My friend Cindy brought in her two female bettas today because her cat has been causing problems and has already killed one and she's afraid for the other two so she is giving them to me. One of them seems fine, but the other is having trouble staying upright. She is floating near the bottom nose down. She does swim to the top for air and she tries to right herself but then she gets tired I guess and just floats nose down near the bottom.

I've never had one with swim bladder, but this doesn't seem to follow what I've read about it. She doesn't have any apparent external injuries, but I don't know if the cat could have injured her when he killed her tankmate or if he just stressed her out. I need some help here with diagnosis and treatment.

Thanks.

It sounds like it could still be swimbladder related.
Does her belly looked swelled up at all?

No, she actually looks a little skinny. Not bad, but Cindy said that before last night she hadn't eaten for four days. I put a couple of drops of Blackwater Extract in her water, but nothing else so far, and she seems like she perks up for a few minutes and swims around. Then she goes back down to the bottom and rests.

It definitely sounds like she's going in the right direction and she certainly is going to the right place :)

The BWE will help her calm down and being in a stable place with no big ol' kitties coming after he should help. Keep us posted - give her a couple of days.

Will do.

Bless her little heart, I keep peeking in the side of the pitcher at her and she's started swimming over to me when I do. :wub:

She's attached to you already. :hug:

Oh, this is not good!! She just went down to the bottom and she's gasping pretty hard. There may be more wrong than I first realized. I'm getting really worried. She's been like this for a couple of minutes now.

Hmm.
Did you put her in new water when she got to you?
Or is she still in what she came in?

She's in the same water right now that Cindy brought her in. I didn't want to change her here at work and then again when I got home to have to acclimate her twice as stressed as she is. All I did was add two drops of BWE early this morning. She's made it back up to the top a couple of times, but she's struggling. The other girl seems to be trying to help her. The sick one was actually laying across the back of the blue girl up at the top of the water and the blue girl was steady like she was trying to hold her up there. Strange I know. :dunno:

Oh, how sweet.
I guess as soon as you get home just give her that water change, a lot of times that will perk them up. You already know I'm sure to give her some soft plants to lay on up by the top - all that should help her out.

Hoping for the best for her.

Well, I got her home last night and after I let them rest for a while I acclimated them very slowly over about two hours. I did put a plant in there for her, and a thermometer so they don't get too cold. She chose the thermometer. She seems to be loosing some of the gray, but she is just so still right now that I can barely tell she's alive. I don't know if that's better than gasping at the bottom or not. If I bother her too much she swims off, but she just seems to want to rest on the thermometer right now. The other girl, Jazz, is doing fine. Once I could see them better, she is a really pretty turquoise and Miss Jackie, the sick girl, is not really cambodian, she's more red. I'm going to keep them together for the time being since I'm not medicating and they seem to be devoted to each other. I put some BWE, a pinch of aquarium salt and stress coat in the water. I'm just going to keep and eye on them over the next few days and see what happens.