# HELP! My Betta Has a Big Bulge



## amyw16 (Jun 15, 2008)

I have a crowntail betta fish that we've had for about 1 1/2 mths. We initially had some water issues, but after that got straightened out, things have been going great. 
About a week ago I noticed that the area under his pelvic fin and in front of his anal fin looked bigger or puffy. I didn't think I had really noticed that before, but I wasn't sure. I read about constipation causing a bloated body, so I cut down the pellets he was eating from about 8 to 5 twice a day. 
Today the bulge looks even bigger though. I'm sure now that it hasn't been that big. He looks like he's going to pop right there! I would say it's between the size of a pea and a garbanzo bean now. 
Is it constipation and if so what do I do about that? Or could it be something else?
Any information would be great!


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## perculus (Jan 26, 2007)

Poor little guy..

Is he passing any poop? If not some veggies would help (pea, algea wafer) Most of mine dont like the pea but go bananas for waffers.
If he poops then it could be a number of things that you cant do much about, like a swollen organ or a tumor.
It has been there quite a long time..and is growing. I dont want to say it but I fear the worst.  
Give us back some news on the little guy.


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## amyw16 (Jun 15, 2008)

I changed his water three days ago and there was quite a bit of poop in there. Today, just from looking in the tank I think I only see like one spot where there is poop. 
I change his water every few days, and there's always quite a bit of poop until this time. 
I'll try some veggies and see if that helps. I hope he'll be okay!! I'll keep you posted.


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## amyw16 (Jun 15, 2008)

Can you give them actual peas, or is it something I need to get at the store? Also, the bulge isn't like sticking out on the bottom of him or anything, it just looks like he's extra puffy right there. That's the best way I can describe it I guess.


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## perculus (Jan 26, 2007)

Taken from the betta faq on the site



> My betta is bloated. What do I do?
> Don’t feed him/her for a day or two, and then feed him/her an unshelled pea. This unblocks and nasty stuff in their digestive system and makes them not bloated. Feed them a pea a day until they are not bloated.


Like I said some of mine dont like peas, algea waffer are almost always popular. But just a regular pea you would eat yourself.


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## JMeenen (Apr 7, 2008)

There is some contaversy regarding feeding peas to Bettas..apparently Daphnia is a more prefered scource of roughage for Betta than vegtable matter however I have found it difficult to find Daphnia in any form ( freeze dried, frozen..etc) But I am still looking...in a pinch however you may want instant relief for your betta so get a frozen pea...thaw it in warm water..squeeze it out of its shell...cut into TINY pieces..feeda small piece at a time ..maybe only 1/2 a pea..out of 6 Bettas only one will not eat peas ..the others love them..in the future however it maybe good to track down some Daphnia and have it on hand in case this happens again..I have a female Betta who seems to get constipated alot..the other 5 are males and they don't ever seem to get it....anyway try that for a quick fix .


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## amyw16 (Jun 15, 2008)

I'll give that a try and I'll keep you all posted. Thanks for the help!


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## JMeenen (Apr 7, 2008)

Good luck with the little guy..let us know


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## JMeenen (Apr 7, 2008)

Good luck with the little guy..let us know


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## JMeenen (Apr 7, 2008)

I don't know why it posted twice..computer not feeling well today I guess


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## Meatpuppet (Mar 1, 2008)

how much water do you change at once?
what are your water parameters?

i would also suggest the pea if you are like me and cant find daphnia anywhere. if he doesnt eat it the first time you could try again and present it differently. you could dry it out too, some bettas like to be fed off the tip of a toothpick or finger.

can we get a picture of your betta?


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## amyw16 (Jun 15, 2008)

I change 50% of his water each time. What do you mean by parameters? ammonia level, nitrite, etc.? It's a 2 1/2 gallon tank with a filter. 

I tried giving him a pea and he did eat some. It sinks straight to the bottom though. He tries to get in while it's going down, but once it gets to the bottom he doesn't eat it. I'll try it off of a toothpick or something. I think he would eat it if he could get it easier. 

I'll take a new picture and try to post it. I couldn't figure out how to do it before. Maybe I can post an old and new picture so you can compare how he looks.


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## JMeenen (Apr 7, 2008)

try just holding it and see if he will come up and take it...


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## amyw16 (Jun 15, 2008)

I got Sam to eat some of a pea. I just held it and he ate some from it and some that was floating around. 

I was trying to read some about it and now I'm wondering if I should be giving him peas now or not. 
Should I not give him anything for a couple of days and then give him peas?

I changed his water again too and there was one thing of poop and it wasn't very much. I'm guessing that would also indicate constipation.


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## JMeenen (Apr 7, 2008)

I would look for Daphnia..but if he is not getting any relief you can do an epsom salt bath...here is a piece from an article on Betta fish constipation from the web:

Use One Gallon of pretreated water adding 1 Tablespoon of Epsom Salt. As a help in keeping the stress levels down, make sure the bath water is the same temperature as the tank water. Add your betta. Watching him closely, allow him to swim in the bath for 15 to 30 minutes "or" until he begins to show signs of undue stress "or" the result you are hoping for occurs in that your betta relives himself. 

Return your betta back into his home. 

Again, this can be a stressful treatment for your betta, the plus is that it can be very effective in getting your betta to relieve himself if he/she is constipated. Some bettas respond better than others.


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

JMeenen said:


> There is some contaversy regarding feeding peas to Bettas...


Whats this controversy for this?

I don't believe the kind of bath you want to do is an epsom salt one... I don't believe epsoms salt helps for constipation does it? i realize it causes the fish to expel fluids when they have dropsy... But not expel poop?


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## amyw16 (Jun 15, 2008)

I tried an Epsom salt bath with no success. I haven't fed Sam any pellets for three days. This morning he ate more of a pea than he has. Now he seems to be passing something, but it doesn't look like poop. It is almost the same color as a pea, but it kind of looks like it's enclosed in a clear sack or something. It's been hanging from him for about 15 min. now. I don't know if he's pooping peas b/c that's all he's had or if it's something else weird going on. Yesterday I thought the bulge looked a little smaller, but today it looks as big as it was. 
Any other input or advice would be great. I'm not sure what to do now to help him, if he can be helped.


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

Ok, can you post a picture of the poop? Is it a little white and stringy? This "encasing" your talking about. A lump on a fish can be anything. It doesn't have to mean hes bung up. Is there anyway you can post pics?!


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## amyw16 (Jun 15, 2008)

I keep trying to post a picture, but it either doesn't do anything or it says the file is too large. Any ideas about that? 
I tried to add it as an attachment this time but I guess it won't let you add pics? 
The weird poop was kind of whiteish with what looked like pea color in the middle. It hung there almost in the shape of a tear drop. It looked like a whiteish bag with something in it. I didn't get a picture of it though.


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

You have to resize your image... Open it up in something like paint, and in the top bar where it says file, edit, ect. click image then stretch/skew
and enter a number for horizontal and vertical, just try 50, 50 for the first time and see what happens, then save as... and your good to go. So can you post a picture please?


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## okiemavis (Nov 10, 2007)

It's generally more convenient to upload the images through this website, but if you really can't get it working and this is an emergency, you can try something else like http://imageshack.us. Then you can just paste in the web address of the photo.


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## amyw16 (Jun 15, 2008)

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/4120/1001495cc3.jpg


Maybe this one will work. I'll keep trying if it doesn't


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## amyw16 (Jun 15, 2008)

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/6863/samor0.jpg


Here's is one of Sam about a month ago. I'll try to post another link of the previous one so it will be bigger.


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## amyw16 (Jun 15, 2008)

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/1999/1001495op8.jpg


Okay, here is the first pic with his belly swollen. I didn't re-size it this time so it would be bigger.

Let me know what you think or if you need another pic. Now that I've figured out a way to do it, I can show you anything you need to see. Except I didn't get a pic of the weird poop.

Also, I wanted to mention that he has never seemed like something's wrong this whole time. Today was the first day he hasn't really been swimming around much, but I figured that's b/c I haven't fed him for three days. This whole time he's continued to puff at me and build a bubble nest. I don't know if that info. helps any or not.


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## okiemavis (Nov 10, 2007)

Ouch! You said he hasn't displayed any other symptoms until today? No loss of color, appetite, listlessness?

It's really important to know your water parameters- ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, temperature and also preferably gh and kh. Could you find them out?

I can't tell exactly, but does his entire stomach swell evenly, or is it just that side of him? It really could be so many things- infection, worms, tumor.

Perhaps this thread will help:
http://www.fishforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=18259


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## amyw16 (Jun 15, 2008)

He's been a slight bit less active than in the past, but today was the first day he was staying in his cave or at the bottom of the tank. However he did still come up and puff at me today. He hasn't had any loss of color either.

The water parameters are:
ammonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-0
ph-7.2
temp. 78 degrees
gh-~150
kh-80

He's in a 2.5 gallon tank with a heater set at 78, a filter, and I change 50% of his water every third day. 

Before he became swollen he was eating 6-10 pellets twice a day. I usually put them in a few at a time and watch him eat them so I can get any extra out when he's finished.

I stopped feeding him pellets on Tue. All he's had since are some bites of peas. (Which now I read from bettababy, that wasn't good, but I already did it).

I changed his water yesterday and there was no poop that I could find. Usually there's 2-3 that I clean out.

It does seem that it's equally swollen all over. Maybe slightly larger on the right side, but not much if at all. You can't really see it looking down on him from above. When you look straight at him, it appears like he has a double chin. And you can see the side shot. 

Let me know if any other info. or pics would help. I don't know if I should be feeding him or not, or what to do next.


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## amyw16 (Jun 15, 2008)

Also, I forgot to mention that he has never eaten bloodworms or brine shrimp. I've offered him the freeze-dried ones, but he would never eat them.


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## amyw16 (Jun 15, 2008)

I went ahead and fed Sam some pellets last night. This morning there was something that looked like poop that I cleaned out of his tank, but not as thick as it usually is.
I fed him 5 pellets again this morning and now he's passing something that is white and stringy. It's different than the "weird" poop from yesterday afternoon. 
I've also been trying to look at him closely and I can't say for sure, but it looks like a thin strip of his scales going up each of his sides may be slightly raised. You can't see them from looking down on him, but when I look at him from the side, the color is different there, lighter I guess.
Also, his fins are shredded b/c he's a crowntail. After looking at him, there seems to be lighter color, even white between some of the shreds of his fins.
I don't know if any of this info. will help someone know what's wrong with him or what I can do to help him, but I hope so.


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## amyw16 (Jun 15, 2008)

I just wanted to thank everyone for their input and advice. Bettababy is helping me to hopefully get Sam better. I sent her some pics and filled her in on everything. Since his scales aren't raising up she didn't think it was dropsy. The swollen belly could either be from an internal parasite or bacterial infection. She's walking me through how to treat for both. I'll let everyone know how things are going. The treatment lasts 10 days. Hopefully it isn't too late to help him.

Also, bettababy does not advise giving bettas peas. She says it can cause them damage and make other treatable illnesses become fatal. I just thought I would pass that along b/c I'm new to all of this and I know that while trying to research what to do for him I found mixed messages about peas. Hopefully this will help someone else who doesn't know what to do.

Thanks again to everyone and I'll let you know how Sam is in a few days. I'm hoping I'll be able to post a pic of him all better and back to normal!!
And thanks bettababy!!! You've been incredibly helpful!!


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