Sick Betta Question

Hi Everyone,
I have had my betta for a month now his name is chief, he has had bloating for about week now but is showing no signs of pineconeing. I have him in a 2.5 gallon filtered and heated tank. I realized he was quite bloated one morning and floating on his side at the top. he has been floating for about a week now, I fasted him for a couple of days and gave him a pea after about 2 days fed him a pellet the next day and he has been fasting for 3 days because the pellet seemed to worsen the bloating. I have caught him in the act of pooping at least twice this week and both times I saw it he seemed to "fart" bubbles came from his anus and the bloating significantly subsided(visible change within 3 minutes of seeing the fart and about 6 bubbles of air from his anus(even Shrek would be impressed)). although he has been fasting and pooping the bloating seems to increase.could he be swallowing air causing him to bloat? I am really confused as to what this could be or what treatments to try because I suspected if this is constipation the bloating would have gone away with the poop. I know his dive bladder is affected by whatever he has and he looks fairly uncomfortable with the bloating. I have dried daphnia on the way tomorrow which will hopefully help. he is also really lethargic he rests on his plants almost all day. and doesn't have loss of appetite(gobbled up the pieces of pea I gave him ). any help or similar situations would be greatly appreciated as I am not really able to tell if this is still a constipation issue or something worse. I would hate to see him go he's a very pretty(i think he's young) boy.
Thanks!

 

i hope he gets better! i don't really know what could help.

 

I think it's unlikely that swallowed air could cause bloat, but a more experienced member may have more info on that. It sounds to me like he may have some kind of swim bladder problem, because I've generally found that severe bloating and lying on the side happens over time. Try fasting him for a day or two to see if the bloating gets a little better as I've heard that helps. Avoid filler foods that could cause even more bloat. Try to feed him a crushed pea without the skin once or twice a week. Hope this helps!

 

Thanks the floating on the side happened over night actually. there was one day about 2 days after i noticed the bloating where he was able to swim normally for about an hour but then the bloating came back . I have read through many forum posts but whatever it is doesn't quite seem to fit constipation because he has pooped multiple times. I have to note when he's swimming he's upright but when he takes a break at the top he leans over. I'll keep investigating!

 

Can you organize and fill in more information with this please: Fish Emergency Template We definitely do need pictures to see what's going on with him. He does have some sort of swim bladder related issue. Is it only from when he eats the pellets?

 

Tank

What is the water volume of the tank?
2.5 gal
How long has the tank been running?
the tank has only been running about a month this is my first pet
Does it have a filter?
yes
Does it have a heater?
yes
What is the water temperature?
generally around 24-26 degrees celsius
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
just chief

Maintenance
How often do you change the water?
every week and a half or so and add water when it evaporates
How much of the water do you change?
about a quarter
What do you use to treat your water?
topfin betta water conditioner
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water?
water

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish?
no
What do you use to test the water?
i dont have a test kit but could try to pick one up or bring some water to the store to get tested
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
i dont know
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? before he became sick about 3 pellets a day(i now realize this is a bit too much)
How much do you feed your fish?
What brand of food do you feed your fish?
aqueon betta food but I ordered Hikari pellets that are on the way
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods?
freeze dried

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish?
about a month
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms?
a week ago
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms?
-bloating (for about a week)
-floating (for about a week)
- today his poo was kind of white and stringy but before his poo looked like the pea I fed him

Have you started any treatment for the illness?
I have been treating for constipation mostly to see if the bloating goes down I have given a couple of Epsom salt baths as well to see if that helped
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase?
no he was not he swam around very happily for about 3 weeks and I woke up and he looked very bloated and was floating
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all?
his behavior is lathargic he floats at the top
his poops are pretty inconsistent some look like pellet and some look like pieces of pea and this morning one looks kind of stringy

 

this is also an image of what he looked like just before he started floating.