Is this poo or parasite?!

[On_a_dishy]

My lovely new Betta has been with me for a week. I dosed him (and the tank) with flubendazole as the Betta in the tank next to him at the store was struggling and I heard the staff muttering about them needing de-worming.
All was fine, water parameters were good, he was enjoying his pellets and pea, and then he stopped eating on Tuesday night. Poo up to this point had been healthy - red with the pellets, clear when he’d had pea.
He tried to eat on Wednesday night but kept spitting his food out. He hasn’t eaten at all today, and then it was time for dose #2 of flubendazole.
I am fairly sure he was just constipated but want to double-check with the TFF folk as the poo that is being finally produced (yay!) looks a bit odd. What do you all think?

 

[GaryE]

I don't see a poo or a parasite. I'm not sure what I do see there.
If your food has a decent fibre content - the only veggies a betta is adapted to eat are in the stomachs of their insect prey. Peas somehow became a thing because they are high in fibre, which moves things along if there is no blockage. A food with a good fibre content will do the same. For a while, there were some cheaper foods sold with close to no fibre, and think that's where peas got traction. They were popular for Malawi Cichlids, many of which feed on algae and plant matter, and people switched the idea over to insectivore Bettas.

 

[On_a_dishy]

Hikari Betta Bio Gold is the pellet that I have given this betta and my bettas in the past, and occasionally tiny, freckle-sized bits of prawn or rib-eye.
You're right - "peeled, cooked peas" are everywhere in betta advice.
It's a very odd poo if it is a poo. I'm relieved, I think, that things are moving along. He's been a bit lethargic, too. Fingers crossed

 

[jaylach]

Flubendazole dosing MIGHT be part of the issue. It is always best to not medicate unless you are sure of the issue and meds are a last resort.

I really have no idea as to if Flubendazole would be harmful in aquatics but a quick search shows that it was developed as a worm deterrent for dogs and cats, not fish. It is possible that I could be totally wrong on this as I only looked at one search result, Wikipedia.

Flubendazole - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[On_a_dishy]

More has come out overnight but is still attached to him (4 more photos - sorry )
He’s been offered a pellet but isn’t interested.
Other than lethargy, not eating and venting this white stuff (which might be a result of him not eating) everything about his behaviour is mostly normal. I am noticing the odd yawny gape, but this might be because I’m watching him so closely; I’ve kept Betta before and seen them do this.

eSHa testing kit
Ammonia 0
PH 6.8 (a blend of RO and tap water)
KH 6
GH >14
Nitrite 1 (I’m at the end of cycling and changing 25% twice a day - it’s only 34L so I’m keeping a close eye)
Nitrate 25 (see above)
Temp 80f / 26.5c

I’m fairly experienced but not hugely so (I’m still mystified by the 3-section eSHa test kit GH and KH) and I’ve never had a Betta refuse food!

He has been with me a week and I’ve kept the water parameters decent, slowly lowering the Ph with almond leaves and the KH/GH with RO to Betta-friendly numbers - how do I get him to eat?

It’s going to cost me some prawns, isn’t it…

 

[GaryE]

I'm going to say he was constipated, something that he should not have been, and that what you are seeing would make a group of 12 year old boys laugh very hard (sorry, I used to be a teacher and have heard all the poop jokes). We fish people are too aware of fish waste, and that is not a healthy colour. It could be the meds though. Flub is tough stuff. If there had been evidence of worms, I would have suggested praziquantel as flub does affect the liver, and targets one main family of wormlike parasites, nematodes. For the usual tapeworms, prazi seems an easier going option. But you probably tried to deal with something not there.

BAlas you can't rewind. And big long poops are well known, especially when you want to show off your beautiful fish to non fishkeepers. That's when they show up dragging something 6 cm long....

Finely chopped prawns will make him very happy, but feed sparingly. A lot of Bettas are farm raised on an antibiotic cocktail in the water. It speeds growth and therefore makes raising them more profitable. When we buy them, their gut flora is wrecked, and it can take time for them to develop normal gut bacteria. Their bodies are in a period of transition and it sometimes kills them. They might be picky eaters for a few weeks. Whenever I buy farmed fish, I feed regularly but sparingly for the first month.

 

[On_a_dishy]

He is still not eating, but he is trying to. He has been sucking up his usual pellets but spitting them out. He was very interested in the tiny morsels of prawn but again was just sucking them in, betta-style, before spitting them out. He hasn't actually 'swallowed' anything.
I've put the charcoal back into the filter and done a couple of water changes to reduce the medication. He is no longer lethargic, but just can't seem to swallow his food.
His last meal was on Tuesday night. Then we had Wednesday's indifference, then the white poo incident on Thursday, and this morning the poo finally broke off (it was definitely waste and not a parasite) - but still he isn't eating.
The fact he seems to want to is troubling me. Is this a "wait and see" thing?

 

[GaryE]

It is. One time, while unpacking a shipment of fish at a wholesaler's, we were surprised to find they had used male Bettas in breather bags as packing bubbles. between the fish bags We took out dozens and dozens of Bettas, clearly cheaper than bubble wrap to the farm. They were nice Bettas too.
It was a high end importer that didn't sell farmed fish (the farm was trans-shipping large bags of wilds), so we stacked the Bettas on top of a tank, then gathered them up and gave them to a friendly store. We didn't sell stuff like that.

Weeks later, we were moving a rack and in behind, I found 2 breather bags that had rolled off the tank unseen Over 3 weeks later. Inside were 2 slightly thin but perfectly fine Bettas. One was a nice old fashioned Cambodian strain. So I took them home. One lived a few months, and the Cambodian lived a short (3 year or so) life.

Let him go a little hungry. It won't hurt. Ambush insect hunters don't get prey every day.

I never fed pellets to my Bettas. But be aware they have teeth where we (hopefully) don't, on the roof of the mouth and back of the throat. Spitting food is grinding food. It's chewing, with a rasp every time they take a chunk in.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Weeks later, we were moving a rack and in behind, I found 2 breather bags that had rolled off the tank unseen Over 3 weeks later. Inside were 2 slightly thin but perfectly fine Bettas. One was a nice old fashioned Cambodian strain. So I took them home. One lived a few months, and the Cambodian lived a short (3 year or so) life.

That's an incredibly story! Horrible that they were using betta fish like packing pellets (!?!?!) but amazing that those two survived that long! Glad you took them home.

 

[On_a_dishy]

I very much enjoyed reading that; thank you
And, tonight my Betta took 2 of his pellets! I have learnt that he likes them crispy, not soft, and it seems like he’s coming back to me.
Such an emotional investment in such little creatures.