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New Girl Has Swim Bladder Problem?

411 views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  LittleDeer 
#1 ·
Hey guys, I have 3 new girls I got the day before yesterday, and they're still in cups while I wait for a few more girls to start my sorority. This morning I found little Sonata trying desperately to right herself in the water, she keeps floating up sideways, so my first instinct was that she had something wrong with her swim bladder. I did a 100% water change yesterday since she's in a cup and I was worried about her sitting in the store water, and she was perfectly fine and content all day yesterday. I don't know if maybe it has something to do with the food she had yesterday, or if it just kind of happened. I haven't fed her today, since I'm trying to figure out what to do with her.

Yesterday she had a single pellet because she's so small, and later on in the day I gave them each a very small piece of bloodworm. I'm going to be changing food brands regardless, because looking at the ingredients of my pellets, there are several fillers in it, so I'm switching to Hikari. I do have a sample packet of Hikari Bio-Gold in my drawer, so I'm using that until I can get to the store. Though my boy, Ben has never had any problems with the pellets I've been using, and I've had him about 3 months. He's a big boy, and gets about 3 pellets a day.

I've seen people talk about using frozen peas and epsom salt to help with fish having issues with their swim bladders, and some say to just leave them alone and they'll get better on their own. i just don't know what to do and I feels so bad. She looks very distressed, and keeps trying to swim down, but is unable to, and pops right back up. She's had bold stress stripes all morning, too. I really don't want anything to happen to her, I only got her two days ago, and I've already gotten pretty attached to all three of my new girls.

If I have to, I do have a 1 gallon tank, but it has no filter and I don't have a heater that can fit in it right now (though its summer so the water will stay around 80 without a heater), I've checked. I just want to do what's best for this girl.

Right now she has figured out she can keep herself fairly steady if she braces herself against the side of the cup, but she doesn't seem very comfortable at all, and keeps trying to swim.


Housing
What size is your tank? She's still in her store cup floating in the ten gallon to keep warm along with the two other girls also in their cups.
What temperature is your tank? About 80.
Does your tank have a filter? The tank does, but they are in cups.
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? Again, they are in cups.
Is your tank heated? Yes.
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? The other girls that will be part of the sorority soon. In their own cups.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Top Fin Betta Bits (Switching to Hikari Bio-Gold), Freeze Dried Bloodworms (very small pieces).
How often do you feed your betta fish? She ate a pellet yesterday morning, and a piece of bloodworm later in the afternoon as a snack.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? I did one yesterday, this is the third day I have had her.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? I did a 100% change yesterday to get rid of the store water.
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Water Conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? I do not have my own test kit for anything besides pH, so I haven't tested anything yet. Though the water is fresh conditioned tap water as of yesterday.

Ammonia:N/A
Nitrite: N/A
Nitrate: N/A
pH: 6.8
Hardness:N/A
Alkalinity: N/A

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Nothing besides stress stripes.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? She is slowly floating up sideways and tries to right herself constantly. Struggles to swim down and pops right back up.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? This morning when I woke up. Its been about three hours.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I haven't. I skipped feeding her this morning, though.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No idea, she's new.
How old is your fish (approximately)? I wouldn't say any older than 5-6 months. She's small, a little smaller than my pinky.
 
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#3 ·
Okay, thank you. I fasted her yesterday and she seems to have improved a bit and is able to swim down with less effort than before, but she does float if she stops moving. She also seems to be taking rapid gulps of air instead of one quick one, and there's bubbles all around the edge of the critter keeper I put her in yesterday. Bubbles come out of her mouth and gills when she does it. Not sure if this should be a concern or not.

It's bad quality, but here's a picture. I don't see any bloating, so I don't think its that. Its hard to see her belly well, because she tries to dart away if I get close, and she's holding her body in an "s" shape which I assume is an attempt to keep herself stable instead of floating up onto her side.

I will be fasting her again today.

 
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