[Razzi]

Housing:
How many gallons is your tank? 10
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? Yes
What temperature is your tank? 78
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind? No

Food:
What food brand do you use? Wardley
Do you feed flakes or pellets? Pellets
Freeze-dried? Bloodworms
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? Once a day - Three pellets

Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? Once every week
What percentage of water did you change? 20%
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water? Vacuum
What additives do you use? API Stress Coat + - API Leaf Zone - Tetra Algae Control

Water Parameters:

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite:0ppm
Nitrate:0ppm
pH: 7.0
Hardness (GH): -
Alkalinity (KH): -

Symptoms and Treatment:
When did you first notice the symptoms? Yesterday
How has your Betta’s appearance changed? He has a bloated stomach
How has your Betta’s behavior changed? He's very lethargic and stays propped up against the heater so he doesn't tip over
Is your Betta still eating? No
Have you started treating your Betta? If so, how? I didn't feed him yesterday and I'm planning not to for two more days before giving him the pea
Does your Betta have any history of being ill? Only other problem I had with him is his fin biting
How long have you owned your Betta? Was he or she ill or suffering some sort of damage when purchased? One year - No

I noticed that my Betta was staying in the far back corner of the tank behind the heater and that he wasn't going after food and instantly thought the worst. When I changed his water last night I noticed that he had trouble staying upright and wasn't diving under the water. Since I was out of town for a few days I asked my mom (who had been taking care of him while I was gone) how much she was feeding him and how many times a day. She said she'd just been giving him 'pinches' of food, so about five - ten pellets once a day. I've fasted him for one day (today being the second) and heard that giving him a tiny piece of a pea will help him poop? I'm willing to do anything if it means he gets better!

 

[EasternSierra]

If you look down on him from above, are his scales raised?

Hopefully they're not and he's just in a mega food coma. You can try giving him an epsom salt bath at a ratio of 1TBS/gallon. It's usually easiest in a small hospital tank. Let him soak in there for 10-15 minutes and then put him back in his tank. Epsom salt helps with bloating and if used correctly can work as a laxative.

Oh, and make sure the salt is totally mixed with water before hand. You don't want big ole salt grains in with your fish friend.

He's beautiful BTW!

 

[Hopefish]

Your fish is beautiful. Hopefully he can get over this, then you need to start feeding him a higher quality food. Wardley is basically junk food, and these sorts of problems are much more likely with low-quality food.


Also, there are better things (if you have access to them) to help him get over constipation besides the pea trick. I've been away a while and don't remember what they are, but they are on this site somewhere.


It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like he might be getting diamond eye --? There's help on this site for that, too.
Good luck with our little guy.

 

[Razzi]

His scales seem fine! I really don't think it's dropsy and that it's just overfeeding. I'll defiantly try the epsom salt bath and look around for other things to cure his constipation. He seems to be doing a little bit better. He's able to dive down to the live plants at the bottom of his tank, but he's still bloated and tips over onto his side.

Do you recommend any type of higher quality food?

I've noticed his eyes as well and didn't think anything of it since he never acted like he was losing his sight. I'll get some banana leaves to see if that helps with it?

 

[Hopefish]

New Life Spectrum or Omega One are considered the best. Northfin is supposed to be excellent also -- it's a Canadian company, but it's available in some places in the US now, or so I've heard.

 

[EasternSierra]

+1 for New Life Spectrum


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