ANOTHER sick fish

[KappaTheImp]

Bought a female betta at Petco several days ago. I got her settled into my little half gallon quarantine tank and fed her a pellet. The next day she was showing signs of swim bladder disorder. I fasted her for four days and then fed her some blanched pea. A day or so later she was swimming normally, and not stuck at the surface anymore. The day after that she was floating again, even though I hadn't fed her yet. I'm fasting her again now, but I still don't know what's causing the problem. She was swimming normally again this morning, but this afternoon she's super buoyant again. Oh, and if it makes a difference, she's bloated pretty badly. Just her tummy, not her whole body.

Any ideas on what might be plaguing this little girl? She's still super active, she just bounces right back to the surface whenever she swims down. I seem to be having terrible luck with bettas right now, she seemed fine at the pet store...

Her water stays between 78 and 80 degrees, and I've been doing every other day water changes since I'm not sure what's bothering her.

[Pataflafla]

Did she poop after feeding her the pea?

If not, then I strongly recommend unscented, uncolored epsom salt at 1-2 tsp/gal (Dissolve before adding) and 100% daily water changes for a week.

Epsom salt acts as a laxative and draws out excess water (So it'll help if she's constipated or if her bloating is caused be something affecting the kidneys).

[KappaTheImp]

She passed a great big white something. I guess it was a poop. Not entirely sure. I was a little nervous about using epsom salt as I was told it was pretty stressful for the fish. She doesn't really seem too BOTHERED by her condition, so I was trying to do things the easy way. Guess it's not gonna work out that way.

[Pataflafla]

I haven't noticed my fish stressed by epsom salt at all. Mostly the water changes the it requires for the best results.

If she's pooping white and it's stringy, treat for parasites immediately. Chunky usually means egg poop, however weird it sounds it's good to know the difference.

[KappaTheImp]

It was definitely chunky. So uh... What is egg poop? That's not exactly a subject covered in my betta care book.

[Pataflafla]

Females always have eggs, but sometimes they need to pass them because they've expired in a sense. So to pass the eggs, females either absorb them or they expel all the eggs and eat them (Sometimes they won't eat them). This is a female exclusive trait since males don't produce eggs.

If your male has white poop, it might just be from lack of anything to pass or parasites (Always inspect before starting a treatment).

[KappaTheImp]

... So it's sort of like some kind of fish menstruation? I guess if she's eating them it could explain why she keeps bloating back up... I thought I was doing pretty good with my boys, this girl is a complicated little fish.

[ANHEL123]

I saw your other post when your other fish( male i think) was bloated. Did he recovered?
I really wondering what pellets do you feed them , how many, how often. Just trying to understand why you have this problem.

If you ever need to use Epsom salt don't worry to stress the fish. Like Patafla wrote it really mild and will be very effective when needed .

Also about a pea. Some people don't recommend pea method. Peas are great for goldfish who are constipated but bettas only get plant materials from the stomachs of their live foods they eat-it's just not wise to use a pea ...and some people believe it works(my opinion is that it wasn't the pea but betta went to the bathroom on it's own when it needed...
Frozen daphnia is what you would want to recommend for constipation:)

[KappaTheImp]

When my boy was bloated I was feeding flakes, not pellets. I was over feeding him pretty bad. He was fine after fasting for a day or two. I have all of them on New Life Spectrum Betta formula pellets now, a couple in the morning, a couple at night and a fast day on wednesday. When I bought my girl, I had only had her for one day when she bloated up so badly. I had only fed her a single pellet when it happened, and it wasn't immediately obvious after she ate. She's passed another giant white mass and doesn't look very bloated anymore, but she's still floating. Not sure what else to do, I thought the bloating was causing the buoyancy problem, but maybe not...

[ANHEL123]

I know white poop for male means it can have internal parasites . But for female it completely normal . But just want to be sure it not white stringy poop right?

I feed my bettas the same way. 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening. Blood worms sometimes instead of the pellet (2 times a week in the morning) I also spoil them with cooked shrimp sometimes.

If you will have problem with her. I think you will need Epsom salt.