Poorly betta please help

[Janetelford]

Hi
I have a 116 litre tank which has been set up for the past 4 yrs
I have checked ammonia nitrate ph and all ok
I noticed that my betta was lieing at the bottom of the tank which is very unlike her - ive had her for over 6 month, she is still very active and interested in food but seems to sink to the bottom and lie on her side. I did some research and it said that it might be swim bladder or constipation and that i should make the water shallower for her so that she could rest.i have moved her to a smaller tank within my tank so she is nearer the surface and took her off food for two days, i have also treated the tank with swim bladder medicine, two days ago. It looks like her fins have air bubbles in them, this was noticed today. Please help and give me some advise. I get attached to all my fish and have no idea how to help her
Thanks
Jane

 

[cmor1701d]

Try isolating the Betta to a QT tank. Stop feeding, though you may want to try the 'pea' food. Cook a frozen or fresh pea till it's mushy, then feed the inside to the Betta in small Betta bite sized pieces.

Common cause is overfeeding, so removing it to a small QT tank you can watch for how much it eats and poops.

Good luck and....

 

[Janetelford]

Thanks

Hi
Thanks for the advise
I have put her in a breeding tank - temporarily and have given her some pea - she loves it !! she would eat loads if i let her. I have not given her too much. How soon should i see results if constipation is the cause
I have noticed like bubbles inher fins and also a split where the colour has faded around the outside, these are new,She did have what looked like bubbles a few months back but they vanished. Any ideas??
Jane

 

[cmor1701d]

I moved this to the Unhealthy Fish forum so hopefully you will get better advice than I can give.

Good luck,

 

[dkpate]

The bubbles could just be from your water, my fish get bubbles on them when I change part of the water, since there is so much air in our water.
My bettas love peas too! Give her the peas, (about the size of 2 betta pellets) once a day, and ONLY the peas, no food until she's not constipated anymore.
Do you have her in the community tank all the time? If so, try to not let her eat any of their food.

 

[Janetelford]

Thanks

Not sure if this message will go back to one or both of the replies but here goes
Reply to cmor1701d
Thank you for putting the message in the correct forum, i only jsut joined and not really sure what im doing
Reply to last responce
Thanks for your advise about the peas, i have only been feeding the fish flakes and the odd frozen food now and again. i have put her in a breeding tank near the top of the tank. The bubbles look like there in the fins not on them, if that makes sense, what do you think about the split that has appeared in the fin
Thanks

 

[dkpate]

It could be from dirty water. How often do you do partial water changes?
Try to not feed the betta flakes, they tend to bloat them. Find a good pellet and feed her those. Frozen food is fine, but not too much, and WAYYY better than freeze dried.
The problem with keeping bettas in a community tank is that they will eat and eat and eat. And since their stomachs are only as big as their eye, they will bloat up.
I feed all of my fish peas once a week as a preventative.

 

[Janetelford]

Hi

I changed 1 third of the water about 5 weeks ago.
What do youvdtill the split in her fin could be and how long should I keep trying the pea thing for. Sorry to be a pain just very attached to her and won't to do all I can

It could be from dirty water. How often do you do partial water changes?
Try to not feed the betta flakes, they tend to bloat them. Find a good pellet and feed her those. Frozen food is fine, but not too much, and WAYYY better than freeze dried.
The problem with keeping bettas in a community tank is that they will eat and eat and eat. And since their stomachs are only as big as their eye, they will bloat up.
I feed all of my fish peas once a week as a preventative.

 

[bluerose]

The torn fin could be several things - and the best first step and/or cure is CLEAN WATER!

30% changes every 5 weeks is not enough - you need to be doing PWCs much more frequently and right now probably twice per week to keep the water perfect. I'd probably do a 30% change now and another 30% change in 12-18 hours so your fish can acclimate to the new water quality.

Test your water as well before and after and post the results here for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

 

[dkpate]

+1 for Bluerose, I agree. You need to do more water changes, I do 50% changes once a week on all four of my tanks.

Feed the peas once a day until she is not bloated anymore, and it might take 3-7 days.

 

[Saltypuppy]

For the fin damage you can use stress coat. 2 Teaspoons per ten gallons once a week. Preventing disease is a big thing with fin damage is a big deal. So you could feed her peas that were soaked in garlic.

 

[Saltypuppy]

You could try to feed her those peas and soak them in garlic juice - a natural anti-parasitic and anti-biotic. That will help reduce the risk of infection, you could also use some API stress coat - With aloe to aid here fins healing and provide a slime coat for her as well.

The big thing with fin damage is preventing disease. But no real food and keep on feeding those peas. You can cook them in a cup of water in the microwave for a minute, de-shell and feed some small bits of pea to your fisheh!

 

[Janetelford]

Thank you for your reply have put some of that stress coat in a few days back. Will get some garlic juice, although not sure where from unless I crush some and cook with the peas? She would eat and eat if I let her so how much pea should I give her daily. Any idea on how long before The peas start to help het as dont like to see her like this, am still very concerned about her fins Thanks again .

 

[dkpate]

The peas might take a few days. You can get fresh garlic and press the juice out, cook the peas, and then put the peas in the squeezed juice. Her stomach is only as big as her eye, so she doesn't need much pea.

 

[Saltypuppy]

They will start to grow back don't worry! My fish just ate his fins a couple of weeks ago and they are already healing, he isn't ill and is doing well! I am doing the same treatment as you except my fish isn't bloated, but it should be ok! Just keep on trying

 

[Janetelford]

ok thanks - just wondered why they split as its in the middle not from the end