I think Niles has epilepsy

He had some kind of weird attack this morning after I fed him breakfast. He just blanked out and floated downward, without moving his fins, like he had suddenly died. His chin hit the side of the tank and his tail was propped up in the gravel. He just stayed like that for about 5 seconds even though I tapped and called to him. I was so freaked out! I thought he was dead and then he just "woke up" and started swimming around like nothing was wrong.   ???  All I can think is that this was some sort of absent seizure. Apparently fish can and do have epilepsy. Hopefully he won't drown if he has a seizure and doesn't come out of it fast enough. Maybe like people with epilepsy he can still live a relatively normal life.  I didn't know what else to do for him so I did a water change. It always perks up my fish when they get a water change.

 

I had a betta in college that would go into "fits" where he would spaz out. I thought he was having seizures too. He was normal otherwise, so I think he will be ok. There isn't really anything you can do, I don't think.

 

poor Niles!

you might consider additional aeration (at a low flow) for Niles to decrease the chance of him drowning. Hopefully if he has any more attacks like that, they'll be as short. I think that's about all you can do for him. are you currently giving him any vitamins, like vitachem?

 

I don't have any vitachem yet but will be ordering some soon as well as BettaSpa and other stuff. I gave him a big water change and I always use NovAqua+ as the water conditioner. He'll be moving to the Hex tank soon and I have an extra Vitamin Pyramid which I'll put it for him. They are messy to use but really seem to perk up my fish when I do use it. The VitaChem will probably have the same effect but without the mess.
The Hex tank has an airstone. The tank he's in now is too small for an airstone. The filter uses an airpump to push water up the intake tube so it aerates the water very well.

 

Sounds good. I hope that if you're ordering from DFS that they ship your order as fast as ours - 3 days.. I was pleasantly surprised. although I had to email them because the bottle of Prime leaked about 1/4 of it's contents into the box.

Best of luck with Niles and I do hope he has no more episodes like that. It sounds just like the 'swoon' that a male can actually cause to himself during the mating process. ???