BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish Fish Journal - BETTAS ONLY

Hello Chris, welcome to the forum here ! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

There are two issues in betta that can cause the swollen belly....well, three I suppose if you want to count tumour..but I don't think that's the problem.

One issue which I have had experience with is dropsy. This causes a fish to bloat so badly that thier scales start to protrude and when you look down at them from above, they have a "pine cone" like look to them. This problem is very difficult to treat since no one knows the cause. Both the fish I had with this condition, died.

The other issue, which I believe is the most likely answer to your betta's problem, is constipation. This is alot easier to treat. Basically you stop feeding them until they pass the blockage. If you keep feeding them when thay can't pass thier stool...it all keeps backing up.

Try this....clean out his bowl/tank very well. Take out any gravel you may have in there.(this makes it easier to keep clean and also to see if he "does his business".
Don't feed him for 3 or 4 days...then try feeding him the cooked frozen pea...skin peeled off. Break the pea into small bite sized bits and put a few in his bowl for him. If he doesn't eat these after awhile, make sure you syphon out the peices so they don't dirty up the water. Keep offering him some pea each day until he eats some...then don't feed him for a few days again.

Warming up the water temp to high 70's-80F can help..and also adding some aquarium salt..1 Teasp. per gallon while he's not well...only 1/2 teasp. normally. Hopefully this should help some. And don't worry about him starving. Bettas, and fish in general can go for long periods of time without eating and do just fine. give it a good week and see how he does. If he does pass a good sized 'turd' for lack of a better word..lol...start him up easy on feedings. Just a little bit each day.

All the best Chris, let us know how it goes!

thanks <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />Emg I'll see what happens

Well my Betta is eating again, and now he will probably mope again. I just read another post on this site where soemone was saying that Bettas love to have company. So I decided to move my Betta's bowl next to my community tank that I have just started. So hopefully he will enjoy watching the danios and cory cat's. Well at least I hope he will. Only time will tell.

Anyone have any feelings about this?

well, tonight i finally put some aquarium salt in willys tank, along with taking out the gravel in hopes to help the fin rot. wish me luck guys!

btw, my bettas are in 1 gallon tanks, and one that is about 1.5 gallons. the temperature fluctuates anywhere from as low as 72 to as high as 82 sometimes. does that matter very much?

April...yes it does matter quite a bit. Bettas are pretty hardy fish when things are stable...but they do tend to stress with lots of changes, temperature being one of the most important.

If you can find a way to keep his temps stable, go for it. He will be a much happier fish. There is a thread in one of the links on the first thread here...in which we went through a good deal of discussion on ways to keep bettas warm. You may want to check that out. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Hello Logic,

Yes, I do have some feelings about that...lol. I think your betta will be a very happy fish having other budds to watch...even if they aren't other bettas. Good move ! <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for all the responses. He doesn't have the pine cone look and seems to be swimming good. He doesn't act like he's uncomfortable but I know he has to be.

EmgBettaNut, I will try your suggestions and let you know how it goes. Also I was feeding him tropical flakes and I think that caused the problem to begin. Today I'm going to buy the Betta food again, but will start feeding him that after I get him well.

Thanks a bunch!

If his scales aren't sticking out yet, it's probably not dropsy, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep an eye on him anyway. I found another website with a very good dropsy description...I'm probably breaking some laws by posting it here, but I won't tell if you won't...

Once thought bacterial issue, dropsy has been researched, and enthusiasts have concluded that many different things cause dropsy.. it is not *just* bacterial, every case of dropsy is caused by different things, which ends up making it hard, and impossible to treat.. i have so far had 3 fish survive dropsy by either treating them with Fungus Clear, or not treating them at all.. all the fish that survived dropsy had things in common, all the survivors swam around and acted like everything is normal, and all the survivors ate enthusiasticly.. all the survivors scales went down, but got skinny, and contracted secondary infections, all the survivors did not live past 6 months after going into remission... Dropsy is considered the mysterious disease, i have had bettas act completely normal with no protruding scales, found dead, with obvious signs on the body pointing to dropsy... then i have had other bettas slowly and slowly get bigger untill they look like one big round fish, the color lightens due to the fact the scales aren't connecting, and they seem to double, sometimes tripple in size before they die... all dropsy cases are different and often mysterious... and i am avidly researching and experimenting with my dropsy fish to find the cure.. Dropsy is seen alot more often in bettas who ingest live or frozen foods.. but even in my attempts to erriaticate all the live foods, and only feed freeze dried foods, dropsy still apears in my fish room, and often, more then one fish contracts it at a time, causing a dropsy outbreak, and since it is virtually incurable, its not a good thing to have... to my knowledge it isn't contagious, but i dont take my chances, i bleach jars, and seclude fish in communities that had outbreaks from my other bettas... i also conclude that dropsy *could* be in the genetics of a betta, yes i have had certain lines break out with dropsy left and right, and some strains maybe one betta or no bettas will break down with it.. like balding, cancer, alchohalism, and mental disorders can be genetic problems in people, dropsy could also be genetic.. so like people who are more at risk for cancer, take extra percautionaries with lines that seem to carry dropsy.. don't feed live or frozen foods, keep them secluded from the rest of the spawn, and your fish.. and keep a watchful eye on them.....

Hopefully it's not dropsy, because that's a hard one to do anything about <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> . Try the no food/pea treatment and let us know what happens <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Elise

Thanks for the info Elise. After what I've read, I doubt it is dropsy (hoping). I did a dumb thing and fed it tropical flakes and then some goldfish flakes too. I guess it just constipated the heck out of him. Tomorrow morning I will give him some peeled cooked frozen peas and see what he does. I'm going to clean the tank out by removing the gravel (he's in a 2-gallon by himself) this afternoon before I go home (he's on my desk here at work). I usually do weekly or bi-weekly water changes. I don't have a heater for the tank but the office temp stays at 74-75 degrees. The last time I fed him was Friday afternoon.

I'll keep yall updated.

Sometimes Chris, overfed bettas just get "FAT" lol...If your fish is swimming around and doesn't appear uncomfortable and is generally acting "sound" then he may just be fat. If After taking the gravel out you notice that he is leaving little presents on the bottom of the tank after all, then he may just be a fat little manfish...lol.

In that case...a good fast will do him good and then switching him to regular betta specific food should help keep him trim. To give you an idea of how much to feed him...I give my bettas only 2 pellets of betta bio-gold food a day with an occasional treat of blackworms, flightless fruitflies or freezedried bloodworms...only a couple times a week maybe..or just when I feel like it..lol.

My fish are very trim and I haven't had a constipation issue in a long time..except for my shortfin recently and that was caused by dropping too many pellets in the water, and him being faster than me..haha. But, he's all better now. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />