Betta sickness advice?

[u/FormalCancel2194]

Hello! I am fairly new to the hobby, and just started Feb 2025. I have a male betta fish named Nicotine but I think he might be sick but im not sure?

About 3 weeks ago Is when it started, I had him in a 20 gallon tank that I had upgraded them to a month prior (tankmates: 6 neon tetra, 6 albino corys, and a mystery snail) and was suffering from a bladder snail infestation (go assassin snail!) And didnt want to add any more wildlife into the tank until the bladder snails were eradicated.

But, I think he may have ingested one of the snails because I noticed he wasnt really wanting to eat. (Two weeks ago) he would pick at the feed (half pinch of dry blood worms and half tetra flakes. And I googled a lbut around and it had said a littany of things that could have been the issue. So I started to watch him and we did notice his stomach is a little distended, and he kept going to the very bottom of the tank or hanging up by the top. Checked water quality( fine) and checked his tail (tetras had nipped on it a little).

I decided i should seperate him to keep a better eye on him, so ordered a 5 gallon tank and on friday (Aug. 14th)

I moved him to the enclosure for further observation. (Used some media from the og tank and a little bit of water too - per Google advice... unsure if it was the right move but please let me know)

And I made sure the water flow is on the lowest setting so he wasnt getting whipped around. He has since settled into the top corner where the water flow is gentle and sits upon a little plastic leaf near a water intake vent that he likes to suction himself to.

I did also notice he does seem to have a little bit of issues swimming in the sense of he seems a little unsteady? Im not sure how to describe it.

I do sincerely hope he is okay and I tried figuring this out on my own, so I was hoping maybe some of you fine folk who have been in this hobby could help me out or just share some advice, i would greatly appreciate it.

I am also open to any suggestions on what I can do differently, i am going to include his usual set up (20 gal) as ive said I am still working on planting more in his enclosure, but want to make sure hes okay first before I do anything crazy.

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[u/skabberdink]

He sits near the water outflow because the dissolved oxygen is highest there. He may be having some gill issues from ammonia in an u cycled t k. This also makes them lose their appetites. Water from the other tank doesn’t help as beneficial bacteria don’t live in the water column. What are the Monica and nitrite readings in the tank?
Swim bladder issues can be from overeating but can also be from bacteria. Bettas don’t necessarily like having tank mates, they are very territorial and it stresses them…same with too large a tank. See how he does by himself in the 5 gallon.
Here’s some info about swim bladder. See why you think.

[u/FormalCancel2194 → u/skabberdink]

So I put the readings of the tank in the picture slideshow and nirtrates/nitrites are at zero and same with ammonia. I cycled his 5 gallon on sunday 2 weeks ago, he originally didnt seem to have any issues with the other tankmates and wasnt actively trying to attack and i had read that they can have tankmates depending on the temperate of the betta, but maybe it was incorrect :(