Sick Betta

Bottom posted.
wrote:
I need some advice from you all. I've had a betta for approx. 2 years
now. A couple of months ago I moved him (along with a couple of
tetra) from a 20 gallon to a 3 gallon tank. After about 2 weeks he
started to just sit at the top of the tank and not move. I diagnosed
him with a possibly bacterial infection. I moved him into a bowl and
treated him with drops for about 12 days. After about 2 weeks, he
started swimming around and being much more active, I think moved him
back to the larger tank.

He did well for about a week or so. Now I'm noticing that he is again
sitting on a plant near the top of the tank. He is still eating and
moving around but he sinks when he tries to swim. I just feed him and
now see a white string hanging from him. Is it possible that he's had
worms this whole time? I don't feed live worms in this tank but some
of the ornaments came from a tank where I used to feed black worms.
The ornaments had been out of any water for over a year and were
rinsed before putting them in this tank.

The tetras are doing just fine and the algea eater in the tank doesn't
seem affected either. Is there anything I can do for him?

Have you thought about other medications like anti-parasitic food (jungle
brand for example, sometimes you can soak the fish's food in liquid
medications for more effectiveness of the medication when using standard
tank-applied medications)? There are a lot of things that can be tried - but
be careful, you don't want a mess or chemical soup going on and you
especially don't want to stress out your betta too much. Good luck and
later!