Bloated betta - help!

[hmjm]

I have a male betta and I keep him in a 2 1/2 gallon bowl with a heater.
- I change his water weekly
-I feed him betta pellets (3 pellets, 3 times a day)(bloodworms usually once a week (if that) to replace a meal of pellets. I now realize I may have been feeding him too many pellets.

He has a lump on his side toward the back- his scales are not sticking out like a pinecone.

I started fasting him Saturday (today is Thursday). When he sees me at the bowl he usually swims up to see if I have something for him. I feel very guilty not feeding him.

All the rocks have been removed from the bottom except one larger one so I can keep track if he goes to the bathroom.

I tried feeding him little bits of pea on several occasions every day since all this began - he won't eat them, he won't even try them. He did have 1 poop Monday (it seemed thicker than normal). Nothing has changed since then - he is still very bloated and he hasn't pooped again since then.

I have tried to find daphnia - no one sells it in our area. I Did find frozen mysis shrimp but he wouldn't eat it.

Wednesday I gave him an epsom salt bath as I was really starting to worry. Today is Thursday and I gave him another epsom salt bath this a.m. I am planning on giving him another tonight.

He looks like his other side is starting to look a little bloated as well.

I don't know what else to do for him. I wish I knew if it was constipation or something else.

Lately he has been spending most of his time at the bottom of his bowl. When he does swim he swims normal.

If anyone has any advice or any ideas I would really appreciate your help. I have called all the pet stores in the area as well as another city and no one has any idea what I am talking about.

[dramaqueen]

Hello and welcome to FishForum. It DOES sound like he's constipated if he's not pooping I would just feed him 2-3 pellets twice a day. If you can't find daphnia then you may have to order it online. All I could find was frozen at my Petsmart. Don't feel guilty for not feeding him. They can go several days without eating. The daphnia is more natural for them than peas. If you could post a picture of him then maybe that might help us to figure out for sure what is wrong with your betta.

[Kim]

Originally Posted by hmjm

He has a lump on his side toward the back- his scales are not sticking out like a pinecone.

I started fasting him Saturday (today is Thursday). When he sees me at the bowl he usually swims up to see if I have something for him. I feel very guilty not feeding him.

There are 2 things that stick out to me here.

1) The lump is toward the back? A betta's stomach is located around the area right above their ventral fins, so any bloating due to constipation would appear in this area.

2) You have not fed him since Sat. right. Well, even if he is not constipated he will not have enough food through his system to poop, so that observation may mean nothing.

A picture would be really helpful at this point. What I am thinking is that maybe you are seeing an oval shaped raised area near his tail. A lot of people have come on here worried about that, but in fact it is just normal betta conformation. In some bettas it is definitely more prominent than others though, so that is the reason people get concerned. Of course, without a picture I could be totally off base so that is really the best thing you can do right now.

Like has been said, 2-3 pellets twice a day should be a better feeding program. I hope to hear from you soon, and wish you the best of luck with your betta!

Kim

[hmjm]

Hi,

Thank you for your answers so far. I really appreciate your insights. I have included some pictures to hopefully better indicate where these lumps are (these were taken in his bowl and then the last two in his epsom salt bath to give a better contrast for the photo and the lump against a white background). The largest lump is actually behind his pectoral fin on his left side.

[dramaqueen]

Are his scales starting to open up like a pinecone? If thats the case, then its dropsy.

[hmjm]

On the side that has the largest lump (his left side) they don't appear to be opening up like a pinecone, but they do look stretched overtop of the lumps. The right side is the same. It does not appear to be opening up like a pinecone. Everything just looks stretched.

I am basing my comparison of the pinecone look to several photos I found via google that showed what I thought were good examples. i.e. this page about a little over half-way down (dropsy): betta diseases

[Jovi]

I'm sorry, but your fish looks like mine did in the beginning. Please see the post I made- Picture of my sick betta please look. I still really don't know exactly what is wrong with mine. I thought it was dropsy, constipation, full of eggs that can't get expelled, some kind of infection, but mostly I feel it is a tumor. If you find a treatment that works on yours please let me know.

Good luck with your fishy,
Jenny

[Kim]

Try feeding him and see if he does poop at all. However, the lumps being different in size and location makes it not look like constipation to me. The scales do not have the pinecone look, so it doesn't appear to be dropsy either.

Maybe tumors? In that case the only thing you could really do is just take care of him until he passes.

I'm truly sorry, and I hope it does turn out to be something cure-able.

[hmjm]

I fed him yesterday and then he wouldn't eat this morning. He did finally eat tonight. So far no poop. However, now he is spitting out white floaty stuff. Any idea what that stuff may be (perhaps food or something from his stomach)?. Very strange.

I did find an old post (at first I didn't realize it was an old post) from Julie's julie. She posted some pics of her male betta. He has the same lump as ours. I sent her a message but haven't heard back yet.

Thanks again for all your help and advise.

Heather

[Kim]

I've never heard of a betta spitting out white stuff :/ Doesn't sound good. If he's not pooping than it may be constipation. It could even be constipation coupled with another problem..it's really hard to tell with fish so all we can really do is try our best.

I'd try feeding him a bit of a pea. This usually works wonders for clearing up constipation and I usually use this method (or daphnia for less severe cases) on all my new bettas as they are all usually constipated from the store. All you need to do is thaw a pea, take off the shell, mash up the inside, and feed off a toothpick to your fish. Most of mine eat it right up. Only feed a small portion (no more than a small dot slightly larger than the head of the toothpick) to the fish as you don't want to compound any constipation by overfeeding and putting pressure on the swimbladder.

I hope this helps! Best case scenario is that your fish is only constipated and this helps him. If not, we'll have to consider other possibilities.