Betta Post-mortem.

[Ellie325]

Please can somebody tell me what my betta died of so I can prevent it happening again?

This betta was rescued from a community tank. It lay sideways on the surface of the water, had absolutely no tail and apperared unable to use its gills. It would occassionally just gasp at the surface. I presume it wasn't eating because the pellets that where fed where about 4x the size of its mouth. I put it in a breeding net, started feeding micro pellets and set up a 15l baby biorb for it to live in. Within a month it recovered sufficiently in the breeding net to be able to swim upright. Transferred to the biorb. Tail started growing back. Noticed swelling as shown in this picture:



Presumed I had been over feeding or that it was the sudden change from a period of starvation to being fed regularly, or that it was just a deformed betta. Behaviour was normal, as was appetite. Water tests showed no ammonia or nitrite. About a month later from first noticing the swelling the betta has unfortunately died. There was no progression of the swelling or any other symptoms.

Was this due to a dissease that I dindn't recognise?

 

[Colin_T]

I can't be 100% without seeing the actual fish and doing an autopsy but in the pic the area around the swollen belly seems to have the scales sticking out a bit. This is common in fish with internal infections. Quite often they develop an internal bacterial infection and they bloat up. The bloating causes the scales to stick out a bit. Due to the infection the fish usually dies from organ failure.

There isn't much you can do for internal infections and chances are the fish was old and stressed when you got it. Thus making it harder for you (or anyone else) to be able to keep for any length of time. It had also been bashed (chewed up in the community tank) and this would have added to its problems.

Bettas are a short lived fish and only last for a couple of years. If they are big fish when you buy them they can be a year old. This only gives you another year or two at the most. Feeding them a varied diet and keeping their water clean and warm will maximise their life expectancy and allow you to keep them for a while. But ultimately they just don't live that long and yours may have just succumbed to old age, stress and internal health issues.

edited to add
the white patch on the picture is from the camera flash. If you have the camera on a slight angle when facing the tank, the light from the flash should bounce away from the camera and you won't get a white patch on the picture.