Piggy Fish Ate Herself Sick :(

[babystarz]

I dropped some defrosted bloodworms into my sorority tank yesterday, enough to feed all of my girls. One fish ate every bloodworm and I saw that her belly had become grossly distended last night. Today she is staying at the bottom of the tank in a Spongebob pineapple, not moving at all. I haven't seen her up at the surface once. She's really not doing well and I think she's in a lot of pain.

Should I leave her alone to try to pass the bloodworms or remove her to a hospital tank? I don't believe there is really much I can do for her, and I worry that moving her will be stressful for her. The other girls aren't bothering her.

If anyone has a suggestion besides watching and waiting, I'd appreciate hearing it.

[homegrown terror]

i'd isolate her if she's badly bloated and constipated. even if she's got no energy she might find a burst next time you feed the rest, which will just compound the problem. keep her from eating for a day or two, see if she poops, and see if she returns to her old self after she does. if she doesn't try feeding her some daphnia (if they're freeze dried, soak them in water about ten minutes before feeding them to her.) constipation is a common problem with bettas that become the "alpha" of their tank, as they can sometimes eat a whole meal meant for multiple fish and leave none for the rest. if she continues to do this, remove her to a cup or breeder box when you feed the rest, and feed her separately. this may have to become a long-term routine, or it could cause the other fish to become more bold, and push her out of a position of advantage and get them all eating roughly equal portions. (we had this happen a few weeks ago with one of our goldfish, he's more streamlined and faster than the others, so he got more food than them, and would up constipated on the bottom. after a few days of mealtime isolation all was well, though)

[babystarz]

I'm happy to report that last night she was showing a little more activity, and this morning she was good as new! I was so relieved, she was SO bloated before that I thought there was no way she was going to be able to digest those worms. But she did!

I think you're 100% right about her reason for eating all the worms, I'm going to keep a very close eye on her and stick with pellets for the time being because it's easier to have more control over who eats them. If she continues this behavior I will have to consider keeping her in a fry net during meal times. The girls get along well with each other so I would prefer that to removing her from the sorority as I've already removed the one female who wasn't happy with the living arrangement and I'm down to 5 girls in there.