with either. I know some people swear by Bettafix, others swear at it, so if you've used Betta Revive with success I bow to superior knowledge. From the looks of that fish I think whatever is tried will be a last ditch effort, but Bettas are pretty tough fish that can survive in ditches, so who knows, maybe it'll pull through.

 

Have you ever had a nitrate reading? Do you shake the heck out of nitrate test bottle #2?

I did another test tonight after work and my nitrate did show a low reading, but everything else remained the same. As of right now his spine isn't as curved or his abdomen isn't as bloated and he's definitely less lethargic. Swimming more toward the top than the bottom now!

Is the Platy still healthy? Is so, that would seem to rule out any highly communicable disease.

Yes- the platy and fry are still healthy!

Currently he's in a 2.5 gal isolation tank (the best I can afford until next pay day, bad fish mom) with a heater and filter and he perked up. I bought some silk plants for him to rest on in case he has issues with the current (doesn't seem like it though) or it's still swim bladder. I plan to continue to fast him for two more days and feed him a boiled pea- just in case. For right now the water changes seem to be doing no harm or help.

Does anyone happen to know what's wrong with his gill though? Could it be a tumor? I know betta's have labyrinth organs and their gill usage is around 20% or so, so could it be a tumor and the reason he's not more ill (from just that) is the air breathing stuff? Is it even possible for a betta gill to become prolapsed? Am I a horrible fish mother?

For clarification, here are some (hopefully) better s of him under the light. He's also attempting to gobble up a leaf from a live plant I have in the community tank that got transferred into the iso tank as we speak, so his appetite is back