Betta: CHRONIC Constipation!!!

[KewtyPatootie]

Hi Everyone,

I have a male betta who suffers from chronic constipation.
After months of repeated pea-treatments, I figured it might have been a bacterial infection. Thus I used Jungle Fungus Eliminator for about a week with no changes at all. With observation over the past several months, I do in fact know that he is suffering from constipation.

After fasting him for a few days followed by a pea treatment, he will have a large bowel movement and be mobile enough to sink/swim properly.
However, this normalcy only lasts until his next feeding.
I have tried to bloat the food in water prior to feeding/ mixing it with peas, etc with no avail.

He looks so sad on his side, and I can't seem to find anything about this online.
Somebody help?!

 

[mfdrookie516]

Welcome to AA

To start off, can you tell us a little bit more about your tank? Size, other inhabitants, water parameters, pwc schedule, what type of food you're feeding and how often. That should help narrow it down some

 

[KewtyPatootie]

First of all, I've never been informed about cycling tanks until about a month ago.. the petstore never told me.. I know I feel guilty!

He lived alone in a 1G glass tank but he's never had fin rot or any other issues, so I always assumed he was happy with weekly 100% water changes.

But recently I discovered that if I put him in a shallow container he could actually swim around/lay against the plants. So ever since, he lives in about 3-4 inches of water in a wide 1.5ft ish round glass container.

I feed him Hikari Betta Pellets(2-3 a day), I also feed that to my other betta who now lives in a 10G community tank, and has never suffered from constipation once.

I checked the ammonia levels, and unfortunately there is some under .25ppm. In order to alleviate the situation, I do almost a 100% water change daily nowadays.

 

[dkpate]

No need to do 100% pwc's, just do 25-50%. Less stress on the little guy. Do you soak the pellets before you feed them?

 

[KewtyPatootie]

I read that any readable ammonia levels are highly stressful, so I figured I should test waters daily followed by a 100% change religiously.

As I've mentioned in my first post, yes I have soaked the pellets.. I can't seem to pinpoint the issue. Maybe he has an internal disability?

 

[dkpate]

Ah I see, you bloat the food. He might have some internal problems too, I don't know. It can happen from breeding the same bettas, and then their babies over and over. You do boil the peas and shell them before feeding right?
Ammonia is stressful, but when you remove 100% of the water, you are also taking away some of the good bacteria you are building up. You can do two 50% changes a day, but only needed if the ammonia gets over .25ppm.

 

[KewtyPatootie]

I microwave the pea then chop up the insides, and dispose the shell.
Hmm thank you for the advice, I WAS a bit distressed over the fact that I couldn't let any nitrate build-up due to full water changes. Now I will act on partial ones!