Betta Bloat

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madcurlyq

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Jun 25, 2011
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I have been doing a lot of traveling lately and about 4 days ago I left my 2 betta fish for 2 days. I left them with the lights off. When I got back one of my betta fish had a very hunched back and a very swollen belly. He was floating at the top and seem to struggle to get down so I instantaneously thought that he had a swim bladder problem. Many people say that when they have a swim bladder problem the struggle is feeding them so I fed him and he seemed to readily want to eat. After I frantically fed him I looked up what was wrong with him. It said the cause was probably constipation from overfeeding which did not make sense as I had been traveling for the last four or five days. I knew I would be having to leave again for another two days so I put in the general medication I had. I left the light on this time. When I got back he seemed to be looking better. A little less of a hunch and a little less struggle to swim,bit still not good. Although I know I probably shouldn't have fed him I did it again and I also put in more of the medicine. Here are some pictures of him in the tank which is a 2.5 gallon. I did a water change probably a week ago. In the photos are current pictures of him and all of the products I use on the tank.
 

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Have you tried a blanched pea? If he's constipated the pea should help him.

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon boraras , red longfin bristlenose, bamboo shrimp, crs,rcs and different snails.
 
I didn't do that yet, but I just woke up and found a string of poop attached to him.

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Hopefully his stomach should look and feel better :)

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon boraras , red longfin bristlenose, bamboo shrimp, crs,rcs and different snails.
7 gallon halfmoon betta and red ramshorn.
 
I did feed him a pea he ate a little bit. He's gradually starting to look more normal, but he is still floating.

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I wouldn't feed him anything else and hopefully the pea will help. I know you can use Epsom salt for bloat but since I've not done that personally I can't advise you on how much etc sorry. There should be people on here that can help.

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon boraras , red longfin bristlenose, bamboo shrimp, crs,rcs and different snails.
7 gallon halfmoon betta and red ramshorn.
 
I fed him the pea. Now he looks more bloated. So I removed the substrate to see if there's any action.

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I wouldn't feed him the pea more than once, especially if it was starting to move his bowels or he could block up again.
One day a week I always fed my bettas a part of a blanched pea and
nothing else to help him clean out.
Keep an eye on him hopefully he'll start moving again. If not then maybe the Epsom salt might be the next step.

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon boraras , red longfin bristlenose, bamboo shrimp, crs,rcs and different snails.
7 gallon halfmoon betta and red ramshorn.
 
I just gave him a salt bath. He isn't looking so hot.

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That's not good, was it Epsom salt you used? How much did you add?

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon boraras , red longfin bristlenose, bamboo shrimp, crs,rcs and different snails.
7 gallon halfmoon betta and red ramshorn.
 
1 tablespoon to one gallon for 10 minutes. He didn't look good before hand. Now he's acting the same (bad) but pooping a little.

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Hi.

Is his poop white or clear and stringy? Most poop is string-like because of course it is poo. But if it looks stringy and clear or white, he may have internal parasites.

What are the water parameters, like Ammonia, NitrIte & Nitrate???

Having very clean water is also a huge help in any illness or health concern.

Back to the Epsom Salt as mentioned by shellyx.

If your tank is a 5G you can mix 5 tsp. (or 1 tsp per gallon) of pure Epsom Salts, (no additives) Found in most grocery stores and all pharmacies.

You can melt it into hot water, add cool water and add water conditioner when tank temp. (Using a separate jar/ container). Add 1/3 into the water, then say 4-8 hours later add another 1/3, and then the same after another 4-8 hours.

If he seems really bad off as in the verge of death, you could do it more quickly. Say 1/3rd, then in an hour 1/3rd and then another hour 1/3rd.

See how he is doing. This is not going to hurt him and if it seems that with clean water and the ES he seems to be looking better, then good.

You can "up" the amount of Epsom salts from then on, say change one gallon each day pwc and use a concentrate of say 2 cups water (one C. hot and 1 C. cool as mentioned above with water conditioner to make concentrate) to 4 Tablespoons of epsom salts, then use 1/4 of the concentrate each pwc (or each gallon).

This dose of 1T per G can be used for 1-2 weeks, then reduced if the fish is better by using a 1 tsp to a gallon concentrate.

I have had a couple Betta which were just always susceptible / frequently bloated and had to just keep him in a 1 tsp mix.

So if it is parasites, then treatment with a medicated food is a good idea and can be done at the same time. Peabody's Paradise has some treatment foods if you can't find any at local shops.
 
The poop is red and green, I'm assuming the red is because that's the color of food he eats, and green from the pea.

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That is good about the poo. Keep the water perfectly clean and treated with the ES.

You may want to consider a internal bacterial infection if it doesn't subside in a few days. Will need more info from someone better experienced for medicated treatment.
 
This happened to my betta and after two weeks of everthing I had her put down humanly at my vet. I really do miss my Raz :(

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How bad was she?

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Really bad. It started simple within a week then more bloating. I used what pets mart suggested to medicate her. I did the blanched pea. Fasted her and then she stayed in the corner of the tank nose up the surface mouth open sucking air. She started getting the spiked scale look. She just was miserable and wouldn't swim around. I did my partial water changes, always tested my water. I fed her one small betta pellet I soaked ahead and fed her. At night she got two small pellets soaked. I would fast her one day a week. She would get a blanched pea once a week. She had a nice 5.5 gallons tank. Nicely decorated with silk plants and two logs and big betta log floating on top to hide in. Oh she hot frozen blood worms once a week. She was very well taken care of and loved. I miss her lots.
:(

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I'm sorry. Here is Picies currently. I just woke up to him like this. He's looking a lot better. It seems like every time I feed him he gets better. Hmm.
 

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I'm sorry. Here is Picies currently. I just woke up to him like this. He's looking a lot better. It seems like every time I feed him he gets better. Hmm.

That's good news :) he's a very handsome boy! I hope things stay settled for you.

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon boraras , red longfin bristlenose, bamboo shrimp, crs,rcs and different snails.
7 gallon halfmoon betta and red ramshorn.
 
Thank you for the help!

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