My sons betta lives in a 1 gallon tank with airfilter he has always been healthy. we change the water(w/treated water) regularly according to the books. Now he stays on the bottom rarely moves. His belly is swollen.We feed him Tetra Min Tropical granules about 2 or 3 a day. He wont eat the flakes. If he were a girl I'd think he's pregnant thats how big the belly is.Could he be overfed.Tumor?? We've had him about 6mths. If anyone has any Ideas We'd appreciate them. We've become attached to Mr. Fish(I didn't name him):) Thanks
2007-02-26 05:49:59 · 6 answers · asked by sc17carter 4 in Pets ➔ Fish
Your betta is problay constipated. Look on thw website below. Scroll to "constipated" and it will tell you what to do.
2007-02-26 08:39:16 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well it could be constipation, or dropsy. No betta should ever has a swelled belly. (Females lay eggs, and don't get very big.) Certainly issues can be caused by over feeding. Betta should be fed once a day, 6 days a week. Only about as much food as his eye ball per day. You could feed more often, but the total amount of food needs to the same. (Or feed him every other day for that matter.) Also a day of fasting lets him clear out his system. He can easily go a week without food. Remember a betta will happily eat himself to death.
In the case of dropsy his scales are starting to stick out. (He'll look like a pine cone from above.) If it's dropsy he is going to die. You could try an antibiotic like trisulfa, but dropsy is caused by organ failure....
In the case of constipation. Stop feeding him for 2 days. Keep him warm, and his water clean. On the 3rd day cook a pea, peel it, and feed him 1/2. (Cooked pea are basically fish exlax.)
2007-02-26 15:42:18 · answer #2 · answered by Sabersquirrel 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Add 1/4 teaspoon of Epsom Salt to the water. Hold off on feeding him for a day.
Also, despite what the pet store folk may have told you, he does need heat. These fish came from Thailand and lived in warm waters. If your tank is warmer than 78 degrees he may be suffering from cold, although the distended belly sounds like a something else is happening as well.
2007-02-26 14:00:16 · answer #3 · answered by Behaviorist 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's possible the fish is constipated. To cure that you would only need to wait it out a few days.
The other significant possibility is a set of diseases commonly lumped together and referred to as dropsy. Dropsy is the accumilation of fluids within the fishes body cavity and it causes a lot of damage to various internal organs. The tell tail sign of dropsy is a "pinecone" look to the fish when viewed from above caused by the scales sticking out away from the body. If this is the cae you will need to treat him with an antibiotic laced food. Those are available at most pet stores. I must warn you though that even with treatment dropsy is very difficult to cure and there is still a fairly high chance you will lose the fish.
MM
2007-02-26 14:35:53 · answer #4 · answered by magicman116 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
It sounds like he/she may actually be constipated. Bettas are apparently quite suspectible to that. Especially if the tank's not warm enough because then he may not be able to digest his food properly. Take a single frozen pea and thaw it, remove the outer skin, mush it up and feed him that in place of his regular meal. Do that for a couple of days and see if it helps. Definitely get a heater for the tank if you don't have one.
2007-02-26 14:10:19 · answer #5 · answered by blackbimmer1972 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Tell the vet or wait till he dies and buy a new one.
2007-02-26 13:54:02 · answer #6 · answered by optimus prime 1 · 0⤊ 4⤋