My Little Buddy has some serious lumps/bloating

[Ederan]

Hey guys, first post here. Any way, My betta, Little Buddy, is a 2 year old (to me, no idea how old he was in the pet store when I got him) Bi-color Veil tail, and about two weeks ago, I noticed he obtained a large bump/bloating that extends to both sides of him :(

I have him in a 20g tank with 5 Neon Black tetras, a Siamese Algae eater, a Pea Puffer, and 4 Corys and 2 Hillstream Loaches. They all get a long great with the exception of my Pea Puffer pushing the others around a bit, but nothing extremely aggressive.

Any way, I noticed it form after one feeding. I put in a cube of Frozen Brine shrimp, which I've now reduced to half or a quarter cube (was too much food). I give it to them about once a week to supplement the daily feedings, once a day of either flake or floating pellets, and sinking pellets for the Corys. Now I noticed it was too much food as all the fish took on a bloated quality, and there was still about half of the cube left over. All the other fish are fine now, but my Little Buddy is still bloated :( I started fasting him off and on over the last few weeks, and isolating him during feed times (so he doesn't eat to much), as well as adding some aquarium salt about 15mins ago.

Is there anything I should be more careful about? Could this be caused by something else??

Oh, and his fins used to be a lot more beautiful, but for a time my girlfriend and I had both our Bettas in a divided 10g tank, and one or the other would find his way to the other side despite our best efforts to conceal them from one another, and my Little Betta has never really recovered. He's had a bit of a rough go to be honest. When I first got him as a gift from my g/f for our 1st yr anniversary, I went all out and bought him a 10g tank and the whole works, and then added 6 Silver tip tetras later on. Which I found out to be a terrible idea, as he was almost chewed apart. My Little Buddy just can't catch a break but he's still holding on!!! I know its mostly my fault and up to me to acquire the necessary knowledge, which is why I'm coming to you guys!!

[Ederan]

can some one delete this??? just realized it should be in the emergency thread :p

[DoctorWhoLuver]

That looks like some serious bloating. How much does he normally eat? Hopefully, someone else will be of more help
Bump :)

[LizzyP]

Use Epsom Salt, not aquarium. Aquarium salt is for external issues, Epsom for internal. I would start him on 1 tsp per gallon (in a QT tank) with daily water changes and water conditioner. If no improvement you can go up to 3 teaspoons. Also, they can stay in Epsom salt forever, not like AQS where the limit is 10 days.

Hope this helps,
Lizzy

[Ederan]

thanks guys, i reposted this in the emergencies thread as well, and I'm going into town today to get water (for drinking and water changes :p). I'll stop at the pet store to find some epsom salts. I read to that tannin will help as well?? what would be an easy source for this, aside from buying a piece of aquarium wood? I could if I have too I guess, but I always have trouble with the wood, it never stays on the bottom and always wants to float, no matter how long I boil it >.<

{edit} and yes, he over ate. I bought some frozen brine shrimp cubes and popped a whole cube into the tank (its a community tank) but alas, even half a cube is too much. ever since then he's been swollen like this, about 3 weeks now. every other time he pigged out its gone away so I wasn't really tooo worried about it, but after three weeks I realized I need to do something, and yesterday!

[Perseusmom]

You can find epsom salt at any store or a drug store be sure and get the unscented type. As far as tannin thats mostly from Indian almond leaves thats help the most or natural fallen dried oak tree leaves the brown ones no green ones. Rinse them off very well and put them in the tank or boil them to make a tea and strain and cool off before adding some to the tank. Good luck I hope he feels better soon !

[Ederan]

Yeah we don't have oak trees where I live. Alberta is just too cold and the growing season too short. I'm a landscaper so yeah, we always shake our heads when a customer wants oak trees. Mostly Popular, Aspen and Pine here. For Almond Leaves, is that something I could find at a tea shop then?? I have no idea where I would begin to find something like that...

[aemaki09]

I dont know about a tea shop. but you can order them online, Aquabid has them 50 for like 12$