OH NO!!! HELP PlEASE!! Quick! BETTA!

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guppy12

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jun 21, 2006
Messages
137
Location
Linden Michigan
I have a problem! My betta is so bloated! I treated him on Oct.24 in the morning and when i came home from school he looked a little bit better...
Hes in an 8 gallon with a couple ramshorn snails and one big quarter size snail... his temp. is 85 farinheight.
I'll try to get a pic but heres a pic of him un-bloated
 

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When you say "treated", what did you do? Be careful of any meds you put in the tank. The snails are very sensitive to copper.

I treated a goldfish with bloat using high temps and adding some epsom salt (can't remember how much though). I set up two 3g buckets, each with a heater and airstone and added the salt. I put the goldfish in one bucket for 24 hours. The next day it got moved to the other, and while he was in that bucket I dumped and set up the 1st bucket again. He went back and forth between each bucket like that for a week and a half, and he was better.
BUT
It only worked because he had parasites. The heat killed the parasites while the salt drew out the excess fluids. Tumors and cancer can also cause bloat symptoms, and this is why people say bloat is nearly impossible to cure, because you don't know which you're dealing with. Obviously, the parasites are curable and the other causes are not. But you can always try! I would put the betta in QT by himself regardless of anything you do so you don't subject the snails to unnecessary treatment.
 
OKAY here is my new recently in the last 5 min pic!
OKay here is what i used...
MARDEL
MARACYN PLUS
ANTIBACTERIA
for mouth fungus, popeye, dropsy, and ulcers

UNQUOTE

ya that is what it said on the bottle
And the active ingredients are- Sultadimdine and trimethoprin
 

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If they are freeze dried blood worms those have been known to cause a blockage I would say stop feeding BW and start feeding a good betta pellet, HBH has a good one Thats what I use. Wait a few days and don't feed then see if he gets any better.
 
I agree - pellets should be the main betta diet, and supplement with bloodworms. I put a little bit of tank water in a plastic cup and soak some bloodworms in there for a few minutes before feeding. The bloodworms absorb the water in the cup and swell up a little bit. When you feed dry bloodworms, they soak up moisture and swell up in the betta's stomach, which can cause a temporary bloat. But your fish looks more bloated than just from diet. Dropsy can have many causes, like Mosaic said. It's hard to know what med to get because dropsy can be bacterial, parasitic, or from an internal disease like a tumor. You could try using epsom salt to draw out the bloat. Use a QT tank to avoid harming the snails. Try about 1/4 teaspoon of epsom salt per gallon.

Peas (the kind we eat!) can sometimes help an internal blockage. Boil some frozen peas (canned ones get too mushy) on high for about 4-5 minutes. Let cool and squeeze the pea away from the skin. Throw the skin away and cut the rest of the pea into little pieces that are the same size as his other foods (he'll accept it better that way, if it's small). If you can get him to eat some pea pieces, then don't feed for a few days to give his stomach a rest.
 
An t-iasg said:
Try about 1/4 teaspoon of epsom salt per gallon.

Thanks. I can never remember what the dose is so whenever I talk about what I did I'm not really much help. :)
 
guppy12 said:
Okay, but would i have to remove any plants or snails before i treat him with salt?

Yes you probably should I would do a water change and put him in a sperate container and leave your tank the way it is if it is a pain in the butt to move everything out. I would try to not feed him for three days and see if he loses any weight around the bulge, and then start feeding him hbh pellets or something similar if he does start to lose size around the bulge.
 
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