eggbound female betta

Question
I recently placed a pair of bettas together for breeding.  I use a 10 gallon tank, with reasonable temperature and good water chemistry.  The male blew a great bubble nest and the female proceeded to get huge.  Neither betta tried to get too aggressive and I thought things were going very well.  However, I noticed after three days of this courtship/breeding setup that the female had stopped swimming regularly.  She started lying on the bottom a lot and swimming at an odd angle, which gets worse everyday.  She also keeps getting more and more swollen with eggs.  It has now been a little over a week since the courtship began, and the male seems to realize something is wrong.  He stopped maintaining his bubble nest, which has now basically disintigrated into nothing.  He ignores the female entirely, and she only swims to get air every once in a while.  Is there some way I can make her expel her eggs or make it easier to absorb them?  I'm very worried that either she is completely egg bound or is just too unable to swim to mate, or that she is producing an abnormal amount of eggs that is straining her body.

Answer
Hi Jade,
I'm so sorry to hear that.

Eggbound bettas are difficult to treat. Some people advise hand-stripping but I wouldn't recommend it since the fish is so little and you could damage her very seriously.

Epsom salt is often advised for eggbound fish. 1 Tablespoon per 10Gallons is recommended. Make sure to pre-dissolve it before adding it to the tank.

Its also possible your betta's eggbinding could have developed into an internal infection. This is rare but can happen.

All you can do is try your best to keep her water clean and treat with the epsom salt method.

But just know that sometimes there is nothing you can do despite your best efforts to really help an internal condition such as this.

I wish you the best and I hope all works out!
Karen~