Betta Help...EMERGENCY

Good job, RClark. It's very smart of you to post your parameters, and try to see if there's anything in common.

I almost think you may have gotten your fish from the same breeder (before several middlemen) and that it might be a congenital disorder. Like maybe they have deformed stomachs that aren't evacuating gas correctly. It's just weird that it happned exactly at the same time, to 3 different people, and that no one else has heard of anything like this before.

The good news is that all your fishies seem to be eating and feeling well otherwise. It would be a shame to put them down, because they all have a will to live.

Gosh, it's so frustrating, becuase you all obviously love your bettas. I almost wanted to suggest just popping the stomachs with a needle, but who knows what kind of problems that might lead to (like infection). Not to mention the flaming I would get for that one ;) I'm already bracing for the flaming just for mentioning it.

Besides, if the problem is a chronic one, the popping solution might not help because it may just swell up again.

Again, you 3, I am sorry. I love my bettas, too, and would be horrified if I woke up one morning and they looked like that :(
 
Wow...I have never seen anything quite like that before...if it were me I would move the bettas into a super filtered bare-bottom 10g asap. With a bare-bottom tank you would know exactly what and how much the betta is eating, you can leave crushed peas on the tank bottom for easy picking at and you will know how much, if at all, the betta is pooping. Plus it will already be set-up to do medication dosing if needed. Man, I really hope they all get better. I wonder if plah831 isn’t right on this, it looks as if it may be a congenital disorder from the same breeder!
 
Great idea!

Great idea about making it so I can see what's going on - to see if he's eating or pooping. Don't have a 10gal but think I can rig something up w/my vase. Thanks ~ will post with any news I have!

My grandsons bought mine at WalMart in Nebraska about March 30 this year.
 
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I did some asking around, in particular on a betta forum, and I got a couple answers rather quickly. They seem to think that it could possibly be a build up of fluid. There doesn't seem to be a known cure and I am waiting to see if they know what causes it. They said that to remove the fluids you can use a syringe (insulin seems to be the smallest) and suck it out. I don't know if you are up for that but let me know and I can ask if you have any questions. I will let you know if I get any other responses to the post.
 
The thought of poking with a needle did cross my mind.

But now I have this wierd picture of Phred jetting across the tank under jet propulsion!

He's fed with Betta pellets (forget the name now-at my shop) When he was in the community tank, he ate the flake that was fed to everyone else.

As for the theory that he and the others came from same breeder-bought him end of August last year (remember watching about Katrina on the tube as I was setting up the tank) At the PetSmart here in Middle Georgia.

Thinking it out now, was my first fishie (aside from the Goldfish when I was a kid (too many years ago!)). He and too many other fishies went through the cycling of my 10 gallon (lost too many fish through overstocking and ignorance before I did research on the "Proper" way).

Wonder if the high ammonia then hurt him? He and the glass fish (4), my corys, Black Veil tetras and Wagtail platy are all the original fishies. Lost too many Neons to count!
 
I made a mistake with letting ammonia build up in my tank, too, years ago. The betta's fins got all torn from the poisons, but he never got a swollen belly like that. He suffered no other adverse effects and lived to the ripe old age of 3 years!

So I don't think the failure to cycle correctly led to this particular problem. So no need to beat yourself up about it :)
 
Bunny13 said:
I did some asking around, in particular on a betta forum, and I got a couple answers rather quickly. They seem to think that it could possibly be a build up of fluid. There doesn't seem to be a known cure and I am waiting to see if they know what causes it. They said that to remove the fluids you can use a syringe (insulin seems to be the smallest) and suck it out. I don't know if you are up for that but let me know and I can ask if you have any questions. I will let you know if I get any other responses to the post.
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I am rather curious about this...do they suggest treating the injection site as well to off-set infection? Will the draining be permanent or something that will need to be done again, and again, and so-on? Do they feel the swelling is a symptom of something else more serious, a reaction, or just a biological issue?

Heh, sorry for all the questions, it’s an interesting issue I’d like to know more about.
 
RClark said:
I feed it wardly (by hartz) betta premium food - ingredients:fish meal, groundwheat, shrimp meal.....(it goes on forever but that's probably the main stuff). It's little dark brown pellets.
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THIS IS JUST MY PERSONAL OPINION: Do not use Hartz products. I am one of those people that almost had a dead cat on my hands because of their flea products, the poor thing spent two days at the vet because it poisoned her. Find Hikari Betta Bio-Gold somewhere. Bettas LOVE frozen bloodworms. I would not feed dried bloodworms with that swollen belly.
Take care,
Mary.
 
Many people don't recommend freeze-dried foods at all. I use some (because they're more convenient or easier to find, like Daphnia) but I soak them overnight in freshwater vitamin solution so that they "plump" up. The problem with freeze-dried or other dehydrated foods is that, once in your fishy's belly, they will start to expand. It's also why they don't throw rice at weddings anymore, because birds' stomachs were "exploding."

So my advise is, make sure your dried foods are saturated before being fed to fish. Also, forcing them to eat at the surface of the water makes them ingest a lot of air that can also contribute to digestive problems. Soaked food will drop to the bottom, and fish usually lunge at them before they hit the gravel :)

I do this with everything I feed to my fish: flakes, pellets, wafers, everything.
 
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