Bloated betta..even after feeding a pea..

[rmarkham]

Hi everyone.. I noticed that my guy Mr. Squiggles was looking a bit full in the stomach region, so i fasted him for a day and saw him poo a tiny bit.. but still just as bloated.

So I fed him bits of soft pea and soaked it in garlic.. That was at around 10pm last night, and this morning he was still bloated.. I don't have a hospital tank set up and don't know if epson salt would be the best idea, especially because I'm going away for the night and won't be back until tomorrow. I also don't know how well I'll be able to monitor his pooping when I have a planted tank... and snails that would probably eat it..

Mr. Squiggles is still swimming about everywhere and flaring up at me when I get near.

Temps- 81 Deg F
Ammonia- 0ppm
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate-0-5ppm (heavily planted)
pH-6.6

Here's what he looks like as of this morning...
He wouldn't stay still, but here's an idea


ALso, here's a video... but of course my phone camera wouldn't stay in focus but you can see his belly here too..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU3aI38EDlo

[shellieca]

Nice tank BTW. IMO, he doesn't look very bloated, you should see how bad my one female gets. In any case, what do you feed the snail? The female I mentioned will gorge on the algae wafers I feed the CAE's & snail making her look like she's about to explode. So, I would watch to see if he's eating more than his own food & fast him another day or two.

EDIT: I just noticed, is that him in your Avatar? His belly looks the same in the pic you posted today & in the avatar or is it just me?

[rmarkham]

Yeah, that's him in the avatar.. the snails are pest snails that I don't feed.. they piggybacked their way into my tank on plants from my 29G. I guess when I see pictures of other people's bettas they all have flat stomachs, even my other betta doesn't get big like that.. could it just be that he's young and hasn't grown into his stomach yet?

[shellieca]

Bettas can be overweight, Cut back on how much you're feeding him & see if that makes a difference after a week or so. If you're feeding 3 pellets, feed only 2 or if you feed multiple times a day cut out one of the feedings.

[rmarkham]

I didn't realize they could pack on weight so fast! I've only had him for a 2 weeks if even that..;

[shellieca]

It's possible he was underweight when you got him. Now he's getting regular meals, he's in a clean home, his little life is happy! Seriously though, if it concerns you I'd start with adjusting his feedings.

[LebronTheBetta]

Hm... He does look a little bit. Lebron is usually fat but fasting him. Try getting frozen daphnia, I know Petsmart sells that. Peas won't really help but just make sure to not feed him too much as the roughness can damage their insides. Ouch...

[rmarkham]

He was very small when i got him... I'm not going to have a computer till tomorrow but if you go to my newly started threads you'll see one about "meet Mr. Squiggles " and those are pics of when i got him before i got him to eat anything.. he had no stomach at all.. sorry i can't post a link... all i have is my droid until i go home tomorrow.. i will go to petsmart and pick up some daphnia.

[rmarkham]

This is what he looked like when I got him on October 12th





I mean, his tummy is a little bigger now, but at least he's colored up quite a bit in the amount of time I've had him!

[rmarkham]

Okay, I just got home from my trip and here are some non blurry pictures of him, they aren't as bad as some other's I've seen online, but here they are because I'm paranoid. He doesn't look any better than he did this morning.. but he's super active and begging for food.. which isn't going to happen today!







Sorry for the photo overload, I just want to make sure my little guy is healthy :)