Whitecloud09 Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 My bettas stomach is fat. Do I starve him for a day or two? I feed him a peeler 2 times a day.here’s a picture of him.Not a great pic😩 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 I think it is not about being "fat". It is hard to say if it is some sort of organ failure/fluid build up or some sort of lesion/tumor or a similar growth. In accordance with this anatomy picture below, the location more or less matches to where the kidney/swim bladder is. And kidney failure is sadly of one the most common organ failures. Fluid build ups happen in such cases. That being said, I don't wanna worry you for nothing. I was just making some guesses. @Odd Duck may help better. I hope it is just nothing serious but sadly fancy bettas are commonly problematic and prone to diseases/issues. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 On 1/18/2024 at 7:26 PM, Lennie said: I think it is not about being "fat". It is hard to say if it is some sort of organ failure/fluid build up or some sort of lesion/tumor or a similar growth. In accordance with this anatomy picture below, the location more or less matches to where the kidney/swim bladder is. And kidney failure is sadly of one the most common organ failures. Fluid build ups happen in such cases. That being said, I don't wanna worry you for nothing. I was just making some guesses. @Odd Duck may help better. I hope it is just nothing serious but sadly fancy bettas are commonly problematic and prone to diseases/issues. 😔 I know that for a fact. I 100% don’t like betta sickness. If it would be swim bladder what do I do??! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Have you tried skipping feeding for 1 to 2 days to see what happens? That would be the first thing to do if he’s otherwise acting normal. If that doesn’t resolve the issue, or if it gets worse at any time, then I would try feeding Daphnia and see if that “clears him out”. Their “shells” are enough roughage to potentially help move things through if it’s a digestive issue. If that doesn’t work, then an Epsom salt soak might be next as the next step in trying to resolve potential constipation. Try the fasting first and try for better pics to get us more information while we wait to see what fasting does. And please get us more information about your water parameters - ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, hardness (GH, KH), temperature, filtration, how long your tank has been set up, is it planted, and anything else you can think of that might be relevant. The more information we have, the smarter advice we can give. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 On 1/19/2024 at 1:55 AM, Odd Duck said: Have you tried skipping feeding for 1 to 2 days to see what happens? That would be the first thing to do if he’s otherwise acting normal. If that doesn’t resolve the issue, or if it gets worse at any time, then I would try feeding Daphnia and see if that “clears him out”. Their “shells” are enough roughage to potentially help move things through if it’s a digestive issue. If that doesn’t work, then an Epsom salt soak might be next as the next step in trying to resolve potential constipation. Try the fasting first and try for better pics to get us more information while we wait to see what fasting does. And please get us more information about your water parameters - ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, hardness (GH, KH), temperature, filtration, how long your tank has been set up, is it planted, and anything else you can think of that might be relevant. The more information we have, the smarter advice we can give. The tank is a 5 gallon non planted aquarium with artificial plants and a cave hide. He is acting fine but I think he has clamped fins…his paremeters are ph, 7.4 ppm ammonia 0 ppm,nitrite 0 ppm and nitrates are 2 ppm. His tank is very clean and the tank has been set up for about since February. He has a topfinn silentstream filter. He had fin tear or something a while ago but I think he is fine now…Today is day 1 of fasting him and I have daphnia which I will try if this doesn’t work. Here is some pictures of him⬇️ He is super super fast! Sorry for not good pics….The last one is when I first got him. Water is low because didn’t used to know what I was doing!😩🙄 I have been doing some aquarium salt for a other issues he used to have. Should I add some today? Also I will get some better pics soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schuyler Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 On 1/18/2024 at 10:55 PM, Odd Duck said: I would try feeding Daphnia and see if that “clears him out”. Their “shells” are enough roughage to potentially help move things through if it’s a digestive issue. I'm going to second the fasting and daphnia suggestion. Lots of people one suggest peas but bettas are insectivores. The crude fiber that they normally get in their diet comes from chiton (the material bugs use for their exoskeleton). Daphnia have fairly thick shells. To me, based on the pictures, he doesn't look to fat or bloated but I'm not a betta expert. That said, a fast won't hurt. Their digestive systems are actually designed to go through periods of no food. What temperature is your tank at? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 My temp is at 78 degrees and I have a bad heater which I am about to replace. The new heater is a tetra 50 watt 2-10 gal heater that I just ordered from Amazon which should come soon. Today is the first fasting day and I will feed daphnia in a couple of days On 1/19/2024 at 11:51 AM, Schuyler said: I'm going to second the fasting and daphnia suggestion. Lots of people one suggest peas but bettas are insectivores. The crude fiber that they normally get in their diet comes from chiton (the material bugs use for their exoskeleton). Daphnia have fairly thick shells. To me, based on the pictures, he doesn't look to fat or bloated but I'm not a betta expert. That said, a fast won't hurt. Their digestive systems are actually designed to go through periods of no food. What temperature is your tank at? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 Definitely get the heat up to 80 for this kiddo. What is in your filter? Is it cartridges that you change or have you swapped out for long term biomedia like sponge or ceramic? How do you get a 2 ppm reading for nitrates? I’m not familiar with any test that reads that low. Did you mean 20? How are you cleaning the tank? Do you have anything added to the tank for him to rest on? A tunnel or higher / taller plants than from your original pic? How much water do you change and how often? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 On 1/21/2024 at 10:16 AM, Odd Duck said: Definitely get the heat up to 80 for this kiddo. What is in your filter? Is it cartridges that you change or have you swapped out for long term biomedia like sponge or ceramic? How do you get a 2 ppm reading for nitrates? I’m not familiar with any test that reads that low. Did you mean 20? How are you cleaning the tank? Do you have anything added to the tank for him to rest on? A tunnel or higher / taller plants than from your original pic? How much water do you change and how often? Hello thanks for responding and I will tell you what his paremeters are:Ammonia 0ppm nitrite,0 ppm,nitrate 5 ppm(I don’t understand by why u think that 5 ppm on nitrates are to low as under 20 is what u want.)just gotta new heater that heats to 80 degrees which is the tetra heater a 50 watt one. I was cleaning the tank every other day when he was not doing to well. I just did one today. My filter is a topfinn silentstream one with a cartridge that I replace every month.I have a cave for him. I guess I can tranfer a taller plant from a 10 gal that I got that is cycling currently with no fish in it. He doesn’t come out expect to get air from the top….WHAT is wrong with em!!!????? HELP!!! I have aquarium salt should I use it?? Today is day 2 of not feeding him. Should I feed daphnia???! Please help @Odd Duck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 He is dying I think now……😢 he has been in his cave for 4 hours in the death hang position and will not eat or move….😭😭😭 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 I’m so sorry your betta isn’t doing well. I thought the 2 ppm you posted might have been a typo when you meant to post 20 ppm for nitrates. I just don’t know of a test that reads that low. Most are only accurate to 5 ppm. I was only seeking clarity, not saying that’s too low. No such thing as too low for fish, only for plants. Do you have any kind of floating breeder box or net that you can use to get him closer to the surface? Can you add an airstone? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 On 1/22/2024 at 5:31 PM, Odd Duck said: I’m so sorry your betta isn’t doing well. I thought the 2 ppm you posted might have been a typo when you meant to post 20 ppm for nitrates. I just don’t know of a test that reads that low. Most are only accurate to 5 ppm. I was only seeking clarity, not saying that’s too low. No such thing as too low for fish, only for plants. Do you have any kind of floating breeder box or net that you can use to get him closer to the surface? Can you add an airstone? that’s fine it might be 5 idk. I don’t have a airstone and I could probably only get it Thursday sadly…I fed him a sinking pellet and he ate it so that is some progress! I tried to feed him daphnia but it doesn’t sink!😫is there a way I can sink it? On 1/22/2024 at 5:31 PM, Odd Duck said: Do you have any kind of floating breeder box or net that you can use to get him closer to the surface? No I don’t..😢what do I do!? @Odd Duck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Frozen Daphnia sinks if you can get it. Freeze dried will sink eventually if you crush it slightly in water but he may not take it if crushed. Live Daphnia are the most attractive to them but he may not have energy for that now. Do you have a plastic container that has a significant rolled rim? Like a disposable Glad or Ziplock container? Sometimes those float decent for a while but will need air put under their rims at least twice daily. Or you could use a colander or sieve that you attach to the rim of the tank somehow? Run an airline (or even a string) between the slots on the colander and shut the lid on the line or tie it to a weight on the outside of the tank. Anything to serve as a temporary support to get him closer to the surface and into better aerated water. They sometimes do better if they can take some gulps of air. They don’t have to, but it can help if they feel the need to breathe that they’re closer to the surface since it can sap their energy to swim all the way up. Those males are dragging around a lot of finnage and it’s very physically taxing on the body as well as metabolically taxing to support that finnage. Plus if you can get him closer to the surface he might be more inclined to eat the freeze dried Daphnia. Don’t feed him live Daphnia in a sieve. If they escape before he can eat them it would just be frustrating for him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 On 1/22/2024 at 6:34 PM, Odd Duck said: Frozen Daphnia sinks if you can get it. Freeze dried will sink eventually if you crush it slightly in water but he may not take it if crushed. Live Daphnia are the most attractive to them but he may not have energy for that now. Do you have a plastic container that has a significant rolled rim? Like a disposable Glad or Ziplock container? Sometimes those float decent for a while but will need air put under their rims at least twice daily. Or you could use a colander or sieve that you attach to the rim of the tank somehow? Run an airline (or even a string) between the slots on the colander and shut the lid on the line or tie it to a weight on the outside of the tank. Anything to serve as a temporary support to get him closer to the surface and into better aerated water. They sometimes do better if they can take some gulps of air. They don’t have to, but it can help if they feel the need to breathe that they’re closer to the surface since it can sap their energy to swim all the way up. Those males are dragging around a lot of finnage and it’s very physically taxing on the body as well as metabolically taxing to support that finnage. Plus if you can get him closer to the surface he might be more inclined to eat the freeze dried Daphnia. Don’t feed him live Daphnia in a sieve. If they escape before he can eat them it would just be frustrating for him. Do you mean put him IN the container? Like how do I get him in…I don’t want to stress him though…btw I have a bigger plant for more coverage I could take out of my 10 gal and transfer it to his tank @Odd Duck Also any way I can get his energy level up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 And how can I slow flow in water? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 Also, he just came up for air pretty quickly..he missed the daphnia as finally I got it to sink but he tried to get it I will get a air stone as soon as I can!…..hopefully soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 I would catch him and put him into the container. Worth risking the stress of netting to keep him closer to the surface. It will be less stress in the long run. If it’s a colander water will flow through fine. Try for a colander with holes, not slots - he might try to wiggle through a slot and could get stuck or hurt himself. A sieve with open enough mesh will let water flow through. If it’s a solid plastic container I would find a way to punch holes in it or cut larger holes that are filled with filter sponge. You could put it so a small corner of the filter overflow falls into it and goes out the holes. Just a very small bit of the overflow stream or it will buffet him around in the container. Or you might be able to divert a small bit of the overflow into the container through a filter sponge. Did your filter come with any kind of prefilter sponge or sponge piece that you could adapt to baffle the flow? Pic of containers I was lucky enough to find that fits across my 10 gallon tank. I didn’t have to cut holes but you can do the same thing with a thin walled plastic disposable container. You can cut a piece of styrofoam to sit under the rim of the container to make it float. You might even try a sink sponge caddy but you would have to select it very carefully since they tend to have large enough holes that might tempt a betta to try to breakout. This one is a bad example to actually use, but you get the idea. It would need to be new so it doesn’t have any chemical contamination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted January 26 Author Share Posted January 26 Update on betta: he is alive and now swimming around!!!!! His stomach is still fat though…any other ideas? @Odd Duck? Like to make him…not fat? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 Up and swimming is great! Can you get live Daphnia now that he’s swimming? And I would start offering more variety of foods if possible. Too much of the same thing can potentially cause some malnutrition issues. That doesn’t mean that’s what happened with your guy, just a “food for thought” thing. Can you get any other pics so we can see what he looks like now? I know it’s very hard with moving fish, I’ve got a phone full of terrible fish pictures. Trying taking a video then saving a screen grab and sharing that or share the video as that can sometimes show us more about the body contours. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted February 1 Author Share Posted February 1 On 1/31/2024 at 10:05 PM, Odd Duck said: Up and swimming is great! Can you get live Daphnia now that he’s swimming? And I would start offering more variety of foods if possible. Too much of the same thing can potentially cause some malnutrition issues. That doesn’t mean that’s what happened with your guy, just a “food for thought” thing. Can you get any other pics so we can see what he looks like now? I know it’s very hard with moving fish, I’ve got a phone full of terrible fish pictures. Trying taking a video then saving a screen grab and sharing that or share the video as that can sometimes show us more about the body contours. Hey thanks for responding! Yes I fed him some freeze dried bloodworms yesterday and bug bites day before! Here is what I got now…I think these are recent! 😂 he is way to fast for me! I will try to get Daphnia. The live kind Got em a new heater @Odd Duck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted February 1 Author Share Posted February 1 @Odd Duck, so can u gimme a link to the best live daphnia for him? So many said that it was to big for the fish and they arrived dead from Amazon….😫. Any suggestions? On 1/31/2024 at 10:05 PM, Odd Duck said: That doesn’t mean that’s what happened with your guy, Maybe…😅 I had no CLUE what I was doing and fed him some flakes at first when I got em and then pellets for all his life and now I have learned!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 I’ve had the best luck buying locally so they were adapted to local water. I can’t ever seem to keep Daphnia going long term. I’ve managed several months at a time but the culture always crashes sooner or later. I think I might let them get too dense population because I want a “really good culture so I can feed more” but I end up not feeding quite enough or not having enough water volume to sustain the population I really want. I don’t know what, exactly, but I do know that if you can get him eating and keep him moving, he stands a better chance of recovery. Daphnia will often do that for bettas plus the benefit of preventing constipation because the shell has enough “roughage” effect to make sure things are moving through like they should. If you can sustain a culture, fantastic, but even if you can’t, you can feed a few Daphnia meals each week for a month and it might really help sort him out better along with your pellets, some frozen bloodworms, and whatever other worms or live foods you can find or grow, etc. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 On 2/2/2024 at 12:26 AM, Odd Duck said: I’ve had the best luck buying locally so they were adapted to local water. I can’t ever seem to keep Daphnia going long term. I’ve managed several months at a time but the culture always crashes sooner or later. I think I might let them get too dense population because I want a “really good culture so I can feed more” but I end up not feeding quite enough or not having enough water volume to sustain the population I really want. I don’t know what, exactly, but I do know that if you can get him eating and keep him moving, he stands a better chance of recovery. Daphnia will often do that for bettas plus the benefit of preventing constipation because the shell has enough “roughage” effect to make sure things are moving through like they should. If you can sustain a culture, fantastic, but even if you can’t, you can feed a few Daphnia meals each week for a month and it might really help sort him out better along with your pellets, some frozen bloodworms, and whatever other worms or live foods you can find or grow, etc. Yea I will get some maybe at petsmart or petco, I will see! Thanks @Odd Duck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 Ok I got a update @Odd Duck, so I just tested my water. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrates and a ph of around 7.4 or so. His stomach is huge so I need help. Plz @Odd Duck! Here is some pics ⬇️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 Is he still eating? How much? Did you have any luck getting him to eat Daphnia reliably? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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