Betta's color is dulling, belly swollen; sign of something wrong?

[Neil D]

Is he really old?

[fosschick]

Originally Posted by Neil D

Is he really old?

Nope, just purchased less than 2 months ago.

I'm guessing it will just take time, and more pooping. I'm being impatient because he looks uncomfortable, even though he's not acting like it. At least his coloring is improving.

[Neil D]

Oh. Keep on the water changes and monitor water params. Hope he poops! And gets better!

[fosschick]

His belly is enormous now. He's not constipated. He's eating and pooping normally, although has a MUCH better diet now, and it shows in his color and fins. His diet consists of live and frozen foods from a reputable LFS.

He's back in his main tank, and acting as if nothing is wrong. No swimming issues. Making bubble nests! Playing. Happy.

But he seriously looks as if he swallowed a marble.

I'll continue with the 50% water changes once a week, as his tank is established and filtered.

Water params today:

Temp: 80F
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
pH: 6.5
Hardness: 75
Alkalinity: 120

[Neil D]

Maybe he's deformed. Or it's a gene. Fast him. Soak the pellets. Don't feed freeze dried(lots of air). He seems fine from ur description. Hope the swelling goes down...

[Here Fishy Fishy Fishy]

The swollen belly may be from parasites.

I had a young CT - F with a swollen belly and cranky attitude. Went through all of the above trying to unconstipate him... she pooped alot, but still continued to swell.

I got some anti - parasite food - and the belly has gone way down. Another couple weeks of treatment are left (three contiguous days anti-parasite food for 6 weeks). She doesn't like the food much (I do crush it, so it is bite sized for her), but over three days, she eats some.

Her attitude has majorly changed - she used to be so mean, attacking the other girls - and eats less (she used to eat everything in sight). Thank goodness I figured out what was wrong!

There are other reasons for bloat - like bacterial infections, for instance. Just wanted you to know what happened in our situation.

Good luck to you and your betta! Hope your buddy feels better soon. :)

[fosschick]

Originally Posted by Here Fishy Fishy Fishy

The swollen belly may be from parasites.

I had a young CT - F with a swollen belly and cranky attitude. Went through all of the above trying to unconstipate him... she pooped alot, but still continued to swell.

I got some anti - parasite food - and the belly has gone way down. Another couple weeks of treatment are left (three contiguous days anti-parasite food for 6 weeks). She doesn't like the food much (I do crush it, so it is bite sized for her), but over three days, she eats some.

Her attitude has majorly changed - she used to be so mean, attacking the other girls - and eats less (she used to eat everything in sight). Thank goodness I figured out what was wrong!

There are other reasons for bloat - like bacterial infections, for instance. Just wanted you to know what happened in our situation.

Good luck to you and your betta! Hope your buddy feels better soon. :)

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this dense thread and offer your experience. It really means a lot! I'm going to start some serious parasite investigation now. Rocko isn't cranky, but everything else fits. (Then again, I wouldn't know what cranky looked like as he's my first fish.) I've read you can examine the feces on slides (with a microscope) directly. Did you go that far, or just get lucky, with the diagnosis? ;) I'll keep reading up on this.

[Here Fishy Fishy Fishy]

Originally Posted by fosschick

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this dense thread and offer your experience. It really means a lot! I'm going to start some serious parasite investigation now. Rocko isn't cranky, but everything else fits. (Then again, I wouldn't know what cranky looked like as he's my first fish.) I've read you can examine the feces on slides (with a microscope) directly. Did you go that far, or just get lucky, with the diagnosis? ;) I'll keep reading up on this.

I do not have a microscope here (although I have several high powered magnifers); but, I didn't need one. I noticed 'thread' like projections from the fish's 'nether regions'... and from what I've researched, that spells parasites.

Regular betta poop looks like really tiny cinnamon buns (I didn't come up with this description, but its very accurate), not like threads or string...

I am watching this fish carefully. I'm not entirely convinced I've nailed the bloat completely. She's still rounder than I'd like and I suspect there is something still amiss. I know the parasites are nearly resolved. Now I've got to figure out what else is going on. Her ovi positer looks inflammed. So I'm back to the 'net, to do some more research.

How did people keep fish alive before the internet??? LOL...

[Neil D]

Very carefully...

[Here Fishy Fishy Fishy]

My mom did it in the 1970's and she made it look easy. *sigh* Ah, the good old days, before antibiotic-resistant bacterias and such...