I have a well planted 29 gallon aquarium. My betta was fine on Monday. I had him in my ten gallon because he had some fry. Well I noticed Monday, the day I put him back in my 29 G, he was hiding a little bit. Tuesday I noticed he had a swolen abdomen. Then I noticed he had foggy eyes. I haven't fed him or seen him eat since Monday. He is losing color slightly. He is also laying on his side to a degree. I have added a little elevated sea salt. I tried to get him to eat some green pea without the skin. He didn't eat it. I have done water changes regularly but it has been a while since the last one ( 3 weeks or so). I checked the water levels Ph. 6.6, Alk 40, Hardness 40, Nitrite .25 and Nitrate 60 these are estimates from the side of the tester bottle. Any suggestions. I built my tank around this little fella so any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanx.
2007-04-04 03:10:10 · 10 answers · asked by Just me 1 in Pets ➔ Fish
A fish that is not eating is very difficult to save to be honest. That's usually a sign that they are in quite bad shape. Since it's been that long since he ate you can probably rule out constipation as the cause of the swelling and that leaves the general term dropsy for his condition. There are lots of causes, usually bacterial, and none are easy to treat at all. The foggy eyes can be either bacterial or protozoans, but given the other conditions I would lean to bacterial.
One important thing to keep in mind here is to not allow the fish to die in the tank. That will cause a significant increase in the chances of infecting your other fish. I would suggest you move him to a quarantine container as soon as possible and treat with an antibiotic. My first choice for an internal infection is Furanace as it's so well absorbed compared to several other commonly available. If that's not available to you can try Maracyn 2.
Tough situation to try to treat, best of luck to you and if I can help further drop me an email.
Also, I wouldn't suggest you salt the planted tank with any significant amount of salt. It's rather tough on most plants.
MM
2007-04-04 03:36:56 · answer #1 · answered by magicman116 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Does the filter provide any surface agitation? If it doesn't there might not be enough oxygen in the water for the fish. Try moving the filter so that the water it pumps out falls onto the surface - you'll see more bubbles in the water. Did you let the tank cycle before adding the fish (Google cycling fish tanks...)? You would also have needed to treat the water with a chlorine treatment if you used tap water. Despite all of this bettas can often be slow moving fish so don't be too alarmed by his lack of movement...
2016-05-17 04:57:18 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you should put him back in the ten gallon and start meds asap. if his scales are poking out like a pine cone, it may be dropsy. Because his eyes are poping, i think he prolly has a bacterial infection. Treat with maracyn one and two in combonation, because i don't think you have time to try one first then the other. Plus, your nitrates are a tad high, I would do some 25% water changes over the next week or two. Good luck! Go to fishlore.com they have an amazing betta group that will help you through this!
2007-04-04 03:19:32 · answer #3 · answered by timesdragonfly 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
From what I know about Bettas, they aren't salt water fish. I have one, and when I change the water for him, we use regular drinking water - i can't use the water out of my sink because of us having a water softener.
Maybe the salt in your water isn't agreeing with your Betta. But that's just my guess - you should definitely ask a pet store!
2007-04-04 03:17:30 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
There is nothing you can do once they get the bloat. I have had 2 bettas live past four years once the foggy eye bloat thing happend they died. That sucks!
2007-04-04 03:16:16 · answer #5 · answered by Wednesday 2 · 1⤊ 3⤋
Maybe we can name the frog eye swollen belly symptoms as 'betta syndrome'? Doesnt sound good for your betta but hopefully he will come around. How old was he?
2007-04-04 03:18:49 · answer #6 · answered by ian s 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
have you had a male fish in the tank? if so she could be pregnant. If not my fish would push it belly out and just float around.
2007-04-04 03:24:12 · answer #7 · answered by kristina O 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I don't think bettas are salt water fish...
2007-04-04 03:20:30 · answer #8 · answered by Jessie Ng 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
He probably died.
I hate it when they get all bloaty, it makes me cry, i love betta fish.
2007-04-04 03:20:17 · answer #9 · answered by ? 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
He is just going to die... face it and buy another.
2007-04-04 03:15:26 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 5⤋