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Joined: Jul 2004
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Hello, I have had a very happy Betta for 7 months, given to me by children from a family of 15 kids -- they thought I must be very lonely being alone at the house all day. Well, I wasn't, but truth be told, I adore my little fish-boy Jonah and would really be sorry to lose him! While on a vacation, I left him with a fishloving/owning friend, very experienced, etc, a good surrigate mom. But I think maybe someone in the household may have overfed him or there might have been some cross contamination of some sort with her other tank.

I don't know what is wrong with him, but I can sympathize with everything that EZ has been and is going though. I adore my little fish. I'll keep this short and not tell all my stories of the lavish sums spent on my little $3.50 friend to make him happy, because he was not at all happy until he had a very nice home indeed! But he is sick now and most unhappy.

He is skiddish instead of confident and just floats on top of the tank. He was laying on his side but for two days now has been upright, which seems like progress. He doesn't have white spots or look pineconey. He might have verical streaks on his sides -- his coloring is somehow not good -- sort of lackluster. I have set up the guest bath as an off-limits infirmery, a quiet place with running water. Thinking it might be popeye because his gracile features have seem rather robustus since coming back home, I am putting 1/40 of a capsule of Ampicillan per quart of water and refreshing a portion of his tank water each day, hoping it will help. He is just so miserable.

I have read all sorts of descriptions of betta diseases and problems and really don't know what it is. I am thinking overfeeding because he was such a bigger fish when I came back after being gone for 3 weeks. I don't think it is the stress of moving him to and from my friends -- he just doesn't have that sort of personality. He is interested and not spooky about things when well.

I have all sorts of cleaning and conditioning questions after reading this forum, but will wait and hope that I don't have to cross that bridge any time soon. Instead, let me ask you this:

HOW DO YOU MAKE THE PEA FLOAT? I tried the pea thing and it sank right to the bottom. How do you feed a pea to a betta? He likes bloodworms and nothing but bloodworms. And even then, only if they are just right, and they absolutely must float.

How much epson salt per quart?

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Joined: Feb 2004
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Chipmunk
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Lol J's Mom....I don't know how to make a pea float....except that you could hold it above the water with something...as long as the 'something' isn't made out of metal...or too sharp that he might get poked by it when he tries to grab it. If he won't eat the pea then I guess just not feeding him for a week or until he shows signs of having improved is about all you can do..besides treating him with the warmer water and aquarium salt. I'm not sure about epson salt though...I use regular aquarium salt in my tanks and the directions for that is 1 teasp per gallon..but you could double that for treating illness I think..if you increase it gradually.

All the best mom! Let us know how he does!

Joined: Jun 2004
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EZ--Not Offline OP
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I have applesnails and the way to make a pea float is to get the canned peas, I heat mine in the micro for 12seconds and then when they have cooled off, I squeesh them so the insides come out, but sometime when the pea pops out of my fingers before I can squeesh it, it will float.LOL!! But only the peas that are big and with the shell still on will they float. It is a droop and see kind of method but some do float, well, most of mine do that is. But don't know if the skin still on the Betta will eat it???

Also if you have a plant in there, you can make an aim for the plant and hope it lands on it!!

My Lawrance would ONLY eat Blood worms as well, and that is how all the trouble started with him, so I am hoping and keeping my fingers crossed that your guy gets better!!

Good Luck with the peas!

Joined: Jul 2004
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A quick progress report -- no better, but no worse! I have his little aquarium on a heating pad with a thermometer. Even though the water is now up to only 80, being a native Alaskan, Jonah has never experienced such tropical pleasures. Hopefully this will help.

Thank you for your advise and support. Off to cook peas . . .

Joined: Feb 2004
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Glo Offline
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Epsom salt.... 1 tsp to 10 gals...so If you have one of those 1/8 tsp measuring spoons I would say maybe use half of 1/8 hope that makes sense. Probably not quite enough but I would want it on the low side rather than the hi side, and yep if he grew that much, think the little guy is very possibly constipated. Good Luck

glo


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Joined: Jul 2004
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No improvement. You know, he acts like one side is paralyzed. Can bettas have strokes? Jonah makes me think of "Night of the Hunter", where the dead woman is in the river, her hair floating, drifting serenely in the water. But for him, it is his fins, floating, drifting. He seems pretty serene, very quiet. But when he does decide to move, he only uses part of his body. i know that where there's life, there's hope, but honestly, is there any hope? He's such a sweet little guy.

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Chipmunk
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J's Mom...

I'll tell ya...I have this fish Patriot...who has had a swim bladder problem ever since I got him..I think he was overfed at some point while he was a fry, so the bladder didn't develope properly. Right now all he does is lay on his side on the bottom of the bowl I have him in...poor guy...every time I give him something to eat he gets bloated..so I don't feed him every day. I wait to see that his stomach is not bloated..then I give him a nibble of something. He looks so miserable I feel sorry for him and...man..hate to say it but I wish this fish would just die and get it over with..lol..but....they say that fish with this problem aren't suffering any pain..they just can't swim and that seems to be Patriots problem. He lays on the bottom because he gets tired of trying to stay upright..all he does is flop over on his side at the top of the water any time he tries to swim. Sometimes he manages to swim around for a bit, and he always pops right up when he knows I am there..but mostly he's flopped on his side at the bottom.

I think I may put him back in the tank I had him in. There was a cave in there where he would prop himself against the top inside the cave...or just lay on the top of the cave near the surface of the water. He looked happier in there really though he wasn't swimming any better. I put him in the bowl in a warmer tank because I thought the warmer water would help him out, but apparently it doesn't make much difference. I finally got some frozen peas and I fed him one last night.(cooked, not frozen) It too would just sink to the bottom where he didn't feel like going after it. So, I just held some of it in my fingers until he came over and ate it out of my hand. I think peas may just have to be a regular in this fellas diet from now on. I am willing to bet that this fish will end up living the longest out of all the bettas I have..lol..murphys law ya know.

Anyway, wish you and your little guy all the best. I'm sure he'll get over this constipation, just give it time. Don't think he will end up like mine though..Patriots issue is due to overfeeding as a fry...his swim bladder just isn't big enough to do him much good is all.

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Since it sounds like Jonah could keep this up for a very long time, consider no news is, well, no news. I will post any changes. Thanks again!

Joined: Jan 2004
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Gecko
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Frazz is in the big fish bowl in the sky. :angel: I thought he was getting better, but I could still see white on the side of his head. This morning, my husband told me he was dead. I checked and he was. Joseph was in the room when John said it, so he had to go check it out too. We had the toilet bowl funeral, and waved him goodbye. :rolleyes: Darn it! I really thought he was going to make it.
Nan


Hi, my name is Nannynan, and I'm a betta addict.
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Chipmunk
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Wow Nann..sorry about Frazz....

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