sick fish !!

Question
QUESTION: I won my betta in  afair 4 month ago. My betta lives in a 5 gallon tank by herself. I have a filter and a hitter. I also have 2 plastic plants and color rocks in the bottom. She is so picky, the only thing she liked was dry blood worms and she hadn't been eating them. Not too long ago I tried tiny little pieces of angus steak and she ate them happily, I was feeding her once of the 2 times a day with beef for 4 days but i got scared and stopped. I know she is not well because she is very lethargic and acts weird. She has a shaky swim, slow and all of a sudden she speeds up. I changed his water today and when I put him back in he got really swollen and has big difficulty to breath (very opened mouth and body very inflamed). Also, his head is gray (not cottony), but this is been happening for months now and i thought it was just losing his color. Please help me, I don't know what to do.

ANSWER: Hi Jessica;

It sounds like it could be constipation but could also be a bacterial infection along with it. I would suspect columnaris. Here is a web page about it with pictures of affected fish;

http://www.petfish.net/articles/Bettas/columnaris.php

Here is a web page about constipation too;

http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/12/332/

I hope he feels better soon...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

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

QUESTION: Chris I think she has diarrea (white long strips)and she's not eating. I went to a pet store and they gave me melafix. What do you think?

Answer
Hi Jessica;

Melafix doesn't help with established infections, especially nasty ones such as columnaris and definitely not internal problems. It is for external skin problems and only for recovery. If you haven't opened it yet, return it to the store. It has been known to sometimes be toxic to bettas in the full dose recommended on the label. It has to be used in a half-dose if it's used at all. There is one made for bettas called BettaFix that's okay for them but it's different. It bothers me that the fish store isn't recognizing your fish's symptoms and recommending appropriate medication.

She needs regular antibiotics if she has an infection and, as you know, she has an intestinal problem too, possibly bacterial but it may be from being constipated. Follow the instructions on the website link I gave you about columnaris. The antibiotics recommended on that page are the only ones strong enough. Don't try to feed her anything at all for the next 3 days. After this time of fasting, only offer her cooked squished peas. The fasting will help rest her digestion and feeding the peas will help clear constipation.

I hope she gets better....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins