Hi all! I haven't been around here in ages, but I had hoped not to have to return and go straight to the emergency section. 
But I know this is the best spot to go for any questions regarding my fish, and my beloved betta, Darby O'gill is demonstrating a new strange habit, tilting to his side when he's resting at the bottom of the tank.
First though, let me give a bit of an outline about Darby's habitat. He's in a filtered 3.5g eclipse tank, gets 5 hikari pellets daily (2 in the morning, 3 at night), fasts on Sundays and on Mondays gets a microwaved, de-shelled pea to break his fast or an occasional treat of blood worms.
He gets 25% water changes weekly (aged and dechlorinated), and 100% water changes once a month or so.
I've had him since March of '07, so I'm assuming he's about 2 years old.
He's still eating like a horse, but seems to be a bit more lethargic than usual, and when he settles on the bottom of the tank, is leaning to the side.
I just did a 100% water change yesterday, and he seems very chipper this morning, although I have half a mind to think that he was just showing off to make sure I didn't declare it a swim bladder problem and decide to fast him again.
He doesn't appear to be favoring any particular side to tilt on, although if I had to hazard a guess, I would say maybe he tilts to the left more often.
Could he just be getting old and lazy? His behavior doesn't appear to have any other change aside from the tilting thing.
He certainly doesn't like it though... He's taken to propping himself up against his plant or the side of the tank to give him a counter balance.
He doesn't seem to be constipated. Although I haven't caught him in the act in a long time, I found plenty of pea green betta poos in the gravel when I did the cleaning yesterday.
He's had near constant problems with his fins since I got him (although it's never gotten as far as to look like fin rot), and I've treated him multiple times (in the past) with aquarisol, bettafix and had taken to adding a touch of aquarium salt to his water for an extra incentive to heal, although after this last water change I didn't add any salt- or anything else aside from dechlorinator.
Okay... I think that's all that I can think of.
I had one lady at Petco tell me that I was doing too frequent water changes, but I put that down as a ridiculous idea, although I did cut back from 50% water changes to 25% water changes.
I'd really appreciate some feedback if anyone has some suggestions for Darby.
But I know this is the best spot to go for any questions regarding my fish, and my beloved betta, Darby O'gill is demonstrating a new strange habit, tilting to his side when he's resting at the bottom of the tank.
First though, let me give a bit of an outline about Darby's habitat. He's in a filtered 3.5g eclipse tank, gets 5 hikari pellets daily (2 in the morning, 3 at night), fasts on Sundays and on Mondays gets a microwaved, de-shelled pea to break his fast or an occasional treat of blood worms.
He gets 25% water changes weekly (aged and dechlorinated), and 100% water changes once a month or so.
I've had him since March of '07, so I'm assuming he's about 2 years old.
He's still eating like a horse, but seems to be a bit more lethargic than usual, and when he settles on the bottom of the tank, is leaning to the side.
I just did a 100% water change yesterday, and he seems very chipper this morning, although I have half a mind to think that he was just showing off to make sure I didn't declare it a swim bladder problem and decide to fast him again.
He doesn't appear to be favoring any particular side to tilt on, although if I had to hazard a guess, I would say maybe he tilts to the left more often.
Could he just be getting old and lazy? His behavior doesn't appear to have any other change aside from the tilting thing.
He certainly doesn't like it though... He's taken to propping himself up against his plant or the side of the tank to give him a counter balance.
He doesn't seem to be constipated. Although I haven't caught him in the act in a long time, I found plenty of pea green betta poos in the gravel when I did the cleaning yesterday.
He's had near constant problems with his fins since I got him (although it's never gotten as far as to look like fin rot), and I've treated him multiple times (in the past) with aquarisol, bettafix and had taken to adding a touch of aquarium salt to his water for an extra incentive to heal, although after this last water change I didn't add any salt- or anything else aside from dechlorinator.
Okay... I think that's all that I can think of.
I had one lady at Petco tell me that I was doing too frequent water changes, but I put that down as a ridiculous idea, although I did cut back from 50% water changes to 25% water changes.
I'd really appreciate some feedback if anyone has some suggestions for Darby.
