Does my betta have popeye?

[HannahT21]

She got white rings around both her eyes a few weeks ago so I used melafix for a week. It didn’t seem to change much. They seem to be more prominent now but I honestly can’t tell if it’s her coloring or not.

She also has a weight issue, I don’t think it’s a disease since she’s very active and behaves normally, I’ve just been struggling to help her lose weight for a couple weeks now. Does anyone have advice on these subjects? Thank you!

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Don't know but he looks bloated to me...

 

[HannahT21]

Don't know but he looks bloated to me...

Yeah I know, I’ve tried getting higher quality food, fasting for 1-2 days, giving her a pea to help her digest and it’s not overfeeding
I can’t figure out what’s wrong with her
I did a bunch of reading and nothing ive been trying is working. She does seem to be healthy and happy besides that so i’m not sure what’s causing her to bloat like this

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Do you think you could get some more photos please? Just so we can see his tummy a little better?

 

[HannahT21]

Hard to get her to stay still, hopefully this helps. Thank you for the help!

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Thank you! Some basic questions now then, how big is the tank and how long has it been running? How often do you do water changes and how much? What and how often do you feed? Also, is the betta on its own and have you tested the water recently?

 

[HannahT21]

Thank you! Some basic questions now then, how big is the tank and how long has it been running? How often do you do water changes and how much? What and how often do you feed? Also, is the betta on its own and have you tested the water recently?

The tank is a 10 gallon, it’s been a couple months since I set it up. It does have a problem with ammonia, we’ve attempted to cycle it multiple times and sometimes it helps for a bit but the ammonia eventually goes back up. I don’t know why that is. I feed her once a day, usually 3-4 pellets (soaked in water before fed) or some flakes (also soaked) occasionally I’ll give her frozen Daphnea or brine shrimp as a treat. She’s in the tank with two other fish, one is a loach and one is an algae eater. We do water changes honestly pretty often because of the ammonia issue, and the water levels were normal last time I checked (besides the ammonia) There are also multiple snails

 

[Tacocat]

The tank is a 10 gallon, it’s been a couple months since I set it up. It does have a problem with ammonia, we’ve attempted to cycle it multiple times and sometimes it helps for a bit but the ammonia eventually goes back up. I don’t know why that is. I feed her once a day, usually 3-4 pellets (soaked in water before fed) or some flakes (also soaked) occasionally I’ll give her frozen Daphnea or brine shrimp as a treat. She’s in the tank with two other fish, one is a loach and one is an algae eater. We do water changes honestly pretty often because of the ammonia issue, and the water levels were normal last time I checked (besides the ammonia) There are also multiple snails

What kind of loach and what kind of algae eater? Any loach needs to be in a pack of 5 at least. I don't know about algae eaters.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Bettas are solitary fish and ought to be on his own really...

Your ammonia issue is a problem that you need to be getting on top of now, your tank isn't cycled yet. You need to be doing 70% water changes every single day until ammonia and nitrite are reading 0...fish excrete ammonia so that's why it keeps coming back especially as you've not grown the bacteria that 'eats' it before adding fish.

What kind of pellets are you feeding? Is the betta pooping? Does it look like a pinecone, like it's scales are sticking out?

 

[AppraisingGal]

Hey all.

HannahT21 mentions she has "multiple snails". I keep two tanks of bettas and nerite snails; it's easy to forget snails create waste and add to the bio load in the tank...especially if you're feeding the snails any supplemental food (as you should if you have multiple snails). I'd guess that her tank ammonia issues might be because it's overstocked.

 

[Essjay]

one is a loach and one is an algae eater.

Besides being over stocked, it is also poorly stocked, I'm afraid.
As Tacocat said, loaches are shoaling fish which need to be in a group. And I cannot think of any loach suitable for 10 gallon tank.
We don't know what the algae eater is - it could be an otocinclus, a bristlenose or other plec, a Chinese algae eater or Siamese algae eater. None of these belong in a 10 gallon tank.

Going back to the betta, she doesn't look in a good way. Does she actually eat the food you put in the tank or do the other fish eat it all?

 

[HannahT21]

Besides being over stocked, it is also poorly stocked, I'm afraid.
As Tacocat said, loaches are shoaling fish which need to be in a group. And I cannot think of any loach suitable for 10 gallon tank.
We don't know what the algae eater is - it could be an otocinclus, a bristlenose or other plec, a Chinese algae eater or Siamese algae eater. None of these belong in a 10 gallon tank.

Going back to the betta, she doesn't look in a good way. Does she actually eat the food you put in the tank or do the other fish eat it all?

She does eat all her food, and she’s always hungry for more. I didn’t know this about the loach though, thank you for telling me! The petco was supposed to give us a clown loach to eat the snails but it turned out being something else, a small eel-like loach. The algae eater isn’t a pleco, Im not sure the species but I’ll do some searching. Most of our information was given by petco so I wouldn’t be shocked if it was false. I’ll move the algae eater and loach to a larger tank. My tank has a snail problem due to purchasing a pregnant snail I didn’t know about, so I was trying to find fish to take care of the snail issue.

*I think the algae eater is a sucking catfish?

 

[HannahT21]

Bettas are solitary fish and ought to be on his own really...

Your ammonia issue is a problem that you need to be getting on top of now, your tank isn't cycled yet. You need to be doing 70% water changes every single day until ammonia and nitrite are reading 0...fish excrete ammonia so that's why it keeps coming back especially as you've not grown the bacteria that 'eats' it before adding fish.

What kind of pellets are you feeding? Is the betta pooping? Does it look like a pinecone, like it's scales are sticking out?

She does poop occasionally, that’s usually when she gets thinner (she gets thinner and fatter periodically) and she doesn’t have dropsy, her scales aren’t pineconed and her constant activity and liveliness point to a different issue I think. She also swims correctly. I use cobalt ultra betta pellets and omega one beta buffet flakes. Could the water be why she isn’t losing weight?

 

[Essjay]

If the loach is long and thin with organge and black stripes it sounds more like a kuhli loach than a clown loach. Kuhlis do better in a large group or they hide all the time. And if they intended to sell you a clown loach, never ever believe anything they say in future - clown loaches grow to at least 12 inches, almost as big as a 10 gallon tank (and they need a shoal)

 

[HannahT21]

If the loach is long and thin with organge and black stripes it sounds more like a kuhli loach than a clown loach. Kuhlis do better in a large group or they hide all the time. And if they intended to sell you a clown loach, never ever believe anything they say in future - clown loaches grow to at least 12 inches, almost as big as a 10 gallon tank (and they need a shoal)

Yeah this one is a dark green, very small and eel-like. I see what you mean though, since adding more loaches (or whatever the fish I was given is) to this size a tank isn’t wise I’m going to move it to a bigger one and get a few more. I thought they hid naturally honestly, I really appreciate the information

*Ok, looks like it’s a black Kuhli loach!