Swim bladder Disease- Bacterial or Injury?

[SolomonsDemise]

Hello all.

My betta, Lune, has been suffering from what my family believes to be his swim bladder for just over a week.

We have a filtered, heated ten gallon with the betta, two neon tetras, and two african dwarf frogs. Both the tetras and the frogs seem to be fine. Lune gets, or used to get as he has had no appetite for food, betta pellets.

Now, during a more recent water change, I scooped the fish and frogs out of the tank in order to clean it more thoroughly. However, the cup method wasn't working, and I foolishly used a net.

He appears to be bloated all of the time, with a protruding belly. He can swim alright, but as soon as he stops he floats to one side. Now, all he does is float at the top behind the filter in an attempt to stay upright. The other day I walked in on him completely upside down, hiding under a leaf to keep him under the water. He won't even come out to eat.

Now, I have been fasting him for the past 5-6 days and he has shown little to no improvement, which leads me to believe that either it is an infection or an injury.

I tried using Tetra Parasite Guard, as that was what the Petsmart employee recommended. I was hoping to try the Tetra Fungal Guard next.

We had the water tested the other day, and everything was normal.

Please, thank you for your time and if anyone could help it would be most appreciated.

[sunlight]

If after 5-6 days that you fast him it didn't help then i would really stop fasting him. It can be internal infections or internal parasites. I would try to feed him since he really need nutritious to fight the disease. And if you can find frozen daphnia in the store would be good . It has protein and will help if he constipated. I also would say that filter , water movement can bother him. So if you can put him in the hospital tank. Did you see his poop? If he would have internal parasites he would have white,clear stringy,wormy shape poop along with bloating. Also a lot of the time gray belly. So check for his poo to rule out internal parasites. Did you treat him with Tetra Parasite Guard? Did you finish whole course of it?

Also go buy Epsom salt . We have epsom salt in any pharmacy. It will help to clean out his digestive system and if he has internal parasites will purge them out.
Pre mix epsom 2tsp/gall in the separate container make sure it dissolved. You will need to do daily 100% water changes. Epsom salt helps with buoyancy. When you change him make sure you acclimate him by adding new water to his changing cup and let him stay in it for about 4 min so he can get used to it. Do it for a few times.

[SolomonsDemise]

Thank you for your reply.

Aren't 100% water changes more detrimental than helpful?

I did quit fasting them, but Lune does not eat. He sits in the corner. And if it's digestive, wouldn't the constipation have passed already?

Also, how do I tell if it's parasitic or bacterial when he hasn't been eating to excrete waste?

I really want to save my fish.

[Tikibirds]

Do you have something smaller to put him in? That will make doing the 100% water changes much easier.

I would try the epsom salt. If he is constipated or has internal parasites, it will help to draw them out. You want plain, unscented epsom. Premix 1 teaspoon per gallon and make sure its dissolved before adding him to it. swim However since oyu said he is not eating - that leads me to think something other then swim bladder...

100% changes are usually recommended for sick fish, depending on how weak the fish is and what you are trying to treat. Things like parasites, you want to remove them from the water before they reinfest the fish.

Is tetra parasite guard for external parasites?

Can you get a picture of him?

[sunlight]

He either has bacterial infection or internal parasites. Did you see his poop before? If you can put him in the smaller container it will be easier for him to swim up to the surface and he can breathe easier. How you can tell if it parasites. We really can't, unless you see his poop. Sorry i think you need to be ready ,not sure if your poor guy will pull through. But first help for him is really if you can put him in the smaller container or lower the water in the tank. Epsom salt is really best for him right now to begin with daily and 100% water changes. Like i said before it will help to clear up the digestive system from parasites it will purge them out if he has one. Epsom salt also antibacterial. And since he is kind of really in the bad shape i would pre mix 3tsp/gall of the Epsom salt. And start ASAP. It really the first step. And take all gravel out so you can see if he will produce any poo.

No 100% water changes not stressful if you acclimate your fish slowly to the water the way that i described it for you. I do 100% water changes only for all my 5 bettas and i have a few of them that are 4 years old. So it not stressful at all. I will give you a few links where you can see people treating bettas with daily water changes and salt. Pretty amazing linksSee page 1 page 43#422 page 42 and page 52 it all the same fish.
www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=108151
www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=113927

Also yu can try to treat him iwh an antibiotic like API Furan-2 or better yet,Seachem Kanaplex but i'm not sure if it will help the poor guy at this stage.

Also i am curious if you used Tetra medications? I read someone wrote Tetra Parasite Guard has a few ingredients that are not fish friendly. I think someone once said diflubenzeron was even used in lawn fertilizer. If the dose was just a little off, it's possible the medications burned him since you was saying that he has protruding belly. If you can API Stress Coat or Kordon Fish Protector to encourage the slime coat. That should help protect the red sore from infection.
To specifically treat internal parasites, a medicine with metronidazole is best. Hikari HealthAid Metro+ and Seachem Metro both work, API General Cure