Anti-Bacterial Vs. Anti-Parasite Pellets

[Sakura8]

Just a quick question: My guy Sherman is acting very off, has been now for the past few days. He's spending a lot more time on the bottom and hiding in his cave, and he only hides when he's sick. I started him on a course of Jungle Labs Anti-Bacterial Pellets to see if I can ward off anything more serious but now I'm wondering if I should have gone with the Anti-Parasite pellets instead because of the metrodinazole in those. Which is better and is it okay to switch pellets if I need to? He's only had about 4 of the Anti-Bacterial pellets so far. Thank goodness he eats anything.

[Sakura8]

Now in hospital tank with epsom salts. Looking a little bloated. Switch to Anti-Parasite or stay with Anti-Bacterial?

[Kytkattin]

I wish I knew the answer to this too! And I hope your boy feels better soon!!

[Sakura8]

Thanks, Kytkattin, I sure hope he gets better too, he's my baby. He doesn't seem to have swim bladder problems, he was just hiding a lot which he never does. And it's always hard for me to tell when he's bloated, his ventral fins get in the way. I'll stick with Anti-Bacterial for now until I get an answer.

[DarkMoon17]

Well, I'm not sure there are enough symptoms to know which pellet is better... Have there been any storms in your area recently? Any noticeable temp changes?

He may be a little bloated because of the medicated pellets. They aren't part of his normal diet. Epsom wouldn't hurt though.

Do you still have that vitamin supplement? Add that if it isn't already in there and offer him some frozen or live food. You can soak it in garlic juice to boost his immune system. He might just be "off" due to changes in the weather or a minor infection. He should be able to get over it himself if that is the case. Just increase water changes until he is acting a bit better and support his immune system with the supplement and frozen/live foods.

It's your call on the pellets. I haven't really used the anti-bacterial ones because I've had so much luck with the anti-parastic ones but once you start a med you should really finish the whole course of treatment. I wouldn't feed them exclusively though since they aren't very nutritious. Hopefully it's nothing and he'll feel better soon!

[Sakura8]

Thanks so much, Dr. DarkMoon, I appreciate this. No storms but the weather is turning hot again, maybe that contributed. No need for heaters anymore. I've been using the vitamin supplement so I'll continue that and I'll stop the pellets. I have some frozen bloodworms and some frozen brine shrimp and I just set out a bucket so I should get some mosquito larvae in a day or two. Even though he eats anything, I'm sure he'll be much happier with the frozen treats. His diet has been mostly frozen foods, only a few Omega One pellets a week but the brine shrimp is a new addition he hasn't gotten to try yet.

I should mention he seems to have chronic constipation. He only seems to poop once a week, sometimes longer than that, at least as near as I can tell. I've tried everything, daphnia and fewer pellets, epsom salts, flaring him, you name it. It's never seemed to bother him, he's always been active and never sinky/floaty so I finally stopped worrying about it on a constant basis. And I didn't notice him bloated until after I fed him this morning so you are almost certainly right about the pellets causing that.

I'm really glad you think it's nothing serious. I can stay calm when trying to help other people with their bettas but I freak out when it's my baby Sherman. Thanks again.

[bettaloverforever16]

My betta barely ever poops for osme reason (Sparky's weird that way) ever since I got him two years ago, and he's acted fine.

[Sakura8]

I'm glad Sparky's okay. I know some bettas don't poop as often but Sherman really pushes the limit. But after he got some brine shrimp and was in epsom salts for a night, he did poop so things are looking up. Thanks again for the advice, DarkMoon.

[Kytkattin]

May I ask what flaring him means? I would assume right off the bat that you are talking about how bettas flare, but I am curious as to how it applies here. Is it just to see if he reacts?

[Sakura8]

Haha, you haven't noticed this yet? You're lucky, it's one of the more interesting but disgusting side effects of flaring. When you put a mirror or another betta in front of your guy, he'll get all excited and start swimming around and generally just get hyperactive. And strangely, all that hyperactivity tends to make them poop, usually a big one. I've also noticed the same phenomenon when one of my girls gets scared being cupped for water changes. She swims frantically in her cup and flops around and sooner or later, there's a nice big bomb on the bottom of the cup. I can literally scare the poop out of her if I cup her, haha. My problem with flaring Sherman to get him to poop is he's not very excitable. He just looks at my other betta and fluffs his fins but he rarely flares any more. I don't think his attention span is long enough.