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And I do mean think. There's nothing completely obvious, but we've been together a year now, and he's not acting normal.

About a week ago I overfed him. I know, it was really stupid of me, but it was way late at night, and he was begging for food. I dumped a little too much Betta Bio-Gold into the tanka and said screw it, the snail will get whatever falls. Only I think the betta ate all of it. The next morning he was bloated and constipated. I held off feeding him for two days, and the constipation passed.

Only his scales are still pineconed like he's bloated. He's active and eating (only two pellets a day, just in case it's due to overfeeding). But he won't move away from the front of the tank. Normally he hangs out in his castle most of the day. He also just started jumping around tonight. He's not using his right fin so much, and when he does, he jumps like it's hurting him.

I don't know if this is just something that will pass or if it's a sign of something being really wrong. (My best friend lost one of hers this week, and I'm probably just paranoid.)

He's in a 5-gallon tank with heater and filter. It's still cycling (I tried unseccessfully to get rid of a major algea problem last month), and 1/4 of the water is getting changed every 4 days.

Help and input is greatly appreciated!

What are the water perameters like? Its possible that there may have been an ammonia spike, that would certainly lead to jumping, constipation bad enough to cause pineconing of the scales would probably cause so much damage to the internal organs the fish would have died quite quickly, probably falling to reduced organ function and necrotic tissue damage, so to me at least it sounds like you might have triggered a bout of dropsy.

Id seriously clean the tank up and see if things improve. Dropsy isnt always a fatal condition, being that occasionally its triggered by overfeeding and adverse water conditions , and fades back to normality once this has been rectified. If the fish has suffered an organ failure particularly in the renal system the consequences are much more serious. If constipation is the root cause you can try offering blanched peas as a feeding alternative, and most commercial wormers will often cause an almost immediate purge.

The loss of use in the right fin is a bit worrying though, and probably a sign that the fish is weakening, so its probably worth trying a few things rather than waiting for it to get worse, sometimes a slight sign of unwellness is all the warning you get.

I keep the tank spotless and change the water twice a week. I also test the water right before I change it. It's all been fine, just some algae problems.

I came home from work yesterday and all of his color came back plus some! I hadn't even realized how pale he'd been this past week.

I don't think he's out of the woods yet, but I'm not as worried as I have been. He's still having some problems swimming, though. It seems to be along his right side, and not just his right fin. He can get air at the top of the just fine, and he has no problems chasing after food.

Thanks for the advice, longharedgit!