I've had my crowntail betta for about 6 months now. For the past week or so I haven't seen him, but I thought it was because he was hiding from the new sponge filter I got him for his 5 gallon tank. I finally got tired of not seeing him ever so I went into his tank and movied his decorative cave and I found him lodged underneath it. He swam out frantically and just sank to the bottom. I figured he hadn't taken any oxygen in a while so I got out my fish net to raise him higher for a little while. He took a few breaths and is breathing normally, but he keeps sinking to the bottom. Should I put him into a bowl with shallow water to make it easier for him to get to the surface? I really don't want him to die. I also have melafix in case that will make things any better.
Thank you guys so much for your answers, but he died this morning. He didn't even try to get any air and suffocated to death. I tried to raise him to see if he would do anything but he just laid there.
It's possible that he'll make a full recovery; after one of mine had a stressful encounter she kept sinking but seemed otherwise ok. It took patience but after a couple of weeks she was swimming normally. How deep is your tank? As others have been saying, it will be helpful if he has something on which he can rest and be closer to the surface. There are all kinds of tank ornaments that could help (the female I was talking about had a two column ornament that kept her close to the surface) or plants that could do the trick. If the tank is really deep consider temporarily moving him to a shallower tank.
Look for other signs of illness over the next few days. If he won't eat, that's a pretty big indicator. Loss of color would be pretty normal in this situation, so don't worry too much about that; he'll regain color. Keep aquarium salt in the water to prevent disease and as a stress reducer for him. Feed a little bit less than normal (maybe 2 pellets a day, 4-5 days a week) so that over-eating doesn't become another bane to his health.
Melafix is for healing fins and such, so only use that if he has cuts that need healing. I think all that you need in terms of meds is aquarium salt for now. In the future, check on him if you haven't seen him all day and not after five days, though you did a good job to raise him to the surface. That could have saved his life. Oh, and make sure the temperature is nice and warm. Hope this helps!
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