eyeebrows

Apologies, he ended up passing away two hours after I posted and I forgot to come back and delete my post. Thank you though.

He went from constipated, to SBD, to slightly raised scales around his bloated abdomen. I know that can raise the scales slightly, but I can't tell if the rest of his body is starting to look like it or I'm just imagining the worst. He finally started pooping again today but has overall been more lethargic and breathing heavier. He's in a 4g hospital tank right now.

Yeah, the location is part of my concern. It doesn't seem to have grown any bigger today. Unfortunately no fish vets in my area, I've tried finding one for previous issues 😞

Hi, I can't tell if this is a growth or something bacteria/fungal/other. Whatever it is was not prominent enough for me to notice last night at dinner time. Tank: 10g, 77f, planted/filtered etc. Last parameters were pH 7.8, nitrite 0, nitrate 20, ammonia 0. Thanks

Yes, I've added extra catappa leaves. He's not acting any different, very active, building a bubble nest. His tail just looks like crap. It also keeps getting caught on the plants a bit as he's trying to swim through them which isn't helping. Thanks for the help, I'll keep an eye on him and see how the next week goes. I'd like to avoid putting him in the hospital tank (he's managed to spend an awful lot of time in there) but we'll see.

Nitrite and ammonia are 0, nitrate is 10-20 (I really struggle telling the difference in colour, but I think it's probably 10). I also didn't think the pH would be a likely reason..I just didn't know what else it would be. Plus the vita chem and catappa leaves to try and keep him extra healthy in general.

It averages 7.2-7-5 (the last one I have written down was 7.2 but I know that wasn't the most recent, I guess I didn't write that one down). I know that's not helpful, I'm sorry. I have soft water and it doesn't ever seem to stay consistent.

Noticed a bit of a dip in his tail last night (which has gotten worse today, that's what the photos are of). I checked the water parameters and the pH was at 8 which is higher than usual. Did a water change and added extra catappa leaves. Could the pH have caused it? He's hurt his fins before on substrate but never to that extent. I've been trying so hard to keep him healthy, even introducing the vitamins, but it feels like there's always something and I keep ending up here not knowing what to do/what I'm doing wrong. Info: nitrite and ammonia 0, nitrate 10-20 (I can't tell the difference in colour), pH spiked to 8 (averages lower 7s) Tank: 10g, 77-78f, filtered, air stone, planted etc. He's a master of injury so I've removed everything he's been able to hurt himself on minus the substrate (he rubs along the bottom looking for snacks). I have 3 walls of the tank covered with that plastic mesh canvas stuff so he stops seeing his reflection and freaking out. Diet: mix of frozen, freeze dried and pellets plus vita chem

There's a single rock, though when feeling it I didn't find it sharp. He's a master at injuring himself though so I genuinely don't know. I do have catappa leaves in there and I added some extra last night which I'm hoping will help. It doesn't appear to have progressed anymore today but I'm keeping an eye on it.

Thanks for the info! I usually aquarium salt him in the hospital tank, I just hate having to put him back there. He usually doesn't have that "tattered" look to his tail fin, which is what's concerning me. I never saw any indication of rot previously though. He had a very sudden bout of fin rot around Jan 7, where a decent hole and white fuzz showed up overnight with no other warning signs previously. I don't know if his colouring just doesn't know early signs or what.

Hi, it's your friendly neighborhood woman with a betta who hates living. I'm just hoping someone can confirm this is fine rot and not torn fins? He's finally in a proper tank again. It's a tank running since July so not new. Big problem is every time the lights are on he wants to fight his reflection, and I'm wondering if he's so stressed out he's now gotten fin rot? He was fine yesterday, didn't notice anything wrong. Today his tail looks like this. Tank specs: planted 10g, 77-78f, hob filter, pH 7.8, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10, Ammonia 0. Water change last night, I use seachem prime. Differences from last week are pH went from 7.2 to 7.8 and nitrate from 5 to 10.

Hey! I can kind of explain anything I've done recently and maybe it can help. So in-between my last update and now, after finishing the kanaplex, overnight one day he developed a fuzzy hole in his tale and the end bit fell off because of course there had to be another issue. I've stopped the Epsom salt baths to do aquarium salt for whatever fin rot suddenly decided to appear, added even more Indian almond leaves and doing daily 25% water changes. I don't know if it's coincidence or not but he's slowly starting to do better. He's still round, but it isn't as bad. I'm alternating frozen daphnia with the occasional frozen brine shrimp and he's pooping more regularly. (Sometimes it's even more than once a day now). That being said, his poops are still usually on the larger side, kinda almost oval? Idk how to explain it. My advice is get a hospital tank and don't put any substrate in it so you can monitor anything on the ground. Also holding a mirror up until they flare will sometimes cause them to poop and then you can watch and guarantee it's happening.

Update just in case anyone sees or has input on this: Hes still rotund after 3 kanaplex doses. Got a bigger hospital tank that he's back in for the kanaplex, and I'm doing daily epsom salt baths. Also feeding frozen daphnia. Yesterday he started making a tiny bubble nest, today I came home to him pooping out a decent amount considering I've only given a smaller amount of daphnia. Is there a chance he could've been..half constipated? Im wondering if something was stuck in there but not enough to fully stop everything. At this point it might just be a tumor honestly 🤷‍♀️ but he isn't pineconing so I'm thankful for that. Added a photo of how round he was the other day. I don't think much has changed but I've started at him so much I don't even know.

He's surprisingly still extremely active, social, giving me "the look" for food. All things he stops when he isn't feeling well, so that's why I'm so stumped.

I've been giving him daphnia instead, I've read/been told so many mixed things on peas. Tumor crossed my mind but the bloating was sudden. Now that I'm thinking about it, I gave him some frozen blood worms for the first time as a treat and the constipation and bloating started right after. I can confirm he's able to poop and his stomach isn't getting any bigger but it isn't getting any smaller. He's acting 100% normal too. I'm going to do another round of fasting and epsom salt baths and see where we get.

I also don't think it's pineconing or dropsy, it doesn't fit. I think it's been constipation based on the size of some of the poops and that there was a couple days without pooping. I'm just confused why he's still rotund because I've been making sure he's pooped at least some. Also fed any tempting snail food out of reach since then. I've had him for 5 months I believe. He's been through medications because turns out he was just beginning to get ich when I adopted him from a lady 🙃 he also dealt with constipation and SBD during that.

Thank you for responding. Just to clarify, is it still pineconing when there aren't any raised scales? I had always read they needed to be raised to be considered, which isn't the case here. Besides swelling I see no other symptoms consistent with dropsy. He's active, has an appetite, no odd swimming or resting behavior, and no raised scales which is why I was suspecting this was still the aftermath of constipation?

Hello again 🙃 I have a question sort of for my own peace of mind to figure out if I'm doing something wrong or not. TLDR how long does it take a poop filled fish to clear out and no longer be so round? Or am I missing something? Leviathan's been bloated for just over 2 weeks. I've done epsom salt baths, I fasted, I'm feeding daphnia (I finally found frozen just in case the freeze dried was causing ANY problems), and I know for a fact he's been pooping at least somewhat because I can get him to flare up and poop. Some of the poops have been large and some normal. For context (in my last post), he injured himself and had to be moved to a hospital tank right after stealing a load of snail food. My guess originally was he didn't poop everything out yet and having less space to keep things moving he eventually became constipated. But I don't understand why he's still so round? There's no pineconing and none of the poops are white or stringy or suggest worms.

I finally got him to flare poop. The damn SIZE of that thing.

He gorged himself on snail food the day before hurting himself and getting moved to the sick tank, so I'm suspecting that. He had a couple giant turds and now it's pretty minimal. Pooped after the first epsom bath but I didn't notice any this morning after the second. There is no peace with this fish I swear. Thankfully there's no pineconing and he doesn't seem to be having any SBD symptoms.

He only has a snail sibling. I have no idea where he injured himself but he definitely did it himself. I only have freeze dried daphnia, I can't find any other version near me. I wasn't sure if the fact it's dried would cause an issue or not. But yes no peas don't worry 🙂

Update: little hole he managed to cause has healed up good, now he's just the scarred man. But now we're constipated and bloated of course. Also those are bubbles and not ick, epsom salt bath for constipation

He's been put into sad boy jail and I went and got more leaves today (had run out). I'll post an update in a few days to see if anything changes. Thanks again everyone for your help.

Honestly I'm not surprised, but it was given to me so figured I'd give it a shot. Should I add anything else besides aquarium salt?

Will probably put him in the hospital tank to avoid adding salt in with the snail and plants. I've added API stress coat already but I don't actually know if that stuff works well for injuries or not.