Bloated Betta

[Rich T]

My Betta has developed a swolen belly over the past few weeks.

He can swim fine, he eats fine, pretty much acts as he did before he started to swell. He looks perfectly healthy other than this! His colours have never been as deep as they are now.

I feed him four Hikari Betta Bio Gold Pellets twice daily and I also have a different brand of pellets just to give him some variation to his diet

Reading a few previous threads it looks like dropsy but his scales dont protrude from his body, they just look stretched

Anything I can do for him ?


Heres a few pics:

 

[f250fisherman]

He looks constipated. 4 pellets twice a day is way to much food. The pellets swell when they get wet. They get about 3 times as big. A bettas stomach is the size of it's eye. It will stretch, but it's not supposed to stay stretched that much. Cook a frozen pea in the microwave, or in a pan...Take the shell off after cooking, and feed the inside to the betta. Then fast it for a couple days. when you start feeding again, just try 2 pellets twice a day. He will stay healthy, and be full as well.

 

[Rich T]

lol this forum has soo much conflicting info, It was a member of this forum who told me four pellets twice a day.


I will try the pea thing now thanks

 

[shadow]

I usually feed mine 2-3 pellets a day. You have to judge for yourself which information is reasonable and which isn't. I usually go with the majority. You could feed them 2x's a day but cut back on the amt you give them.

When feeding you betta, his belly should slightly buldge when this happens stop feeding him. After the pea trick, I would not feed him for at least 3-4 days.

 

[Joby]

Agree he looks constipated. I was giving my boys 4 Interpet pellets twice a day as they were eating them so readily but they were getting podgy. I eventually found the hikari pellets and on the instructions it says 1-3 so they get 3 twice a day. Its hard to resist those pleading little faces but I do.

My son says "Mum they want more" but I explained that unless he wanted them to pop 3 was the limit.

The mighty pea works wonders and all my fish love them and are fed them once a week just in case

I hope he feels better soon. Let us know how he gets on

 

[Rich T]

Strange thing is he has been fed the same way for about 2 months, its just these past two weeks that he got this big

I dont always feed him at night either, every few days I dont feed him at night. This seems to really agitate him as he goes chasing after the catfish pellets ....daft fish


As I said hes seems absoloutely fine other than the enormous belly and now that im reasured that its not dropsy (Didnt think it was as no protruding scales) Im sure he will slim down soon

 

[Joby]

Hmmm that could be it if he's nicking the catfish pellets

My female bettas hound the cories for their sinking wafers etc so much that I have to put extra in and they have really round tummies. I feel a fasting day coming on

 

[shadow]

If he'e eating the catfish pellets you may want to feed him every other day 2-3 pellets. That way if he's eating the catfish food he won't also be eating his food.

 

[wuvmybetta]

uhhhm,that is beyond severely constipated and IMO it could very well be the beginning of dropsy

I have an old lady betta who started poofing up like that and I assumed she was eggbound/constipated for the longest time. Then one day her scales went erect
I thought she was a goner,she looked so horrid but thankfully colloidal silver cured the dropsy.

Personally,I would keep his water extra clean and add a bit of salt. Have you seen him 'pooping'? Or do you see any waste in his water? If so you can assume he's not constipated.

But then again, catfish pellets may have something in them that is harder to digest. Possibly more added by product or 'meal/flour'. Do you ever feed frozen food?

 

[Rich T]

He very rarely catches the catfish pellets. I distract him whilst I drop them in on the other side of the tank.

Once they've sank to the bottom he does not go and pick them up. Ive only ever seen him catch one or two on their way down. And the three catfish swarm over the pellets so the betta has no chance.

I do 50% water changes weekly at the moment as I am trying to clear a brown algae problem, it just keeps growing back on the same ornament (not all over the tank)

 

[wuvmybetta]

uhhhm...again...I just realized you have 6 fish in a four gallon. That's really,really overstocked Do you test your water?

I think you should upgrade to 50% wc's at least three times a week until you can get a bigger set up. High nitrates are the main cause of dropsy, and if your tank is fully cycled you are probably getting some really high nitrate readings before it's time for another scheduled water change.

 

[f250fisherman]

The biggest reason I felt it is constipated, is from the overhead picture. Normally on dropsy, the fish slowly gains weight on it's entire body, until the scales protrude. On that pic, the body is thin, while the belly is bloated. Feeding so much a day, of the pellets that swell when wet, It seems more like it is impacted. I'm not sure if the pea will even work, if it is impacted. I am just hoping it's not too late for the pea to help it.

 

[ral]

I have been feeding my Betta 4 pellets twice per day since I got him about two weeks ago. I noiced he has started to put on some weight so I dropped his food allocation to 3 pellets twice per day.

 

[Rich T]

uhhhm...again...I just realized you have 6 fish in a four gallon. That's really,really overstocked Do you test your water?

I think you should upgrade to 50% wc's at least three times a week until you can get a bigger set up. High nitrates are the main cause of dropsy, and if your tank is fully cycled you are probably getting some really high nitrate readings before it's time for another scheduled water change.

uhhhm..no its not overstocked

Yes its near the max that it can take but its definately not overstocked
Its actually sold as a 5 Gallon tank but ive quoted the amount of water actually in the tank in my sig which is 4.16 US Gallons


I dont mean to sound rude but I hate it when people come on here trying to belittle others saying you need to buy a bigger tank and do you test your water.
There are reasons why people have smaller tanks.

Just to satisfy your curiosity no I dont have high nitrates or any other high readings before doing a water change. Readings are the same now as they were two months agojust after introducing the betta


I know your only trying to help so appologies for having a go at you it just gets on my nerves

 

[Phantom Thief]

I'm with wuvmybetta here, she's right.

I know it's difficult, but sometimes you need to accept a fact. It is not belittling you to ask you to get a bigger tank or asking if you test your water. We've seen too many people who don't test their water, so we always try to stay on the safe side by asking. And i am sure you have your reasons for a small tank, but unfortunately small tanks are often very limiting.

If your water readings are ok, fantastic! It's good. But sometimes, is more of a question of how much swimming space the fish have. Also, both your White Cloud Mountain Minnow and Pearl Danio are schooling fish, and require at the very least, 3 of their own kind. And i personally wouldn't put cories in anything smaller than a 10g.

I hope you wont take this the wrong way, i'm only trying to help

P.T.