# Bloated, still poops and eats!



## Franklinstein (Sep 24, 2011)

Housing 
What size is your tank? 1.5
What temperature is your tank? 80
Does your tank have a filter? no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? Zero

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Nutrafin max Flakes w/freeze dried bloodworms
How often do you feed your betta fish? once a day

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change? once a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?100
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Aqueon Betta Bowl Plus (the water goes through a water softener, i dont know how to go around it)

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? no

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity: 

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? He is bloated and the color has faded behind his head. 

How has your betta fish's behavior changed? sits on the bottom of the tank and only comes to the top to eat. but still occasionly swims around but very fast. he sometimes runs into the glass and the plants.

When did you start noticing the symptoms? On sunday

Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I started today with a mixed a gallon of water conditioner, epsom salt, and oak leaves. I put him a jar with that mixture today, because i read to do that for a boalted fish. But i didn't do the hour change for the first three hours, and i'm Not really sure if i should put the leaves in there with him, or filter the leaves out. I just gussed and I have filtered the leaves out. I am with holding food. (Before I put him in to the jar with the mixture) he would eat and still poo just fine, but he is super bloated and i don't know what happened.

Does your fish have any history of being ill? No

How old is your fish (approximately)? I bought my fish three months ago.

He is bloated and if i gave him food he would eat and he would poop. I don't know what went wrong i had a betta before but died of old age so this is new and scarry. he almost looks like he might pop if he gets any bigger. 

I need some Help and advice anything, I dont care at this point. I just need any kind of help that would ease my anxiety.


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## bahamut285 (Dec 10, 2010)

Hello, welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear your guy is not feeling well 

Freeze Dried Blood worms should either be a treat or a meal REPLACEMENT, not for everyday meals. I normally fast them on Sunday, so I don't feed them anything, but right before dinnertime, I'll give them one or two bloodworms for the whole day 

What colour is his poop? Can you get a picture of his stomach?


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## Franklinstein (Sep 24, 2011)

The food that I feed him is flakes and blood worms but i don't think the food has any in it because i dont see them. I do have blood worms but i don't give him any and if i do it might be once a week..

Here are some photos i dont know how to post them so here is a link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6176458819/


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## omgitslph (Jun 14, 2011)

That looks like an infection instead of constipation. What color is the poop? This will tell us a lot about what's going on in your fish's belly. 

(Also, I'd switch from flakes to pellets.)


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## Franklinstein (Sep 24, 2011)

his poop is long and light brown. I remeber his poop used to be brown and thick and curled.


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## omgitslph (Jun 14, 2011)

No clear poops at all? If not that rules out worms. I'm gonna say its a internal bacterial infection. I'd wait to confirm that with another member to be sure, but for now move him into 3 tsp a gallon of epsom salt since he's so huge. That should help control the bloat.


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## Franklinstein (Sep 24, 2011)

Ok because I have 1 tsp w/ gal and 18 crushed oak leaves and the water treatment in a gal. And I filtered the oak leaves out into a jar that's what he is in now, and also explains the brown water. I promise it's clean. I just started today with the water. 

But I’m not really sure I’m doing the water treatment right. I will do the 3 tsp like you recommended. But how long does it take for the bloating to go down? I haven’t seen any change in him at all, and I put him in his jar this morning so he's been in there for at least 12 hours.


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## omgitslph (Jun 14, 2011)

He's so big that 1 won't help at all. I currently have my betta, Lando Calfishian, in 3 tsp a gallon since he has a worm and it went down a bit. You can see his bloat here http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y120/FoRkSiNtOaStEr/DSC_0025.jpg

You should see some change in a few hours or so I'd think. I really don't know though. Keep him warm and in epsom salt and I'll do some research.


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## Franklinstein (Sep 24, 2011)

Is it a Tablespoon or a teaspoon? Yeah his way big I'm scared that the jar i have him in is giving him anxity, but I dont have anything bigger. He is about 3.5-4 inches I dont really know what he is maybe a delta?  I'm a terable mom.


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## Pataflafla (Jun 2, 2011)

3 teaspoons per gallon is the dose you'll need. If his poop turns white and stringy, treat him for parasites with either General Cure or Jungle Parasite Clear.

Also, if you can, switch to pellets. Flakes are notorious for bloating issues (maybe not as severe as your case, but they still are a cause of it). Blood worms as a treat as previously stated.

If he' still willing to eat after fasting for 3 days, you can try feeding him daphnia(if you can get it).


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## BlakbirdxGyarados (Feb 10, 2011)

From what I can tell from the photos, he looks like a Veiltail. When he gets better, get some pictures of him in his home, so we can tell you what he is for sure. 

I also should point out that 100% water changes in a 1.5 gallon is a little too less. Personally I'd do 100%, skip a day, then 50%, skip, 100%, skip, 50%, etc.

Tsp is Teaspoons.

Any you're not a terrible mom.  With betta fish, it's a long learning process. Don't feel bad! Do what you can for him, and do your best. Research a little more and you'll be great!

Welcome to the forum. Here's hoping your guy gets well soon.


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## omgitslph (Jun 14, 2011)

Awe you're not a terrible mom. We all have our issues. I have 1 with a worm, 2 with severe fin rot (and one had the most beautiful tail!), and one recovering. If you're a horrible mom, I must be even worse! Like I said, we all have our issues that are out of our control. You didn't do anything here, and you're trying to make it better! You're the best fish mommy he could ask for. <3

If you have a square container that would better for him since round surfaces distort their vision and that could freak him out.

It's teaspoon, not tablespoon for the salt.

aaaand that's about it. Fast him for a day or two and switch to a pellet. If he won't eat still try some Daphnia (found in the frozen foods at petsmart) or soak his pellets in garlic juice.


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## Franklinstein (Sep 24, 2011)

Ok, so maybe I should invest more than $1.50 for food then. lol I blame my cheap collage ass for the cheap food. So maybe I also need a new bowl to because the one he original live in is round also. That's good to know about the bowl, I didn't know about that. Thanks for all the help I feel a little better now.

Also do the front fins shed? Because they where longer then they are now, and I saw that some of the fin was in the plant I had in the bowl. But I also thought that it might have ripped off so I pulled the plastic plant out.. This all happened this week when I noticed that he was bloated.


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## Pataflafla (Jun 2, 2011)

The fins don't shed, but he could have torn some of it off on a decoration. As long as the edges aren't black, he should be ok though. You should worry more about his bloating, since that is so severe.

I think topfin betta bits (what I feed) runs around $3 or under at Petsmart. It has a medium sized pellet that I find most bettas are capable of easily eating. New Life Spectrum is supposed to come in a variety of sized and is more expensive. I don't know about the quality if that food since I don't use it.


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## Franklinstein (Sep 24, 2011)

I don't think there is any black on the bottom of the fins. But do you think my fish has dropsy?


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## omgitslph (Jun 14, 2011)

I personally don't think it's dropsy. Dropsy is a symptom and not a sickness. I personally think that it's an internal bacterial infection. I wish I knew the treatment for that. If you ask OFL, Sakura, or Darkmoon they'd be able to help more.


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## Pataflafla (Jun 2, 2011)

It's very possible with how bloated he is.

Give the epsom salt a little time to work so you can see what kind of medication might be needed.

If he doesn't have white stringy poop after some time with the epsom salt and his bloating hasn't gone down, you'll need 2 medications to try and save him.

Dropsy is a symptom itself of usually an internal bacterial infection of the kidneys (they control the amount of fluid the body intakes and releases, so when they stop working fluid builds up under the skin and causes pine coning). you'll need *Maracyn 1 and Maracyn 2* to treat gram negative and gram positive bacteria since it is incredibly difficult to tell which is affecting your fish. you'll also need to keep him on the 3 tsp/gal of epsom salt while on medication to try and take off some of the excess fluid.


You'll also want to be able to get some metronidazole internally. I believe Jungle makes a medicated pellet for parasites still, but you'll run into the problem of getting your boy to eat it (I've only managed to get 1 eaten in a feeding frenzy). they don't seem to taste very good to bettas, so garlic may come in handy there. This step isn't a must since it's often too difficult to get them to take it and most bettas at this point are not eating anyway.

I've had to deal with dropsy 3 times now. It's near impossible to survive, and even then there's recurring issues with it. hopefully your boy just has bloating.


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## Franklinstein (Sep 24, 2011)

Ok so the bloating hasn't gone down any, and his poop is now white and like a string, I noticed the part that is bloated kind of has a gold shine to it. Should I just keep him in the qt? Or should I treat him with something??


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## Pataflafla (Jun 2, 2011)

Keep him on the epsom salt and treat with Jungle Parasite Clear or General Cure.

Sounds like he has parasites.


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## Franklinstein (Sep 24, 2011)

Should I still be fasting my fish?


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## Pataflafla (Jun 2, 2011)

Since it's parasites, offer him food soaked in garlic juice. That'll make it smell and taste really good to him if he eats it as well as boost his immune system and help fight the parasites.

Offer him food as you would at regular meal times. If he doesn't go for pellets, try some blood worms soaked in garlic or some krill soaked in garlic.


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## omgitslph (Jun 14, 2011)

I figured it was a parasite as he looks just like my poor lando. I ran a treatment of General Cure in my tank and it took a lot of the worm out. It could be awhile before it all comes out so do the garlic and feed him Jungle Anti-Parasite. Also, bump up the temperature to 84*F as that will make the parasites angry/die.


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## Franklinstein (Sep 24, 2011)

Thanks for the help. But he died this morning. Sad way to start a day! Checked on him before I went to bed and he was fine, but when I went to his fish bowl to check on him this morning he was gone.


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