Sick Betta?

[Dan White]

Hi. I posted here a week ago about my betta. Carl made some replies. I've
put up a video here: http://tinyurl.com/38gxyk It's a bit shaky and a
little out of focus, but not too bad. Note that the fish is a bit bulky and
you can just make out some bulging sides. This is about as active as he
gets, and usually sits stuck in some of the java moss. He only eats if I
drop a pellet right near him. I tried medicated food, but he spits that
out... same with a pea. His vitals, again, are:

About 2 years old, maybe 2 1/2,
tank cycled, all parameters normal, temp usually 80 F, sometimes higher.
added some epsom salts and NaCl a few days ago,
water changes infrequent, (once in awhile)
Changed from Bio Gold to Top Fin pellets right around then the problem
started.
Fed about 5 or 6 pellets in the morning and again in the evening.

We've figured he was constipated due to possible overfeeding of dry pellets,
so stopped feeding him about a week ago, other than an occasional pellet to
see what happens. Surprisingly, he seems better (if not just the same) now
than last week. Maybe the salt is helping??? I did notice a small bit of
feces coming out of him yesterday. He is still quite full looking though
and just isn't going after food. My experience is that when a fish stops
eating aggressively it's all over.

Anyway I wanted to get some opinions and see if I should try something like
Maracyn 2 or whatever for the water. I tried to find what Carl recommended,
but the local store didn't have it. I might be able to find it at a
specialty fish store if I really need it though.

Thanks for any comments, and I'm going to post this message on some other
boards.

dwhite

[muddyfox]

Hi Dan,


> We've figured he was constipated due to possible overfeeding of dry pellets,
> so stopped feeding him about a week ago, other than an occasional pellet to
> see what happens. Surprisingly, he seems better (if not just the same) now
> than last week. Maybe the salt is helping??? I did notice a small bit of
> feces coming out of him yesterday. He is still quite full looking though
> and just isn't going after food. My experience is that when a fish stops
> eating aggressively it's all over.
>

I've found with my Bettas that they don't respond well to a diet of
just pellets in the long term - they always seem to end up
constipated. For a couple of years now I've fed blanched skinned peas
to them once a week which seems to really help. Basically I get one or
two frozen peas and drop them in a little hot water. Then I microwave
them for about 30 sec to a minute. Once blanched like this I squeeze
the insides of the pea out and mash it up, discarding the skin. The
bettas seem to love this and it seems to clear constipation quite
easily. I don't know if it will help, but it might be worth a try.

Hope you find a way to help him,


Muddy

[Tynk]

Dan White wrote:
> Hi. I posted here a week ago about my betta. Carl made some replies. I've
> put up a video here: http://tinyurl.com/38gxyk It's a bit shaky and a
> little out of focus, but not too bad. Note that the fish is a bit bulky and
> you can just make out some bulging sides. This is about as active as he
> gets, and usually sits stuck in some of the java moss. He only eats if I
> drop a pellet right near him. I tried medicated food, but he spits that
> out... same with a pea. His vitals, again, are:
>
> About 2 years old, maybe 2 1/2,
> tank cycled, all parameters normal, temp usually 80 F, sometimes higher.
> added some epsom salts and NaCl a few days ago,
> water changes infrequent, (once in awhile)
> Changed from Bio Gold to Top Fin pellets right around then the problem
> started.
> Fed about 5 or 6 pellets in the morning and again in the evening.
>
> We've figured he was constipated due to possible overfeeding of dry pellets,
> so stopped feeding him about a week ago, other than an occasional pellet to
> see what happens. Surprisingly, he seems better (if not just the same) now
> than last week. Maybe the salt is helping??? I did notice a small bit of
> feces coming out of him yesterday. He is still quite full looking though
> and just isn't going after food. My experience is that when a fish stops
> eating aggressively it's all over.
>
> Anyway I wanted to get some opinions and see if I should try something like
> Maracyn 2 or whatever for the water. I tried to find what Carl recommended,
> but the local store didn't have it. I might be able to find it at a
> specialty fish store if I really need it though.
>
> Thanks for any comments, and I'm going to post this message on some other
> boards.
>
> dwhite

After watching the video of him it looks to me like he's got a swim
bladder issue going on.
As for the food....If you are going to feed a pellet food, stick with
the Hikari Bio Gold. It's a better qualkity food than the generic, Top
Fin (petsmart's generic store brand).
Also, these foods should be a once daily food and the other feeding
should be a frozen food...either Blood worms or Brine Shrimp.
Again, go with the Hikari brand as they are also better quality than
Sally's San Fran bay brand (the other most commonly sold brand of
frozen food).
Both Petsmart and most PetCo's sell the Hikari brand.
If you only have the Betta, find the flat pack frozen foods and not the
cubed. This way it'll be easier for you to break off a tiny chunk for
your Betta.
As for the swim bladder issue....I don't know how to treat it, or if it
can be.
I have had a female Betta with this problem for many months now.
She looks a bit bloated (not like Dropsy symptoms though), just
bloated all around and also has the same trouble getting around the
tank.
For the most part, she hangs out on the bottom of the tank or in the
Peacock eel's cave with him.
She make her way up for a gulp of air or for food, and it doesn't look
easy either, but she does it. She's been doing it like this for several
months now. Eats. poops, will even still flare at one of the other
females who try and get her food or come into the cave too.
Carl may have some good ideas on how to treat this, or if you even can.

[Dan White]

"Tynk" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>
> Dan White wrote:
> > Hi. I posted here a week ago about my betta. Carl made some replies.
I've
> > put up a video here: http://tinyurl.com/38gxyk It's a bit shaky and a
> > little out of focus, but not too bad. Note that the fish is a bit bulky
and
> > you can just make out some bulging sides. This is about as active as he
> > gets, and usually sits stuck in some of the java moss. He only eats if
I
> > drop a pellet right near him. I tried medicated food, but he spits that
> > out... same with a pea. His vitals, again, are:
> >
> > About 2 years old, maybe 2 1/2,
> > tank cycled, all parameters normal, temp usually 80 F, sometimes higher.
> > added some epsom salts and NaCl a few days ago,
> > water changes infrequent, (once in awhile)
> > Changed from Bio Gold to Top Fin pellets right around then the problem
> > started.
> > Fed about 5 or 6 pellets in the morning and again in the evening.
> >
> > We've figured he was constipated due to possible overfeeding of dry
pellets,
> > so stopped feeding him about a week ago, other than an occasional pellet
to
> > see what happens. Surprisingly, he seems better (if not just the same)
now
> > than last week. Maybe the salt is helping??? I did notice a small bit
of
> > feces coming out of him yesterday. He is still quite full looking
though
> > and just isn't going after food. My experience is that when a fish
stops
> > eating aggressively it's all over.
> >
> > Anyway I wanted to get some opinions and see if I should try something
like
> > Maracyn 2 or whatever for the water. I tried to find what Carl
recommended,
> > but the local store didn't have it. I might be able to find it at a
> > specialty fish store if I really need it though.
> >
> > Thanks for any comments, and I'm going to post this message on some
other
> > boards.
> >
> > dwhite
>
> After watching the video of him it looks to me like he's got a swim
> bladder issue going on.
> As for the food....If you are going to feed a pellet food, stick with
> the Hikari Bio Gold. It's a better qualkity food than the generic, Top
> Fin (petsmart's generic store brand).
> Also, these foods should be a once daily food and the other feeding
> should be a frozen food...either Blood worms or Brine Shrimp.
> Again, go with the Hikari brand as they are also better quality than
> Sally's San Fran bay brand (the other most commonly sold brand of
> frozen food).
> Both Petsmart and most PetCo's sell the Hikari brand.
> If you only have the Betta, find the flat pack frozen foods and not the
> cubed. This way it'll be easier for you to break off a tiny chunk for
> your Betta.
> As for the swim bladder issue....I don't know how to treat it, or if it
> can be.
> I have had a female Betta with this problem for many months now.
> She looks a bit bloated (not like Dropsy symptoms though), just
> bloated all around and also has the same trouble getting around the
> tank.
> For the most part, she hangs out on the bottom of the tank or in the
> Peacock eel's cave with him.
> She make her way up for a gulp of air or for food, and it doesn't look
> easy either, but she does it. She's been doing it like this for several
> months now. Eats. poops, will even still flare at one of the other
> females who try and get her food or come into the cave too.
> Carl may have some good ideas on how to treat this, or if you even can.
>

Thanks to Tynk and Muddyfox for the comments. I've put him into a 1 pint
plastic container floating in the tank to see if I see any more poop. Also
maybe I can get some food into him more easily this way. For now, he
doesn't seem very happy about his new situation. I do have a lid over the
tank so he can't jump.

dwhite