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Why does he keep getting so bloated?

1K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  Seki 
#1 ·
My fish keeps getting horribly bloated after being fed for a couple days. I'll feed him one day and he'll be fine, then I'll feed him the next day and he balloons! I feed him Aqueon pellets, about 2-3 at a time once a day. I can post that whole list of things if I really need to, but I dunno if it's necessary for this question. he only gets bloated after eating.



 
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#2 ·
Nimrod has done this numbers of times... you gotta get them to poop. how to do that? get a mirror and let them get really upset and mad, flare and thrash. He will poop instantly and it will help with the bloat and save his digestive track. works everytime. its so hard not to feed them when they give you "i'm so hungry you never feed me" look. fast them for 2 days and he will be good as new.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for all your help, guys! Aus, his poo looks pretty normal to me. Just regular brown poo. His bloat is completely gone... I have figured out that he flares and reacts when I turn the room light off but leave his tank light on, so I'll do that once a day from now on, and hopefully he'll stay regular. I also will cut back on his food a little bit in hopes of not getting him bloated like that anymore.

I really appreciate all the replies, this forum is awesome! I'm so glad I joined here, you guys are great! :)
 
#10 ·
Possibly try switching his food to a different, higher quality pellet. Look for a pellet or food that has fish products as the first two ingredients. The less wheat germ or wheat meal, the better, as these are undigestible by bettas and can be the cause of his bloating. I know when I once fed a very unhealthy pellet to my halfmoon, he swelled up like a bubble right after.

Good brands to try are New Life Spectrum (both betta formula and small fish formula work well) and Omega One pellets.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I will look into it, although my local pet store does not have too much variety in betta foods. I have seen Nutrafin, Top Fin, Aqueon, and maybe one more? I'm not sure... Anyway, I looked at the ingredients on the Aqueon pellets and it says the first ingredient is whole fish meal, followed by whole wheat flour, soybean meal, then shrimp meal... and it goes on from there. This is a bad brand to get, then?

EDIT: Forgot to include... today he got two bloodworms instead of pellets and he didn't puff up at all. :)
 
#15 ·
I recommend New Life Spectrum betta formula , I feed my six bettas two times a day only monday & friday. it does help them fast up in three days till friday.

My crowntail, Chief Chowig always had problem trying to get it out of his system & but always came back to normal.

Did you check at petco? Try looking for fish food section, not just betta section.
 
#16 ·
@Sakura8 - I will check for that food the next time I have a chance to get to the petstore. I swear, I have been there every week since I got my little dude hahaha. The staff there finds it amusing, and they're trying to talk me into another tank and another betta hahaha.

@mkayum - The Petco here is absolutely awful, sadly. I got Sheik there, but they told me he would be fine in a 1/4 gallon bowl and that he was good with a 50% water change once every week or two. Their "betta section" has about a dozen bettas in cups, one shelf of tiny little betta starter kits, and one shelf of food and conditioner. I asked if they had anything else and the woman said no, everything I needed was right there. They didn't even have lights or heaters! I have had much better luck with Petsmart :)
 
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