[JessikaSky]

Unfortunately I listened to a couple of my friends "Oh my betta has these, never has bloat problems, I don't know what people are carry on for" and so I bought some freeze dried blackworms, I fed them to my boys maybe two nights in a row and then fed my boys their normal food and then the next night fed the black worms, one of my boys (my eldest Bill) has a really bloated and big belly, I didn't feed either of them last night, I am going away for 4 days tomorrow (depending where people are this is still a day away for me) should I put Bill in a epsom salt bath when I come home from work tonight and not feed him again tonight? and return him to his tank?

I'm really angry as my friends are telling me "oh it will be fine" and I stupidly listened.

 

[selah]

if you are going to use freeze-dried anything, you have to soak them in tank water until they are soft, and restrict the amount you feed them.. did you pre-soak them? I don't know anything about Epsom salt treatments..

 

[JessikaSky]

No I didn't, I personally watched my friend one night just take a pinch and sprinkle into her tanks so I copied. I only ever put a small amount in too.

I've been told adding Epsom salt to the tank helps with bloat, but I didn't want to do this with going away for 4 days and not being able to do a tank clean I didn't want to leave him in the tank with salt for so long, the other thing is daphnia (I think it was) and I've searched every pet shop around me for daphnia, I have a daphnia, blood worm and shrimp frozen in cube form which I have tried to feed to both bettas but I don't know if they get any of the daphnia.

 

[MikeG14]

Hey JS,
I would do an in tank Epsom salt treatment with a fast. ES baths are not effective. If you do a water change tonight, he should be fine for 4 days.

If you are not sure how to do the treatment...
Take a cup of water out of the tank. Add 1 Teaspoon per gallon of Epsom salt to the cup and allow it to dissolve. Slowly, over a period of an hour pour the ES mix back into the tank. Do your water changes as recommended, but remember to add 1 tsp. of ES back in for every gallon you remove. Epsom salt & Aquarium salt cannot be used together. So if you used it recently do a 100% water change to remove it before the ES treatment.

A slight bump in temperature can help too.

Frozen daphina works like a laxative, but as you mentioned it can be hard to feed.

 

[JessikaSky]

Hi MikeG14!

My plan for tonight was to do a 25 to 30% water change, so if I do this, add clean water add everything I normally put it eg water conditioner, do I then take out a cup of the tank water and add the salt, I would only be putting a teaspoon in anyway as my tank is 20 liters which converts to 5 gallons, and then add the water into the tank over the period of an hour? I will raise the temp I usually have it on about 25 degrees (77 F) so will raise to 27-28.

I don't add AQ salt to any of my tanks so that is no problem

I just hope those will be enough, I feel terrible, I just assumed if I did the same as my friend it would be okay :/

 

[JessikaSky]

Perhaps I might do the water change tomorrow before I actually leave to go away and then I will add the epsom salt?

I feel terrible, everything was going good and then I go and mess up his diet and make him all bloated

 

[MikeG14]

Yep, after your water change will be fine. At 1 teaspoon per gallon, you would be dissolving 5 teaspoons of Epsom salt for your 20 liter tank.

 

[JessikaSky]

Oh oops, I read what you said wrong thank you! would of had a very under salted tank lol
I hope this will help him, and he should be fine for 3 ish days roughly in the epsom salt?

 

[MikeG14]

Lets hope so, people have used it for as long as 30 days with no issues. I know Bill has had quite a few problems in the past. I do not think the ES will have a negative effect on him.

 

[JessikaSky]

Okay great, yeah he has poor bugger :/ my other boy is fine his tummy wasn't really bloated but then he doesn't eat his food straight away, he usually waits for it to get to the bottom and goes hunting for it lol.

I'll do a 100% when I come back although this will probably reset my tank cycle :/

 

[MikeG14]

I don't think it will hurt your cycle at all. If he's looking better when you get back do a 50% WC and don't add back in the ES. Then just keep doing your water changes as scheduled.

 

[JessikaSky]

Okay, I was thinking I might just do water changes to dilute it out, I do 25% every 2 to 3 days
Thanks a bunch for your help! appreciate it!