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Bloated Lopsided Belly

2K views 29 replies 3 participants last post by  XxxXnoodleXxxX 
#1 ·
Hello!

Tina's always been on the porky side, but lately she's been lopsided. She has rather significant bloating and its much more prominent on her right side. She's always had a curvy spine but its more prominent lately as well. Also, the gill on her right side appears to have problems laying flat.

She's been like this for 2 weeks, and I've been keeping a very close eye on her, and a few days ago I noticed her poop was white and stringy, so I started her on kanaplex. Yesterday her poop was red again so I thought maybe it was parasites, but the kanaplex doesn't seem to be making a mark on the bloating. I am soaking her food in the kanaplex to try and get at the source. I have also been treating with epsom salts in the hopes that she's just backed up. She doesn't appear to have any abnormal discolouration on her tummy as would be representative of a tumour. Her scales have had odd black tips to them on the bloated parts, but the scales aren't raised, and she isn't flashing or rubbing on anything. I know dropsy, I've lost one to dropsy and saved a rescue from it. This ain't dropsy, thank god. Also, she's been much more flare-happy lately, flaring at her own reflection tons. She's got an impressive beard, but I don't know if this behaviour signifies any sort of illness when its sudden.


Tank: 6.6 gallons filtered and heated
Temperature: 30* C
Food: Omega One Betta Buffet Pellets
PH: 7.5 (normal for where I live)
Nothing notable in her ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites.
I clean her tank once every 5-7 days, just cleaned it today.


Tina doesn't like to stay still so its really hard to get photos of her.
Any odd colouration of her scales, such as the line on her head, is the result of her dragon scales.
 
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#2 ·
The scales with the black edging is just the skin being stretched out. It happens quite often to females who get eggy and stretch with the egg's, kind of like stretch marks ^_^

She actually doesn't look lopsided to me, it's just that she's turning towards you so it throws proportion off a little, making it look like she's lopsided but she's not. Of course, I don't know what she looks like when she's normally swimming so I can't comment too heavily on that though.

Is she in view of any other fish? She doesn't look particularly eggy to me (which would result in some white poop as well), but it's a possibility. Are you still feeding her through this?
 
#3 ·
We're still feeding her the same amount as everyone else, though we did a food-soaked-in-kanaplex treatment last night. She has scoliosis (like me!) so her spine is always bent, but the lump is new. And she just seems quite sluggish. Oh and she's not in view of any other fish, BUT it may be worth noting she's been flaring at herself a TON lately.
 
#4 ·
If she's flaring a lot then that could contribute to her gill not being able to shut completely. I have a girl who can't shut her gills all the way because she actually has a scale in the way, she's also a dragonscale. She also used to flare so much but now doesn't.

It looks more like bloat to me so I think you should try fasting her a day or two to see if that helps any. The addition of ES should help it if she's bloated/constipated.
 
#6 ·
Tina is really not doing well. She was acting like her usual self this morning, surfing, eating her food, etc. We had treated her with kanaplex and epsom salts for her bloating, but it never went down or away. I came back from a doctor's appointment and she looks the same, still super chubby, but she's breathing heavily, staying near the surface, going up for air a lot, and hiding away from me. She doesn't surf, pay attention to stimulus in her tank, nothing. I'm going to test her water, but apart from that I have no idea what to do for her...
 
#7 ·
:-( I'm sorry to hear that. Any new pictures?

Are you sure she's not just fat for lack of better words.
 
#8 ·
I think I solved it. Going to make a separate topic. Because I found something that makes bettas panic and get REALLY messed up.
 
#10 ·
interesting, I wonder if there's any sort of elecro-pulse sent through the tank and into the water, shocking them. I'm not exactly sure how it will work but I figure probably something like static electricity if you had socks on a rug and then touched the tank with the gloves, it might ground you and shock her! Just keep an eye on her is all though, but I'm sure you're already doing that :)
 
#11 ·
Well the good news is that we figured out the gloves are evil for fish. Bad news is, Tina's still sluggish, virtually catatonic, and really chubby. Still not surfing, still hiding away, etc.
 
#13 ·
So we've tried basically everything we can for bloat, with no change. Though she's back to her old surfie self. So we're starting to think she's just really egg bound. So what are the safest ways to get her to either absorb or lay her eggs? o.o
 
#16 ·
lol. You can also fast her for two or three day's in a row as opposed to one or none. And that combined with the cut down feeding's should help her along. However, if this is sitting right behind her pectoral fins then that's not eggy. Eggy fish will have their ovaries enlarged, not the stomach area if that makes sense to you.
 
#17 ·
:-\ it starts behind her pectorals. More on one side than the other. It's basically right where her ventrals are. I just took the best shot I could of her:

We've fasted her, treated with kanaplex, api, and epsom salts. She's neither gotten worse nor better. Poop looks normal too.
 
#18 ·
Oh wow she's grown so much since I last saw a picture of her! Actually she just looks fat to me, or too big for her britches ;-)
 
#19 ·
Yeah she's a big girl now. Still the little sweetheart I fell in love with though. *chuckles* so should we just feed her less?
 
#20 ·
Yeah, I would put her on a diet for sure ^_^ I had to do that with one of my girls as well, it takes a while for them to work it off but they do eventually.
 
#24 ·
Well you are not terribly over feeding her at all but some girls get chubby/eggy easy. Try 2 pellets 2x per day she should slim down. Oh I know how much girl betta love to eat lol. As lilnaugrim said it doesn't hurt to fast a day or two. One day fast per week helps them clear the system out.
 
#26 ·
Has anyone encountered a fish getting really moody or something when you put them on a diet? We started feeding Tina two pellets twice a day, and she as stopped being social and seems to shun us a lot. Won't surf much, completely ignores us, hides from us, etc. She just isn't herself. She still hasn't either gained nor lost weight. :-\

Should we lower her feeding amount even more? Or continue at 4 a day?
 
#27 ·
I've had depressed fish for a lot of reasons; feeding less and losing their brother who they spent all their time with are my two top reasons :) otherwise, I'm not sure what else to do with her.
 
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