Very sick betta

[jeneal]

Hi all,

My fish is very sick. I have looked around all over the internet and talked to various pet stores in attempt to get some help, but I cant seem to get or find a straight answer.

Housing
What size is your tank? 1.5 gallons
What temperature is your tank? I'm not sure
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Anti-parasite pellets - 3 and some blood worms
How often do you feed your betta fish? about once a day depending on my work schedule

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Partial water change every two weeks, on the third change a full water change
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? about 50, 50, 100
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Not just when I do a water change but I have been adding some Maracyn-two power medicine to see if he gets better

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
No

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
He has gotten very fat and bloated as can be seen in the attached pictures
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
At first he was fine, but in the past two weeks he has been much slower, not as playful, hiding in his turtle or in plants at the bottom of his tank, and spending a lot of time near his heater.
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
He first started to bloat at the end of November. I treated him but there was no change in his symptoms or behavior. I continues to research and try new things to no avail. In the past few weeks his right side began to form a boil or something on top of the bloating. It has slowly been getting worse. I looked and I can see the scale outline still above the bump. I have taken pictures that have been attached.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
He has had two antiparasite medicine, the current one being Jungle brand, and the Maracyn-two power. He has also been cut back on food (we has getting fed, and eating it all, about 10 times a week)
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)? About 9 months

Here are pictures of Megabyte. I really hope someone can help me. I'm really worries about his new symptoms and change in behavior. At first I was just resigned into the fact I had a very happy, yet fat fish after nothing helped him....








Thank you

[karlhague]

Thats either a tumour or dropsy In my opinion , nothing can be done for tumours or dropsey.

Are her scales raised? (it looks like they are in the picture)


Also In a 1.5 gallo tank you need to be doing more water changes than 1 50% a week otherwise the ammonia will build up

[jeneal]

Scales arn't raised at all sadly.

Thank you for the tip on the water. He is my first fish and my only buddy in my office at work so we are both learning as we go along.

[Luimeril]

owies! poor baby! have you try fasting him? as in, don't feed him for a few days. do a bare-bottomed tank, instead of gravel/rocks, and look for poop. poor darling, i hope he does okay. x_X

[jeneal]

I did fast him for about 4 days, but then felt so very guilty because he would do his feed me dance every time I looked at him.

I will be changing his water tomorrow. Should I remove his plants and rock turtle too?

[Luimeril]

nah, you don't have to remove those. just the rocks or gravel, so you can see if he's pooping.

it's hard to resist the wiggle dance, but you gotta, especially if he may be constipated.

[Oldfishlady]

Welcome to the forum and sorry you are having problems.....

Wow...since the swelling look to be localized in the stomach...my guess is a tumor and not much can be done...if the Betta seems to be suffering I would do what is right by him and euthanize.....

Since he is still asking for food and dancing for you-
You could try Epsom salt 2-3tsp/gal....it may or may not help make him more comfy...but it wouldn't hurt at this point along with 50-100% daily water changes....

Keep us posted....

[Bettaluver4evr]

Oh dear! The poor lil guy! I agree with OFL *of course, she'll never lead you wrong*, it looks like a tumor. There isn't much you can do, but I don't think it's your fault! Don't give up on betta keeping, please, it is such a wonderful hobby. Poor lil guy, that looks like it hurts.

[JackisLost]

you said you feed him anti parasite pellets x3 and "some" blood worms every day? that's way too much. my betta only eats 1 hikari pellet a day. try to stop feeding him for a week or two, then switch to food that is specially made for bettas. why feed him ani parasite food if there's no need for it? it is probably constipating him up really bad

[karlhague]

Originally Posted by JackisLost

you said you feed him anti parasite pellets x3 and "some" blood worms every day? that's way too much. my betta only eats 1 hikari pellet a day. try to stop feeding him for a week or two, then switch to food that is specially made for bettas. why feed him ani parasite food if there's no need for it? it is probably constipating him up really bad

My bettas eat, 3 Atisons Betta pellets twice a day And ive never had bloat issues.

My male gets 3 twice a day my female 2 twice a day because thats al she eats