Help! Big Belly Betta!

[Elquinjena]

I am a bit worried about my Betta, Hunter.He has quite a big belly on him.

Granted, the past couple of days he and his tank mates (Danios and Neons), have been enjoying a feast of baby brine shrimp and I normally just feed once a day. I do skip days sometimes when I know they fed well the day before.

The size of his belly concerns me, I feel like saying: "Darn dude! You could have shared some of that brine shrimp with others."

He also Hunts the gravel, looking for treats. I have always guessed it was eggs or fry from the danios or shrimp. Or even detritus worms coming up from UGF.

When he gets so he is backlit, his big belly seems empty =( but he is still acting like he is hungry, I am very worried and not sure what to do...i dont want to lose him.

Any help or advice is most welcome  and thank you 

 

Edited September 17, 2020 by Elquinjena
added one with light behind him

[Tre]

Move him to a small hospital tank.  Add low dose of salt and fast that bugger for 5-7 days.... He should make a giant poop....  It may be he is constipated...I'm not seeing pineconing.  A teaspoon per gallon (5ml per gallon of aquarium salt) is usually good.  Mine is pineconing currently with very little bloat.  They are underwater puppies and will keep begging.  They need rather strict diets sometimes..... if it happens once, that particular fish is more prone to it happening again unfortunately.  Daphnia, frozen or live, are good to help the food pass as well because they are the high protein the bettas need with fiber from the shells.

The top down view is a bit blurry....if there is pineconing (literally scales sticking out making the fish look like a pinecone, you may need to be more aggressive as this CAN indicate dropsy.  It's basically a sign of internal infection....  What dry foods is he eating? These most often cause constipation.

[Elquinjena]

Since he is in my community tank I vary the diet. Green beans, frozen brine shrimp and baby brine shrimp, freeze dried blood worms, Hikari Betta Bio Gold, Pellets, Xtreme Krill Flakes, repashy community  plus 6.

I watch my nitrate levels, when low I do feed once a day, when they are going up I cut back to every other day until I can do a water change.

I looked up dropsy and though he is not pineconing, his bloated tummy when back lit look clear like it's filled with water.

He is swimming fine, is still all over the tank like nothing is wrong. I have not fed today,  so will move him to a tank by himself and see about some salt.

Thank you

[Kat_Rigel]

Whenever I hear "excessive" hunger and bloated belly, I think parasites, nut I don't have experience with it so I would look for others to confirm. After doing some research for an issue myself, it seems bacterial infections move the quickest, followed by fungal, then parasitic. So if you want to treat with meds (as opposed to salt), erythromycin would be the best first step. That's you only wanted to do one; I know Cory often recommends doing all three. Your betta is indeed WAY fat! (Er, bloated.) I agree that it does not look normal. Personally I would treat aggressively with Maracyn. What tank size and how long have you had him? (Has he been ok for, say, a year prior to this? Or did you only get him a month ago?) And it sounds like he is not lethargic?

[Elquinjena]

I have had him since June of this year and he is in a 16 gal tank with some tank mates, whom are doing just fine.

He was not excessively hungry, he always wiggles and squiggles when I come to the tank thinking food is coming. He is not lethargic at all. I am putting him a hospital tank and will try the salt first then go from there.

His bloated belly looks like its full of water, i cant see anything in there moving around that might be parasites.

thank you for helping Kat and thank you tre

[Elquinjena]

he is in a 2.5 gal tank with 2 teaspoons of salt and I have upped the temp a bit from 78-79 to about 79-80.

I think i saw a bit of pine coning on him but he has to be at just the right angle.

sigh....how could i have let this happen? how can I keep from having such a thing happen again?
IF I lose him i know I will want another Betta but I don't want to get another one if this will happen again.
😟 sad and worried fish mom

[Kat_Rigel]

43 minutes ago, Elquinjena said:

he is in a 2.5 gal tank with 2 teaspoons of salt and I have upped the temp a bit from 78-79 to about 79-80.

I think i saw a bit of pine coning on him but he has to be at just the right angle.

sigh....how could i have let this happen? how can I keep from having such a thing happen again?
IF I lose him i know I will want another Betta but I don't want to get another one if this will happen again.
😟 sad and worried fish mom

🧐 Hm. So the nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia levels are all zero? I am not too familiar with betta requirements for Gh and Kh, but have you tested that as well? I would recommend a higher dose of salt based on this:

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish

The level you are using is "level one" but I think this looks severe enough to up it. Please use caution though, I am not speaking from experience, just from my online research. (I try to be careful in pointing that out because I feel like a lot of people perpetuate myths by giving advice without explaining its just based off of what they've read.) And is this something that has come on slowly over time, I'm guessing? Hm. Just trying to rack my brain and figure out what the issue is. Because even if we fix it, what caused it and how do we prevent it from happening again? Please keep me updated on him.

[Kat_Rigel]

Ah! And what is your pH too?

[Kat_Rigel]

And I would up the salt, according to this:

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish

Personally I would use the level 2 dose but that is based on opinion. It just such severe bloating, I assume the symptoms will progress.

(Sorry for the repeat posts. I think this case is interesting and I'm trying to make sure I communicate any thoughts that might help.)

[Elquinjena]

he is in a hospital tank i set up and i have increased the salt a bit more

nitrite and nitrates are 0 atm, hardness 120,. alkalinity 110,  ph 7.0, i have not tested for Gh and Kh. started water with fritz 7, put a small amount of wonder shell in the filter and a small amount of crush coral ( really soft water here). the tank i pulled him from is about middle of the road for alk, ph and hardness with 0 on nitrites and nitrates about 20.

none of the danios or neons are effected, they all seem fine.

I found this article
https://petcentral.chewy.com/dealing-with-dropsy/

but I saw no signs, he never hung back, he was up wanting to feed, was owning the tank like he always does. Only sign i saw was it looked like he had eaten too much, he can be a little piggy at times and I try my best to watch that. The danios are pretty good about zooming in to get their share, same with the neons. I watch him and make sure he gets a some, then by that time the rest of his tank mates have the remainder of the food gone. Then he goes and hunts the bottom of the tank where I think he finds some of those detritus worms ( though i have yet to see one), maybe fry or baby shrimps from the cherry shrimps that are in that tank.

I will most likely lose him, from the article, once they have a bloated belly, they do not recover from it =( 💔
I am going to try the recommendations from here
http://www.bettaboxx.com/betta-disease-illness/dropsy/

going with the almond leaves first, then the meds.

 

[Elquinjena]

hunter my betta has passed away.

I am still unsure why this happen, I have kept bettas in smaller tanks than what he was in and all of those lived into the 4-5 range before they passed on. (he was in my 16 gal community tank and he owned that tank, he was all over it exploring and being active. My other ones were always in a single tank 2 to 5 gals ones)

I check water just about daily, I change out water just about every other week or more if it needs it but I have it pretty well balanced now, water is crystal clear, Nirates are low to none with all the plants.

Only live foods I have fed him thus far are baby brine shrimp and the other fishes ( dainos, neons and in my other tank endlers) all are fine. I want to figure out how this happen, what did I do wrong, so I can fix the problem and not put another betta through that.

sigh

 

[Kat_Rigel]

I don't think there was anything you could do. He probably had something going on after being stressed by shipping. It sounds like you did everything right, sorry we couldn't fix him. 😞