Fish lying on bottom / swimming funny

[MotherofTchotchkes]

Hello! First of all thanks in advance for this forum existing :). I hope you may be able to help me. Little siamese fighting fish called Ninja in a small filtered tank. He has been fine in there for months and the water is fine:
pH 8 (high but consistent for the last few months)
Ammonia 0.15ppm
Nitrite 0.1ppm
Nitrate 5.0ppm (bit odd as this was 40 on 29 Dec!)

Did last change 29 Dec so due to do another today.

I am not sure what is wrong with my little guy or how to help him. He is attempting to move around with some enthusiasm but seems like a swim bladder issue maybe? He ate greedily yesterday evening and he seemed absolutely fine then. He eats individual grains hand fed from a dropper so there is no food waste in the water.

Please if anyone here is experienced with this issue, let me know any tips you have to offer! Thank you.

Personally I would be doing at least a 10% or even as much as a 25% water change a day and also not feeding him for a few days and see if it makes any difference. Don't worry he won't starve! You could also try feeding him some crushed up peas for a few days after, apparently this is good for swim bladder.

I've never had to deal with it myself but I've read this is usually what is recommended initially.

Hope he's doing better though, it's been a few days since you posted this

Thank you for your post!! You actually gave advice I found from some people I found on a gish forum after this and your advice was the right advice as he is doing a LOT better. I also learned my tank was too small! So he has a new tank too. So all this drama really paid off for him!

Glad to hear wee Ninja is on the mend! Have fun setting up his new home I'm sure he will love it! 😁