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I have had my betta for 11 months now and he has been doing great the entire time. In the past week he has developed what looks to be a bump on the side of his body.

The bump is right where a bettas stomach would be located. If you were to feed a betta too much his stomach would bulge, and that is what my betta looks like, but all the time.

In case it was overfeeding I have cut back in the past few days and there has been no change in appearence.

As far as his behavior goes, he is as active as ever. There is nothing he does that would indicate he is unhappy. However, he has not made a bubble nest in 4-5 days, which is unusual for my betta.

please let me know what you think! thanks!

What sort of diet do you have the betta on? Fish can suffer from constipation. I'm not sure if bettas will eat cooked and skinned peas but I know that its a trick used for other fish.
Has the betta got any tank mates?

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

OK I know my bettas and Leslie's bettas will eat the green peas, so it is worth a shot...Take a couple green peas, I usually keep a small bag of peas in the freezer, run them under warm water so they are defrosted (if need be) let get to room temp, then mush them between your fingers into the tank, and pull out the skins if they fall in. If he's constipated, and a good betta boy, he'll eat them, poop, and be fine...you might want to try and vary his diet a little, sometimes variety is good hope it helps heidi

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

feltr04
It sounds like constipation to me but I am only a beginner at this Betta keeping.
I feed my Betta at least 3 times a week on vegs, cooked peas, corn & carrot. This is besides his other regular morning foods of flakes, pellets, & frozen blood worms three times a week.

Keith

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Awesome, thanks a whole lot. The pea trick sounds like an excellent plan. I'll let you know what happens...

Recently he has not been on a well balanced diet which is a probable and realistic cause for his bulging (which is my fault). He does not have any tank mates. Hope this is helpful and thanks again!

Last edited by feltr04 at 12-Jul-2005 18:07

So, it has been a few days now and to much disappointment there has been no improvement to the bump. I have fed him peas as his only source of food too. Does anyone have any other ideas?

My only other thought is to do an epsom salt bath which will act as a laxative.


Setting up an Epsom Salt bath:

Add 1 Tbsp per gallon of Epsom Salt to some aged, temperature-adjusted (same temperature as the water the betta is already in) water.

Pour Epsom Salt solution into a containter.

Place the Betta in the Epsom Salt bath for 15-20 minutes. While the Betta is having a bath, change the water in his tank so that he has nice, clean water to go back to afterwards. Make SURE that the water in all of these containers is the same temperature, we don't need the Betta getting another disease right now.

Hopefully the Epsom Salt bath will help to loosen the blockage, just sit back and watch. The Epsom Salt bath can be repeated up to two times a day - just be aware that it is stressful to the fish.
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Epsom salt is available in supermarkets and pharacies here. Make sure it is not one that is perfumed or laced with detergents.

Let us know how this goes. Is the fish still eating and pooping? What color is the poop?

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.