Betta Fish Forum banner

Help, she is not improving

3K views 76 replies 9 participants last post by  blufish425 
#1 ·
Housing
What size is your tank? 1 Gal quarantine tank
What temperature is your tank? 80*
Does your tank have a filter? no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Does not apply, haven't been feeding since she was sick when I bought her, 3 days ago
How often do you feed your betta fish?

Maintenance

How often do you perform a water change? Right now every day
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Stress coat plus, currently Epsom salt also

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
Have not tested, she was sick when I bought her, my tap water is good (I have tested before), and Im doing 100% daily water changes.
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? She is very bloated, not just her belly but along her entire body. There is no pineconing.

How has your betta fish's behavior changed? She can only swim on her side, she mostly just leans against the bowl, but will occasionally try to swim.

When did you start noticing the symptoms? I bought her this way, trying to rescue her

Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Started with 1 tsp Epsom salt/ gallon, with no change I raised this to 2 tsp/ gallon yesterday

Does your fish have any history of being ill? yes, see above
old is your fish (approximately)? unknown, ive had her for 3 days

Please note: I have been treating for swim bladder disorder. I have researched everything possible about her symptoms, and I know that everything points to swim bladder disorder. I am posting this because she is not improving at all. She doesn't look worse either, but she looks miserable. If you have any other treatment ideas, or if you think its possible I overlooked something and should be treating for something different PLEASE let me know!

- on day 1 she had 1 teeny tiny little brown poop. And yesterday she had one teeny tiny white (but not stringy) poop

- I fed her 1 pellet yesterday to see if she had any appetite, and to see if that might get her pooping. She ate like a normal piggy betta, and several hours after that was the teeny white poop.

-She will not eat the daphnia I tried to give her, I am considering trying the pea even though some people say not to
 

Attachments

See less See more
8
#2 ·
Maybe she has SBD in conjunction with an internal parasite? The white poop is not normal and is not a symptom seen with SBD.
 
#4 ·
I was thinking possible internal parasites too, I will treat for that. Is there anything to suggest she has an internal bacteria problem? I've also wondered about that just because its common for that and SBD to go together. I just want to be treating the right thing.
 
#5 ·
Normally, I would think bacterial infection with SBD, but it is the odd poop that has me thinking parasite. If you don't notice any improvement with the parasite medications I would switch over to a med for bacterial infections. Giving the betta 2 days rest between treatments if you feel she can last that long.
 
#6 ·
I'm very conflicted on how to treat. It was just one tiny poop that was like normal except white, not long or stringy or anything. Also I considered treating for bacteria because epsom salt is supposed to help with parasites... If I do treat for bacteria what should I use?
 
#7 ·
Is there anything white-ish that she could have eaten like plant roots, any shrimps dead or alive given to her? Betta poop looks like what they eat, so if she ate something white, then it will come out normal just white. So that could be a possibility.
 
#10 ·
Just wanted to comment about the pea, that's more for fiber than it is for a laxative so that's why it's not good to feed for digestion issues.

Can you get more pictures of her from different angles? I want to see just how bloated she is and if it might not be normal or not. Sometimes they're just bigger than average Betta's and with her fins clamped, it makes it seem even more so that she's bloated when she might not be. So views from the top, sides, front, all of that would be really helpful.
 
#11 ·
Tried to get better pics but she is completely on her side, and in a 1 gal bowl which makes it hard. The bloating is not concentrated just around her belly ( I would say her belly is slightly to moderately swollen) it is down her entire body (which I guess would make sense because that's where the swim bladder is?) I just wish she could talk, or poop, or something to give me an indication of what caused this.
 

Attachments

#13 ·
It looks like she has a bent spine, birth defect. And the swelling looks like Dropsy to me already even if she's not pineconing yet. I hate to give up hope or anything but just keep her on the ES, you can bump it up to 3 tsp/gal to see if that helps anything at all. Parasites would usually be more in a concentrated area and if not in the stomach, tend to make a bulge happen only on one side, at least from what I've seen. But it looks like she's already hit an organ failure mode :-(
 
#15 ·
I would bump the Epsom salt dosage to 3 teaspoons/gal. It looks like she has generalized fluid retention/bloating, and a high dosage of Epsom salt may help with that.

Also, can you find any mosquito larvae? If so, rinse one off with a little tank water, then feed it to her. This is their natural diet, so it may help with any constipation, if that's one of her problems.

The bent spine may just be from the bloating. One of my guys bends like that when he becomes constipated. (I guess it's like having gas/cramps in people!)

Poor girl. She does look pretty bloated and uncomfortable.

Do you have any Kanaplex (kanamycin) on hand? If so, I would try using it.... If you don't have this, you can try a sulfa drug, such as API Triple Sulfa or Maracyn Plus. (Must be Plus.) Don't use a sulfa drug if you're allergic to them though!

The antibiotic would be my first choice, but if she doesn't respond to one quickly, you can also try using an antiparasitical such as API General Cure or Tetra Parasite Guard. (This can be used simultaneously with an antibiotic and Epsom salt.) Look for brand that contains both Metronidazole (Flagyl) and Praziquantel (Droncit). These two medications treat the majority of internal parasites.
 
#16 ·
I would bump the Epsom salt dosage to 3 teaspoons/gal. It looks like she has generalized fluid retention/bloating, and a high dosage of Epsom salt may help with that.

Also, can you find any mosquito larvae? If so, rinse one off with a little tank water, then feed it to her. This is their natural diet, so it may help with any constipation, if that's one of her problems.

The bent spine may just be from the bloating. One of my guys bends like that when he becomes constipated. (I guess it's like having gas/cramps in people!)

Poor girl. She does look pretty bloated and uncomfortable.

Do you have any Kanaplex (kanamycin) on hand? If so, I would try using it.... If you don't have this, you can try a sulfa drug, such as API Triple Sulfa or Maracyn Plus. (Must be Plus.) Don't use a sulfa drug if you're allergic to them though!

The antibiotic would be my first choice, but if she doesn't respond to one quickly, you can also try using an antiparasitical such as API General Cure or Tetra Parasite Guard. (This can be used simultaneously with an antibiotic and Epsom salt.) Look for brand that contains both Metronidazole (Flagyl) and Praziquantel (Droncit). These two medications treat the majority of internal parasites.

I have maracyn two, would have to order kanaplex and idk that she will live that long. I put a dose of Maracyn two in her bowl, it says it works for dropsy as well as a bunch of other internal bacteria problems... it was all I had for the time being. How quickly should she respond?
 
#17 ·
Maracyn 2 (minocycline) is an excellent gram-negative antibiotic. The reason I didn't recommend it is because it's been around awhile so some organisms are resistant to it, and because it can be harsh on the kidneys.....

Since she is bloated, it indicates that the kidneys are already struggling to eliminate fluids. Therefore, I didn't want to recommend a medication that could add to kidney stress. (Source: Dropsy in Fish.....)

But if the problem is caused by gram-negative bacteria that is susceptible to minocycline, then she should improve within about 3 days.
 
#19 ·
I would just leave it. Give it a day or two and see if it helps.... She's still eating, which is a good sign. You said she wouldn't eat daphnia, but I still think mosquito larvae, if you can find some, might help. Or just feed her small meals of a pellet or two. Even though she's bloated, she needs food to have energy and to help her immune system.

Also, covering the top of the tank with plastic food wrap may help. It increases the humidity, which makes it easier to breathe and has has a calming effect. Be sure to leave several inches of air between the water and wrap so she can breathe.

As for whether she'll recover.... it depends on what's wrong with her. As you noted, unfortunately, they don't talk, which makes it difficult for us to really know what's causing the problem.
 
#22 ·
She's rather bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning. Swimming (sideways) around her bowl some. When she rests I think she looks a bit more upright than before. She definitely didn't get any worse so Im grateful for that. There is a tiny (brown, thank goodness) poop in her bowl. I fed her 1 pellet last night, and she's still a pig. My other girl is very slim and petite, I think this girl is just slightly 'heftier' to begin with lol, so perhaps she's not quite as horrifically bloated as I originally thought (still bloated though.) Still got my hopes up for this little fighter.
 
#24 ·
Update

After 3 days on maracyn 2 she is looking slightly better. Her swimming is closer to normal, when she rests she is mostly upright instead of on her side. She looks less swollen to me but her swim bladder still looks swollen, and she still pops up like a cork when she tries to swim down. Her poops are still not 100% normal looking, so I am going to deworm her also. I really think she has a combination of issues, poor thing. Do you think I should have seen more improvement by now? She definitely doesn't seem to be getting worse at all.
 
#25 ·
De-worm....that's definitely not a fish term lol

Don't feed pea's whatever you do! They can't digest them but it's not a good way to get her to poop, feeding her Daphnia will do the trick since it's a natural laxative unlike Pea's which are more fed for the fiber but isn't a laxative.
 
#27 ·
lol, I was thinking dog/cat. Just sounded funny was all ^_^

Sorry, didn't mean to jump to conclusions about the pea thing, I know it's not well known info yet that pea's aren't the best thing to be feeding.
 
#28 ·
Haha, oh that's ok, I actually wouldn't have known better about the peas but then somebody else explained a couple days ago :) I appreciate all of your guys' help! I just hope my little lady pulls through. Still no idea what exactly is wrong. Is it safe to be treating for bacteria and parasites at the same time?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top