Dying Fish?

[guitarsoloist]

Okay I'm going to include a picture but here's some back story:
Had this fish for about a month now, he was always very healthy, flared up when he saw another fish, swam around a lot, very perky. A few days ago, I noticed two very small white splotches on his side near where his internal digestion organs would be. I thought it was his coloring, as he is a very pale fish anyway. I now noticed a few hours ago that it looks as though his stomach has split and there is white fuzz like stuff coming out. I cannot tell if it is a split or if the fuzz is just attached to his body. My tank is quite literally immaculately clean. I have a good filter running, keep the water at 81-82 degrees, and feed him only what he eats twice a day (sometimes only once a day if I gave too much early in the day). Also, he is now sitting at the bottom of the tank, refusing to eat, and looking like he may die soon. I unfortunately know all too well what a dying fish looks like.

Now here's the catch. I've had two bettas before him and both of them suddenly became sick and died. I know bettas can just get old but the last one got some weird bacterial infection that would go away, come back, get worse, get better, it was just weird. Meanwhile, my boyfriend has a betta that he got at the same time as my first one and that thing has just been great. Our tanks are identical (he actually is fighting a nasty case of brown algae at the moment) EXCEPT for our food. I'm beginning to wonder if the food I am using is what is causing my fish to get sick. I use Bettamin Tropical Medley. Could this be it? Am I just having bad luck?

Here's the best picture I could get: (old camera, sorry). As you can see, right behind the front fin is a white split. I'm sorry I couldn't get a better picture.

 

[ThePiggy]

If there is fuzz on him, he may have a fungus growing on his wound. It is possible that he got constipated from the food and his stomach ruptured because he kept eating. Bettas will eat themselves to death if the food is available.

-How many pellets are you feeding him in a single feeding?

It is good practice to feed your betta a few bites of a pea once a week. Just take one frozen pea and put it in a cup of boiling water for a few minutes. Let it cool, then take the shell off the pea and squish the insides between your fingers. Pinch off a bite size bit, and drop it in the water near the betta. The pea should sink. 3-4 bites of the pea should be enough and don't feed him anything else that day. Any uneaten bits of pea should be removed.

 

[guitarsoloist]

If there is fuzz on him, he may have a fungus growing on his wound. It is possible that he got constipated from the food and his stomach ruptured because he kept eating. Bettas will eat themselves to death if the food is available.

-How many pellets are you feeding him in a single feeding?

It is good practice to feed your betta a few bites of a pea once a week. Just take one frozen pea and put it in a cup of boiling water for a few minutes. Let it cool, then take the shell off the pea and squish the insides between your fingers. Pinch off a bite size bit, and drop it in the water near the betta. The pea should sink. 3-4 bites of the pea should be enough and don't feed him anything else that day. Any uneaten bits of pea should be removed.

I am using flakes at the moment to feed him. I've always used those on all 3 bettas I have had which is why I'm wondering if that is the problem. I can see overfeeding as a possibility, even though he barely got 4 tiny flakes twice a day. Like I said previously, I would also go without feeding him one day, or half the day every once in a while. I have a hard time believing its overfeeding as his stomach was not bloated. I've seen pictures on this forum of some bloated fish and my fish did not look like that! lol

This was just so sudden and he actually died this morning. He was completely fine yesterday morning and he died this morning. I'm getting very frusterated... I'm going to take him out when I get home (he died right before I left for work) and look at him, also take pictures. I will also do a test on the water and take a sample of it to my local fish store. Hopefully I can figure out what is killing my fish.

 

[ThePiggy]

Another possibility is internal bacterial infection or parasites.
I'm sorry you lost him. I hope you can find the cause.