Swollen belly?

[AyalaCookiejar]

Yes, with swim bladder, it is common for them to stay near the bottom or top of the tank. If fasting him is not helping, it has been mentioned that you can treat him with Epsom salt.

In some severe cases, the fish are unable to swim to the surface which can cause him to drown. Be sure he can reach the surface.. If he can't, empty out some of the water so it's shallower and easier for him to reach.

[moonsand0wls]

Well, he can swim up there, I've seen him, but he slowly sinks down. And rests on the bottom. He can swim still but I see him resting on the floor of the tank mostly right now. I fed him yesterday before I noticed this so today will be my first day fasting him. How long do you recommend I fast him for?

[bryanacute]

Mine has. He is perfectly fine.

[AyalaCookiejar]

Do you have enough tall plants so he could possibly rest near the surface? As long as you know he can reach the top, it's okay. Fast him until he, well, goes poo. If it takes awhile, you can use Epsom salt, but if it's not available then all you can really do is wait patiently and be sure your little guy can swim well enough to get air.

After, look at getting a different kind of pellet food for him.

[Xeek]

I had a female approach obesity. I say it that way because it's usually pretty easy to notice before it gets that far. She was getting more food then the other girls in the sorority so now I feed them with tweezers individually when its worms or shrimp.

I fasted her for 3 days in a different tank (since she started showing aggression to tank mates after being the only one not getting food). That's all it took for her. Yours will probably take more time.

I think at a certain point though you will have to stop fasting and feed him. Feed him 1 pellet per day and eventually he should still lose the tummy. You could even try just feeding him micropellets more often and increasing his tank temp to over 80. This will increase his metabolism which is the same thing you would want to do for an overweight human (those don't make good pets). Also be sure to give him some fiber. That can come in the form of baby brine shrimp or wingless fruit flies if you can find them (helps constipation). I've also heard about peas (not sure, maybe you blanch them and remove the skin?)

This is all considering he doesn't have a parasite. He really just looks fat.

[AyalaCookiejar]

I noticed last night that my new betta, too, has a bit of a tummy on him. I figured it might be because he was trying to eat the floaty things in his cup at the pet store, and I'm not so sure that it was food...

They can live quite a long time without food, so fasting him for a couple days won't hurt anything.

[FishyFishy89]

I would lower the water level to help him out.
Reduce the stress and work level he has to let him rest and heal.

[moonsand0wls]

Yeah, I think I will do that. The other fish can get over it. I will do it when I get home - he can still swim so he will survive until then.

Thank you :)

[bryanacute]

My bettas tummy swelling has gone down. Fasted him for three days.

[moonsand0wls]

I just got home and have put him in a container and I'm floating him on top of the tank. It's going down, I think, but he's still resting. First day of fasting done.

Thank you guys.