Moved Betta to 5.5 tank now seems very sick

Hello, a few months ago I tried to transfer my Betta to a 5.5 gallon tank with a heater and filtration. He seemed stressed out and clamped his fins. So I removed him and put him back in his previous large vase and after a day he perked up and was back to his playful self. Three days ago I tried again to put him in the 5.5 (I put filter media from a cycled tank) because I thought he would be happier and healthier with more space. The first two days he was fine, puffing himself when I came to the glass and swimming around. Well all day today he just laid on the ground, the heater, the thermometer, etc. He moves very sluggishly. So again, I have moved him to a large vase. Also side note, I feel that he curves his body to look outside of the tank and it is stuck in that position. Strangely so and I don't believe he did this before. I don't understand why he seems upset in the 5.5. I am monitoring his behavior closely and his fins seem tight. He did eat a few pellets I dropped in for him. I would think that a large vase that is not cycled and not heated would be more stressful to him. Any thoughts? I just want to make him as comfortable as possible. This is unusual behavior for him and besides these mentioned symptoms, nothing else is off.

Thanks

 

What are your water parameters (ph, ammonia, nitries, nitrates) of the 5.5 gallon tank? Also did you acclimate him?

 

What are the water parameters of your 5.5?

 

thanks for the reply just checked levels.. now I am showing pH 7.6, ammonia spiked at .25, nitrite 0, nitrate between 5.0 and 10, temp is 78F.. he was acclimated, I took water from the tank and little by little added it into the large vase that he was in.

 

now my little guy seems so weak.. I don't know how to bring him back, he seems like he's not gonna make it.. hardly moving sitting on a leaf by the top of the water

 

Did you do a water change to get the ammonia down?
Any other symptoms?

 

I removed him from the 5.5 yesterday when I saw he was stressed, and put him back into what he was in before when he was active and alert.. I put him in the living room with the lights off.. he is barely responsive.. should I acclimate him and put him back in the 5.5? or will that be to stressful? I feel terrible, I thought I was doing the right thing by putting him in a bigger tank but I did something terribly wrong and his oddly shaped body has me worried he could have fishTB

 

Moving him into the bigger tank may have stressed him out a little, but he probably would of settled eventually (a day or so). Then moving him back into the vase added to the stress. Did you acclimate him back into the vase?

I'm not sure about the curved body, I don't know much about diseases. Fish TB is also pretty uncommon.

 

I'm sorry your betta is doing poorly. What else was in the 5.5G (i.e. plants, hiding places, etc)? Also, what were the water readings from the vase compared to the 5.5G? If there was too much of a pH difference, or nitrites/ammonia/temperature difference, then that could explain the decline when you moved him to a larger tank. Moving him back and forth between the two tanks if they are not cycled and with close to the same parameters might have been too much and he's really stressed now. Could he possibly have been injured during one of the moves? How old do you think he is? Just throwing things out there to think about.

 

I have java moss in the 5.5 and I have a fake plant in the vase with him that I transferred to the 5.5 as well.. I was told he was about three months when I got him in December 2015.. I looked carefully and don't see any visible injuries unless he hurt his back because he turns slightly to one side.. I believe you are right, I must have just put too much stress on him by moving him.. so far he is still alive, staying at the top of the vase.. he looks very skinny.. I tried to feed him a pellet which he didn't touch so I tried some freeze dried brine and he took two swallows and spit it out, I hope he got some in his stomach.. what are the chances of a recovery? any suggestions on any steps I can do to make him more comfortable? this is all my fault

thanks