desperate with bloated betta

Question
QUESTION: Hello Nicole, I have a 10 gal tank set up Jan 07 with filter, heated to 80, real plants, ammonia & nitrite 0, pH 8. I do 40% water changes 3-4 weeks. 1/2 RO, 1/2 well water. Feed once a day, evening, 5 or 6 small pellets. My betta, Oscar, has been with me a year, (along with 2 ottos) and Sat am, very suddenly he bloated out huge in the belly, like he's going to explode. I was in the process of giving him a few peas, and when I saw that (after 2 tiny pieces) I stopped and fasted him, through Monday night, gave him 2 more pieces of peas, then an epsom salt bath. He was very still and top fin went right down. He hated it. He keeps hiding underneath drift wood. He's still big, I don't want to do the bath again. Can I do anything else? He's otherwise swimming fine. He seems to be making more bubbles from his mouth - do they get gas? Could he have a parasite in there? Will you please tell me what I can do to help Oscar?

ANSWER: Hi Janice,

I'm sorry to hear about your betta. It does seem unusual for him to suddenly get bloated like that. If he had other symptoms (emaciation, white stringy poop) I would suspect parasites, but this may just be a case of constipation at best...at worst, it is dropsy, which is a symptom of kidney failure. Dropsy makes raised "pinecone scales" on fish - this is a picture of a betta with dropsy, does yours look like this? http://www.bettatalk.com/images/dropsy_copy.gif

I wouldn't give him an Epsom salt bath, but I would put Epsom salt in the water. All you need is a tablespoon - dissolve it in warm water first. It won't hurt the other fish, and might help your betta. 1 teaspoon per 3 gallons is what I recommend, so one tablespoon for a 10 gallon tank is about right. In 3 or 4 days you can do a 25% water change and add the same amount of Epsom salt again.

Since he's swimming fine, I don't think he's too bad off - and if he's eating, I'd say that he has a good chance of recovery. A fish with dropsy seems very distressed so I think you would know if this were the case. It sounds to me more like constipation - so for now, skip feeding him the pellets. Try instead giving him something like frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp. Live brine shrimp works too. You want a food with a high moisture content, and for that purpose frozen foods are best.

HBH sells these "soft" pellets in two flavors - krill and Spirulina. They have an 18% moisture content as opposed to a 10% moisture content which is what betta pellets commonly have. You could also try feeding veggie flakes (Tetra makes a little can of Spirulina flakes) for a while instead of the meaty pellets. I don't know how picky your betta is, but if he would accept some vegetable/algae based foods for a while these tend to "move" the digestive system so hopefully that would help.

I don't think fish have flatulence, but they can have issues with their swim bladder. Google betta swim bladder disorder (SBD) and you'll see this is not uncommon - unfortunately the information is all over the place and mostly anecdotal, there isn't much in the way of scientific research about SBD.

One thing I would do is check the water quality - do you have a test kit? I use the $10 or so strip kits that Jungle makes, from Walmart. They test for nitrite, nitrate, pH, hardness and alkalinity. Double check to make sure your nitrates aren't high since you go quite a while without changing water - weekly water changes of 20% or so are recommended just to get some fresh water in there and dilute any built up metabolites and wastes. I would only go as long as you go without water changes if the tank were heavily planted - plants absorb nitrate and keep the water healthier and more balanced. I always strive to keep some floating plants such as hornwort, anacharis and Amazon frogbit in all of my tanks in order to keep the water healthier. Fast growing floating plants are a great addition to any aquarium and most of them can be grown just with the regular light that came with your aquairum. The fish will appreciate the shade!

I hope your betta gets better with just a change in diet and a bit of Epsom salt in the water. I don't think you did anything wrong, and I don't think parasites are likely - unfortunately it's hard to pinpoint the exact cause of bloating. Hopefully he's just constipated and that's that! Watch to see if he eats, and if he doesn't, siphon out the uneaten food with a turkey baster. (These are great for "spot cleaning" small tanks like these.) Hopefully, he will feel like eating soon.

Good luck and take care!
Nicole

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello Nicole,

Thank you so much for taking the time to provide the information and suggestions. I have still been fasting him, because he still looks so huge I was scared to feed him. Should I start trying a few of the frozen bloodworms or other things you suggested even though he's huge? I did put in the Tblsp. of Epsom salt as you recommended. I'm about to do a water change and add another Tblsp. After 2 doses, is that it for the Epsom salt? I have done about 3 water changes in the past week. Oscar does not look like he has dropsy. No raised scales. He is not a picky eater. He'll eat anything I give him. The water quality tests great. I have much java fern, java moss and java balls in the tank. It's going to be a week tomorrow. Is there any point where you would consider medication or should I just wait? Thank you again, Janice

Answer
Hi Janice,

Sorry for not getting to your question sooner. Medication might be worth considering - the problem is that it will usually affect the biological filtration somewhat. If you have another filter, it might be a good idea to run the spare filter on a bucket, take 50% of the filter media out of the filter that's filtering your tank now, and that way you'll still have some living media when you finish your course of medication. Feed the bucket of water a little bit of food and the beneficial bacteria in it will still have something to "eat" so to speak.

If you do medicate, I would go with Maracyn 2. Sometimes it works better to use half doses twice as long, less chance of interfering with your beneficial bacteria. But if you have a way of reseeding the tank with living media then I wouldn't be too worried - for example, I have lots of tanks running, so if one of them gets out of whack from medication, I have other media I can swap.

I'm so glad to hear he's eating! That's a really great sign. I would try feeding the wet frozen food, this won't bloat your betta. Bettas really love frozen bloodworms, if a betta refuses these it must really not be feeling well at all. I know it seems like a waste, since even the smallest cubes are way too big for a betta - you'll probably never get through a whole pack. That's why if your local fish store has live brine shrimp (some do) then it might be better to use that. Make sure you don't pour the dirty water in the tank, rather you fish it out with a net and give a few to your betta. I know at my Petsmart they have Hikari brand frozen baby brine shrimp and daphnia.

Both of these are great for a fish with intestinal issues and for a betta with its small mouth, just the right size...might be worth looking into, along with the Maracyn 2.

Take care, good luck!
Nicole