# help!! my fish can't swim and his head seems swollen



## jlmom (Apr 22, 2008)

what does this mean? can he still be saved?


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

There is nothing anyone can do to help you until you provide us with enough of the right information... please go to this link http://www.fishforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=882
and post the answers here. Once we have the information, we can then begin to sort our your problem and offer some help/advice.


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## jlmom (Apr 22, 2008)

Below are answers to the question. thanks for your help. 


1. Size of aquarium (# of gallons) 1 gallon
2. Is your aquarium setup freshwater or brackish water? fresh
3. How long the aquarium has been set up? about a month
4. What fish and how many are in the aquarium (species are important to know) Only one betta
5. Are there live plants in the aquarium? no
6. What temperature is the tank water currently? not sure
7. What make/model filter are you using? Airteck K20
8. Are you using a CO2 unit? no
9. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? a bit of indirect light. 
10. When did you perform your last water exchange, and how much water was changed? a week ago
11. How often do you perform water changes? used to do it too often, now 1/2 every 7-9 days, depending on water conditions. before i was doing 1x per week 1/2 and 1x per week full. Since he was turning withish, I purchased a filter. color returned, but he has loss his appetite and gotten siccker. 
12. How often and what foods do you feed your fish? freeze dried worms
13. What type of lighting are you using and how long is it kept on? none
14. What specific concerns bring you here at this time? fish has swollen head and doesn't seem able to have energy to swim to the top or eat. 
15. What are your water parameters? Test your pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. not sure. the pet shop told me that due to the tank size i don't need to test for this--he refused to sell me a kit!
16. What test kit are you using and is it liquid or test strips? none
17. When was the last time you bought a fish and how did they behave while in the pet store tank? never owned one before. My mother kept one occassionally. Never had any problems. My fish seems happy at the shop, and was very lively at first in the house.


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## Flashygrrl (Jan 18, 2008)

1st off, your betta does actually need a bigger tank, doubtless your "friendly" lfs person has no clue about that. 2.5 gallons is the minimum of what we suggest, and a small heater is probably also a necessity, temps swings and temps dropping below 78 can be very harmful to them.
2nd, you cannot only be feeding him freeze dried bloodworms. You're very lucky he hasn't bloated and died yet. Get him to eat a thawed pea asap, starve him if you have to and if he can't swim up to get it put it on something that's not sharp and bring it to his level. Once he gets pooping green stuff feed him 3-4 pellets a day or 2 twice a day with a bloodworm as an occasion treat, don't feed pellets until he starts taking peas.. This lack of staple food probably has a lot to do with his lack of energy.
3rd....Im not gonna say what I want to say about your LFS guy. Order it online if you have to, we all suggest the API kit.

No clue about the swollen head, sorry, but you have to get some decent food into him. A pic would help.


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## SST (Nov 17, 2007)

I think you also need to do more frequent water changes. Are you using a water conditioner as well? I'm guessing the reason that pet store dude wouldn't sell you the test kit was because with such a small tank, he assumed you'd be doing 100% water changes on a regular basis. 

My advice would be to do a 100% water change using the correct dose of water conditioner. Post a picture if you can. And PM BettaBaby and let her know you've posted the answers to the fishie emergency questions. She knows her stuff when it comes to taking care of our little friends.


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## jlmom (Apr 22, 2008)

thanks everyone. When i first got him, i fet him pellets. He hated them and refused to eat them. As soon as bought him the worms, he started eating. 

I'll try feeding him a pea, and order a hearter. Weather has been changing a lot lately.


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## Meatpuppet (Mar 1, 2008)

jlmom said:


> thanks everyone. When i first got him, i fet him pellets. He hated them and refused to eat them. As soon as bought him the worms, he started eating.
> 
> I'll try feeding him a pea, and order a hearter. Weather has been changing a lot lately.


a good diet with variety is essential for a happy/happy fish. freeze dried blood worms are not very nutritous. its likes feeding humans only donuts, or chocholate- yummy but not heathly.

when feeding pellets or flakes, you may need to try various brands until you get one he likes. feeding him frozen brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, and peas once a week is good to


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## Flashygrrl (Jan 18, 2008)

Most fish will usually suck it up and eventually eat what you offer if they get hungry enough, and bettas are probably the pickiest of small fish.

Look into that bigger tank if you can, too. It's better than having a 1 gallon and having to do 100% changes...that tends to shock the fish so we try to avoid it with the bigger tanks.


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## jlmom (Apr 22, 2008)

aahhh, junk food. that's what i get for going to chain stores. does anyone has a good on-line store for fish food? any good brands? 

I freak out and purchased Betta Revive, has anyone used it before?


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## beetlebz (Aug 2, 2007)

I use hikari betta bio gold as a staple. i sometimes feed a broken up tubifex worm cube, and sometimes tetracolor crisps to mix it up a little bit for my females. so far just a couple flakes and betta bio gold for my single male, but the snail eats the rest. havnt tried peas yet!

but the betta bio gold stuff is nice. it comes in a tiny packet for only a couple bucks if you wanna try it. $2.69 at petco i think.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

I've been doing catch up, sorry it took so long to get here. I took the time to look up the ingredients listed for betta revive...
Ingredients: Water, neomycin sulfate (<10%), methylene blue (<0.5%), proprietary polymer mixture, buffers, EDTA, malachite green chloride (<0.01%), cyanocobalamin and electrolytes.
That is probably the worst medication to be using right now. Malachite green and bettas don't mix well, and I wish all of these companies would stop throwing things together and calling them useful. I have been doing research and hands on study of bettas and medications for over 10 yrs now, and malachite green is one along with copper that I will say "don't" use it! 

I agree with a lot of what has been said thus far... lack of heater, (80 degrees farenheit is the best for a betta) lack of proper nutritious foods, (I'll make a list for you down below), lack of water changes... all of those things will have contributed to this condition.
I have seen the swollen head problem a few times, but it's not common. Most bettas die before that happens. That is an indication to me of lack of nutrition over anything else. As the body continues to try to function normally, without the right balance of nutrition, the organs begin to fail, and that leads to the outward symptoms that you will see as "a sick fish". 

I wish I could be as bright as flashygrrl about hope of recovery, but I'm too honest to spout it at this point. Personally, if it were my situation to deal with, I would humanely euthenize that fish to avoid any further suffering, and then make sure to have all of the proper supplies and information before trying to keep another betta. I really can't even offer you a safe med that will fix a problem this severe... it would be a waste of your money and a lot more suffering for the fish. The damage at this stage is permanent, he can't fully recover, if there is any hope at all of survival. 

Before you try this again, please pay attention to the specific needs of this type of fish.
Temp 80 - 82 and stable, which means a heater is mandatory, no matter what climate you are in. As was pointed out, temps fluctuate with day/night cycles as much as with seasons, and those 1 - 2 degrees we may take for granted can mean life or death to a fish. If it happens often enough, end result is usually death, or permanent damage that leads to an early death.
clean water, that means 100% water changes at least twice/wk if 1 gallon or less of water, once/wk minimum if over 1 gallon. Bettas don't like most filters, the flow of the water is too strong for them. If doing the needed water changes, a filter shouldn't be needed at all. I have kept only 3 bettas in filtered tanks over the years, and those were the ones I had the most health problems with.
variety of nutritious foods... live black worms, brine shrimp - either frozen or live are fine, live mosquito larvae, betta pellet food, and even frozen formula 1 food is good. Most bettas won't take flake food, and it serves more to pollute water than feed the fish. I avoid flakes completely. 
(I don't use peas, have never used peas, don't suggest peas for a betta. Giving a laxative to a fish, especially when it isn't a part of their natural diet, is a dangerous game to play. That sort of thing can cause internal damage and digestion problems. Bettas are meat eaters, they need the protien. Their digestive tract is not designed to handle vegetable matter/roughage, and that is why it works so well as a laxative.)
Many of my bettas have eaten small rams horn snails for part of their main diet, and I've had a few females who insisted on feeder guppys. When feeding a betta, think meat... protien... and pellets only if they are specifically for bettas, so as to eliminate the additives other fish need and bettas don't.

Don't forget to provide shelter in the tank for a betta. They need places to hide just like any other fish, and lack of shelter/decorations can cause extreme stress long term. 

That's really all there is to keeping a betta... it doesn't have to be difficult or expensive if you do it right from the beginning. Most betta tanks won't ever cycle unless there is excess food or snails in the tank. Bettas don't eat a lot at a time, therefore they don't put out as much waste as most other fish... and please... don't overfeed! If you wish to feed more than once/day, make it only 3 - 4 pellets and then a very small amount of something else during those feedings. They have very small stomachs and need time to digest their food. Most claims of constipated bettas comes from overfeeding. Yes, many bettas will stuff themselves if you let them... 
And get rid of the freeze dried bloodworms. As was mentioned, that is like feeding them candy... and its not something they need. There are too many healthy options out there to be using something like that. Even a fussy eater will find something meaty as a good food source, it's instinct. A fish that refuses to eat after a week is usually a fish with some sort of illness problem that needs to be dealt with and is causing loss of appetite.

I hope this helps, if you have more questions, please, ask away... we would rather see you do it right and not watch helpless animals suffer needlessly.


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## jlmom (Apr 22, 2008)

thanks everyone for the help. 

My fish seems to be doing better today. He even eat a little. I have taken the filter out of the tank. Interestingly enough, he seems to be reacting well to that. 

I bought brine shrimp. but i'm concerned because the bottle says that it is 100% pure freeze dried food. All the food in the store seems to be freeze dried. I'm also concerned because it was made in China, and i wonder about the quality. are my concerns legitimate?


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## Piranha Joe (Apr 10, 2008)

*betta diet*

I've read lots of stuff on this forum about the peas, but I must be doing something wrong...I tried putting 1/2 a pea on a toothpick, and he won't eat it; then I tried mashing it up, but when I put it in the water it clouds up and floats to the bottom...what is the right way?
[/u]


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

*Re: betta diet*



Piranha Joe said:


> I've read lots of stuff on this forum about the peas, but I must be doing something wrong...I tried putting 1/2 a pea on a toothpick, and he won't eat it; then I tried mashing it up, but when I put it in the water it clouds up and floats to the bottom...what is the right way?
> [/u]


I am not aware of a *right* way... as I stated above, peas are not a natural part of the diet of a betta. Bettas are meat eaters, in the wild they feed on insects/insect larva mostly. There is nothing of nutritional benefit in a pea where a betta is concerned, and is why it acts as a laxative if they do eat it... 
Imagine giving a child a laxative everytime they don't go to the bathroom the way you expect... that is the same thing as giving a betta peas.


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

just picking up on a point here.........
#15
they refused to sell you a test kit ??that is disgusting, if it is possible find yourself another store.
you can order test kits on line,if there is no other store near you,
we recomend a liquid test kit. "API" is the one that
we members here use.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

jlmom said:


> thanks everyone for the help.
> 
> My fish seems to be doing better today. He even eat a little. I have taken the filter out of the tank. Interestingly enough, he seems to be reacting well to that.
> *Filters tend to cause stress from too much water current. These fish come from a still water environment, so he's probably grateful to have lost the filter.*
> ...


I'm not sure what to tell you about the food being from China... unfortunately a large majority of the things being sold in the US are made in China... and they don't have such a great track record. If that were mine, I would be worried too, whether that is a legitimate concern or not. You might want to try ordering food online? You can get betta pellets and frozen foods in various places online. Also, try adding a very small ram's horn snail to your tank... most of my bettas have loved eating those, and it's nutritious for them. I am not a big fan of freeze dried foods for bettas. 
The betta pellet foods on the market have enough of the right things in them to provide a stable diet alone for any betta. I have seen many bettas live a healthy 3 - 4 yrs on nothing more than pellet food.


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