Hi, I recently bought a rose petal betta within the last few months, and he seems to be having some trouble. Specifically, he keeps getting bloated and constipated, and it is causing him a lot of stress and rotting his beautiful fins which is messing up the water's ammonia levels.
I keep him in a 3.5-gallon tank treated with Stress Coat+ and have a Rabbit Snail to keep the brown algae that is growing under controls. I got his water tested to make sure it was not poor water quality, and the only thing off was slightly high ammonia which they told me was likely due to his fins beginning to rot. I also keep his tank around 80 degrees with a small heater.
I will be honest, I did overfeed him at first. He has a much larger appetite than my last betta and I was misled online. I was feeding him 12 micropellets a day, but after he became constipated and developed swim bladder disease I fed him 1/4 a cooked pea and he got completely better! I reduced his feedings to 3 micropellets a day with 1 day of fasting, which should not be constipating him. However, every other day he is constipated and bloated. I know I should not be feeding him peas often, but I have no idea what else is available to get him fiber to poop. Is it common for betta to have digestive issues, or is it something I am doing? I have treated his water with Betta/melafix a few times now and his fins seem to refuse to heal, so I assume the digestion trouble is stressing him out. I change his water 25-50% every week, and last night did a full water change due to the brown algae beginning to overgrow and stressing him out more.
Is the brown algae a possible cause?
