so this evening i noticed the wife's beta acting strange. swimming up vertically, then sinking to the bottom. we changed his water thinking it might be bad water, but he just lays at the bottom. his gills are still moving, and he moves a little about every 5-10 minutes. it looks like he's trying to pull out of it, but i'm not getting my hopes up and the wife's upset about it. is there anything that we can try or try in the future if he doesn't make it??

As Fishyfins has said we need the details of the tank size, filtration, age, occupants and wether the tank has been cycled or not. Also we need the results from a set of water tests (pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate).

Most health-related problems in fish are caused by the water quality. If you don't have a test kit then take a sample of the water to a reputable aquatic store for testing.