Please Help! Swim Bladder Issues..or Worm?

[dzsigmond217]

ok..My betta boy Midas was fine this morning..swimming as usual and eating fine. Its now 9pm here and i looked in at him and he's floating sideways on top of the water and his tummy look bloated. When he leans up against something he's positioned normal but when he tries to swim he's all wobbly and all over the place and tilts sideways. It also looks kinda like he keeps floating to the top. I'm panicing now..I don't want him to die! He lives in a 7 gallon tank with 3 other male guppies. The guppies are doing fine and showing no sign of disease or illness. I'm going to do some research but hope some one will give me some help! Should I quarantine him in my hospital tank??

Edit: He has something that looks like red poo coming out of his butt..could this be a worm???
Heres a video:

Video of betta

 

[dzsigmond217]

I just quarantined my betta and the red poo/worm is gone. If it is a worm can they retract back into the fishes body..? through some research I found out this is probably a worm called a Nematode that can be treated with a med called Levamisole...which isn't sold in the USA. By the time I would get it via mail my fish would probably be dead. If anyone has some info about where to get this med please let me know!!! info states that this worm lays eggs everywhere so I'm going to do a 100% H20 change and clean the gravel and pray my 3 gupies dont get it. I've had all these fish since January so I'm surprised its taken this long for symptoms to show. I never fed them live food either. If anyone has any info about this worm infection please let me know!

 

[jollysue]

Is the fish wasting--getting skinny? If he is wasting, add salt to the water and try soaking some pea in garlic and see if he will take it. Garlic and salt are both suppose to be anti parasitical. If he takes it give him all he wants. Then begin to feed him garlic soaked food. This btw is just me making up something to do that shouldn't hurt and may help.

Be sure to keep his water clean if he is eating all this stuff. Only add the same amount of salt that you change out.

Worms are unusual in tropica aquariuml fish in the States. I have never had worms in the hundreds of fish I have had and kept and which included wild caught.

Try the NationalFishPharmacueticals
under advanced Fish Desease / Fish Behavioral Disorders and all the intestinal, fecal, etc disordes.

This site especially treats goldfish, so many of the parasites are specific mainly to pond fish. But they do sell treatments for the internal parasites. Before I invested in that though I would call and talk to them.

Is he bloated? Pineconed?

Good he is in the qt tank. If he is not wasting, which is the major symptom of internal parasites, I would fast him for at least 24 hours, then offer him bit of deshelled blanched smushed pea. If he refuses, fast another 24 hours and try again.

If he is bloated give him an epsom salt bath. Google for instructions. If he is pineconed it is very bad news, and we may be too late for any treatment to help, but there are antibiotics, Kanamycin, that may help. Again the link above would give you the latest scientificlly tested treatments available in the States.

I will attempt to hold your hand. If I miss a post as I don't hang here much lately, pm me.

 

[devon_charm]

Looks like swim bladder to me. i would QT him and lower the water level an possibly add something he can rest on closer to the surface (IAL is good for this), add some salt to the water and feed him on half a cooked squished pea, do this for about two days feeding him nothing else. After that time if there is still no improvement you will need to get a swimbladder treatment for him, change his water just before you medicate and add fresh salt. Keep his water clean and warm and personally i would leave the filter switched off as slight current will stress him out even more.

Hope that helps

best of luck with it

 

[dzsigmond217]

Ok...so this is WEIRD! Today he is fine. No more bloat no more funny swimming....nothing. nada. zip.

I dont get it. The tank he was in is cycled -stats: ammonia 0;nitrite 0; nitrate 30; pH 7.0
It is heated and filtered. The filter current is low.

The only difference in the quarantine tank is that it was unheated ( heater must have broke )..
I haven't given him any meds yet or anything...I just got a new heater for the QT tank and he's swimming around just fine. I wont feed him yet except for a pea maybe.

Anyone have a clue as to what it could have been??

 

[liz2]

the red poo? could it have been ordinary poo, have you been feeding him that coloured fish flakes? If he is happy I would watch him for a few days and keep his water really clean! he could have just been bunged up

 

[jollysue]

I am guessing he had an intestinal issue--overcoming constipation. Once he "eliminated" he no longer had a problem. The constipated intestines could have been pressing against the swim bladder causing trouble.

Fast your Betta regularly; don't overfeed; give him greens--pea is the usual choice; constipation can eventually permanently damage the swim bladder or the kidneys along with infections.

I thought he was acting kind of weird with the guppies. He may have been instinctively reacting to them as rivals. Generally, keeping Betta with guppies is discouraged because the Betta react to the fancy tails. You are fortunate that your Betta hasn't killed them, but he may have been freaked by them.