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I just noticed that my betta is extremely bloated from his gill area and back to almost 1/4 of his body length. He was fine last night when I fed him some freeze dried blood worms. I realize too much of them can cause constipation however I don't feed it too often. Right now he's on his side, just floating on top. He can't dive and hardly move too much. He does swim a little bit when I approach his tank. He's in a 4 gallon biorb and water parameters are 0 amonia, 0 nitrate and 0 nitrite.

I tried feeding him a pea and he makes valiant attempts at eating it, but it keeps sinking and he can't go after it.

Could it be he has swim bladder disease instead?

I've never seen anything like this before. Very concerned!!!! Any suggestions?


*Mitch*

Your tank dosent look cycled at all...But that is another matter!

The FD bloodworms probably id him in, as he might have eaten it before it rehydrated, making it rehydrate in his sotmach, and cause bloating, which may cause Swimbladder problems!

Try the peas some more, and shell it, after blanching it in hot water for a few seconds.

After that, i am afraid i do not know much more to help you....I am sure somebody else has a different conclusion!

Good Luck!

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Thanks for your reply GobyFan. You are correct in that my tank is not cycled. I perform 100% water changes every 2 weeks so the water quality should not be an issue.

I'm thinking along the same lines as you are about those bloodworms. He did gobble them up rather quickly so perhaps that's were the problem lies. I was able to feed him a very tiny amount of the pea though, so maybe that will help. I'll give it another shot tomorrow. I sure hope he recuperates!


*Mitch*

I personally would never use any freeze dried food even if they paid me to. It can be used BUT it must be pre soaked first other wise it will swell up in their stomach and this can cause problems.
If possible can you put him into a small floating fry breeder holder. If so you might be able to feed him that way. How old is the tank and did you go through a cycling process. I also would try a few frozen Blood worms.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

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Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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Hi Keith

I did try the cycling process but as I explained it just wasn't working because I have no heater in the tank. I tried for 4 months and it just wasn't happening. I'll try moving him to a 1 gallon tank today and try feeding him the pea. I checked on him this morning and eventhough he doesn't appear to be quite as swollen he's still pretty bloated.


*Mitch*

I perform 100% water changes every 2 weeks so the water quality should not be an issue.

Thats plenty of time for an aquarium fish to be put through the rigours of a biological cycle, in actual fact you will be putting him through both peaks of ammonia and nitrite toxicity every fortnight, then resetting the button for it to all happen again every time you do the major water change. Ammonia levels and damage will start in hours, and will peak around week 1, then nitrite production begins and will be peaking towards the end of week two.

This presumably explains his current condition, which in all likelihood is a combination of maldigestion from low oxygenation due to damaged gill tissue, and possibly the begginning of bacterial gaseous bloat and potential dropsy from associated renal failure. Unfortunately though tough as bettas are, a total dependance on the labyrinth organ will not help them survive in the long term if their gills become too damaged.

Suggest purchase of a small filter, get the tank properly cycled and perform weekly water changes appropriate to his bioload impact, calculated from nitrate readings. Very few keepers ever manage to maintain fish successfully in uncycled aquaria, and in particular here, you have the water change period very wrong.

Thank you for your input Longhairedgit. Will take what you said into consideration. By the way, fed him the pea, he had a good poop, and he's swimming like crazy. All is well in Biorb world!!


*Mitch*