Last week my Betta overate massively, to the point where his stomach was bulging enormously. Before this he was less active and starting to clamp his fins. This may have been due to stress from the fact that he could not claim a territory within the tank, as the ADFs would constantly intrude on any section he claimed. I quarantined him within a three gallon picotope, which after serving as his quarantine will be set up as his home, since he looked and acted much happier within it. My plan was to fast him for 3 days, but he started drifting with the current, developed popeye, lost his coloration, and was in general acting so listless and unhealthy that I started him on Maracyn-TC after two. He is looking better today, has regained some coloration, and is trying to be somewhat active though he is blind from the popeye, but I am trying not to get my hopes up. He has also stopped clamping his fins. His gills are smaller than when I first got him a little more than a month ago, which means he could have has a gill infection I was not aware of. The worrying thing is that, while his stomach has gone down, it has not gone down to a normal size for a betta, and it has been 5-6 days. He is not fat from the top, nor is exhibiting and any pineconing of the scales. He is stuck in constipated poo mode(has some trailing from him since the day I put him in quarantine) and not eating, though I get the impression this may be different if he had some idea of where the food was from a test with mysis shrimp today. He is not a fan of pellet food.
The quarantine is set up with 4 pieces of healthy Anacharis, the same model of cave that he claimed as his territory in the other tank, and has a picotope filter with cycled media(no carbon is in there). I added a small-world filter for oxygenation after he stopped drifting with the current. I change a third of his water every day and turn the lights off early in the kitchen. The tank is unlighted to keep stress down.
This is my first time treating a sick fish, and I have made a couple of mistakes. One was not realizing that my tap water contained ammonia. When I tested his water it registered at .25, so I bought prime. The other was with his heater-I was using a 200W heater because it was all I had. It worked fine, but went overboard the day before yesterday.
Please post any advice you may have. I really want to keep this fish alive and healthy for a long time to come.
The quarantine is set up with 4 pieces of healthy Anacharis, the same model of cave that he claimed as his territory in the other tank, and has a picotope filter with cycled media(no carbon is in there). I added a small-world filter for oxygenation after he stopped drifting with the current. I change a third of his water every day and turn the lights off early in the kitchen. The tank is unlighted to keep stress down.
This is my first time treating a sick fish, and I have made a couple of mistakes. One was not realizing that my tap water contained ammonia. When I tested his water it registered at .25, so I bought prime. The other was with his heater-I was using a 200W heater because it was all I had. It worked fine, but went overboard the day before yesterday.
Please post any advice you may have. I really want to keep this fish alive and healthy for a long time to come.
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