Big problems with my sorority

[TigerLily]

This evening I noticed the surface of the water in my sorority was totally covered with pellets. Someone (who was not thinking straight enough to be held responsible for reasons I'd rather not go into) dumped half of my container of betta pellets into the aquarium.

The pellets sat and the fish ate for over two hours before I noticed. When I did notice, I began to immediately clean the leftovers out. By that time, most of my girls were already bloated, and when I stirred the pellets up, they started eating again.

I've gotten most of the food out, but my girls are all extremely bloated (one is even pineconing). I'm extremely upset about this because another family member saw this and never told me.

Naturally, I'm going to fast them, but for how long? Should I do an early partial water change to try and vacuum out any that I may have missed, or would that be too much stress for them while they're so stuffed?
I'm so upset, and very very worried I might lose my girls over something so stupid.

[dramaqueen]

I'm so sorry that this had to happen to you. I would fast them for 2-3 days or until the bloating goes down. Then you can feed them daphnia for a few days to help clean out their digestive tracts. I hope this helps.

[DragonFish]

Oh no!! How horrible, I'm so sorry about your girls :(

DI would definitely do an early PWC to make sure you vacuum up any food you may have missed, I know my girls will scavenge the bottom for HOURS for leftovers. Fast them for as long as it takes for you to see some of the bloating go down, then feed frozen Daphnia(in this case, I wouldn't advise freezedried, even if its pre-soaked....)for a few days, like DQ suggested.

Best of luck! I hope your girls get better soon!