As some of you may know, I have had a recent issue with my betta paul after a fight.
Yesterday he was doing well after his waterchange at the end of a betta fix treatment of 7 days. This morning he ate breakfast fine as I left for work as usual, but this evening, he was near the bottom of the tank.. He is having no problem coming up for air and seems interested in food as he is following it but is not able to eat it. He bites it then releases it. I have noticed that his mouth seems somewhat mishapen. Is there something else I should be doing? Water temp is fine, I am assuming water readings are fine considering I just did a 100% change...
Have you tried presoaking the food before feeding? Maybe try some Hikari micro pellets. They are really tiny and he might be able to eat those. Also, daphnia is tiny, too so he might be able to eat that.
That sucks, I would presoak the food like drama said, my male couldnt sawllow the food when I got him except for when I presoaked it so it might help, how'd he get in a fight?
I was unable to get small pellets, but I did begin to start to cut them in half with a razor. This seems to work. He ate 2 just now. He still seems to be hesitant with his food and flares at it more than usual. Perhaps his mouth is still sore and injured? Also I noticed that his tank temp is a little higher than usual. It normally balances around 78-79, but it has been slightly warmer in my apartment and his tank temp is currently 82. He is resting on the bottom again, which isn't common for him to do on a regular basis. I'm going to buy a heater today with the thermostat built in... I have on in my other tank that stays at 78. Any other suggestions? Should I put him back on Betafix? The problem seemed to occur immediately after I did the water change after his betafix treatment.
thanks drama. I will post some pictures of him later and try to get a good shot of his mouth so you can see what i mean. His fins all seem to be growing back reasonably, but I am still concerned for his mouth... which seems to be the main problem at the moment. I will see what happens with dinner tonight and his behavior. If things do not improve I will put him back on betafix in the morning.
His mouth doesn't look infected or anything, does it? I would think if it hurts him, he wouldn't even attempt to eat. Is he swimming around like normal? You could use a magnifying glass to see his mouth up close.
His mouth, at first, appeared to be infected but I later realized that that was scales falling off from healing. Currently his mout just appears to be shaped differently. The only way i can describe it is as iff his lower lip is sticking out a little on the right hand side. I have watched closely as he comes up for air to look inside his mouth and it seems regular.
His swimming patterns do seem a little strange. Paul normally hangs out close to the top near the overhanging plants or behind the filter. For the passed 2 days he has been sitting on the bottom in the middle of the tank near no cover whatsoever. I called home a minute ago to check on him and my girlfriend said he was swimming around... but he may have just been going up for air.
He does not appear bloated or discolored. He does have a few areas of lighter color that were wounds from the fight that are healing. His gill movement seems normal.
To make it all even more confusing there are bubbles on the top of the water in random places as if he were trying to make a nest... or a few.
crowntail: My last post "bettas got together..." has everything about the events leading up to this.
UPDATE:
Last night i cut 3 pellets in half and fed them to Paul and he was hesitant with the first two but seemed to get used to it and scarfed down the remaining 4. This morning i simply poured out a hand full of pellets and gave him 4-5 of the smallest ones in the bottle. He ate them all. His movement this morning is much better. I have also switched out my heater to one that has a thermostat in it, so his tank is currently 77... as opposed to the 82 it was yesterday. He seems to be doing better again.
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