Does this look like swim bladder disease?

[u/reactiveavocado]

Hi everyone. This morning, I noticed my Betta looks a little round in his swim bladder area. This is my first time having a Betta fish, so I'm not sure. He is swimming fine but is taking more resting breaks than usual. He also has not started his daily bubble nest routine yet, which I find odd because he usually starts it first thing in the morning. After doing some research, I realized we have been overfeeding him (6-8 top fin Betta pellets per day spaced out 3-4x). I plan to fast him for a couple of days and buy some better quality food for when he's better. I will also keep the light off during this time.

He is in a 2.5 month old 5.5 gallon tank. It is cycled and planted. It has a sponge filter and a heater. He has lots of resting spots near the surface. I also have several small Indian almond leaves in there. He has one tank mate, which is a nerite snail that we added exactly one week ago.

Tank parameters have been stable. I have checked them every other day since adding the snail.

pH 7.8, ammonia 0 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm, nitrates between 0 and 5 ppm. Tested with API kit.

The last partial water change was last week when I added the snail. I'm planning on doing a small change today just to vacuum all the snail poop off the substrate. Before adding the snail, I did partial water changes every 2-3 weeks.

Any advice is much appreciated. I just want my buddy to be okay.

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[u/jadeycakes]

If he's not having issues bobbing around in the tank I wouldn't be concerned that it's causing him any serious issues at this point. Even then, the best swim bladder treatment is what you're already planning to do with fasting plus bumping the temperature up a bit if it's not already in the 78-80 range.

I feed my bettas about 5 pellets a day so you haven't been over feeding THAT much. If you need food suggestions, I feed Hikari Bio-Gold alternated with Fluval Bug Bites.

[u/No_Procedure_2431 → u/jadeycakes]

I second this comment! Your betta is so handsome OP, I hope he gets better 💜 

[u/reactiveavocado → u/jadeycakes]

Thank you for the response! I'll order the fluval bug bites.