Betta Fry With Bent/broken Back

[Elisabeth83]

I noticed one of my betta smaragdina fry's back seems to be bent/broken. It isn't crooked it's just he can't swim right. Whenever he stops swimming his tail goes downwards and then he struggles to stay straight He looks healthy and has a normal appitite. I only just noticed this today but because I have around 25-30 fry he could of been like this forever.

Is this a genetic problem? Maybe he could of injured himself somehow...can a fish break it's back and heal?

Has anyone else had a problem like this with their fry?


I feel sorry for the little guy. I guess I'll just watch him for awhile and see if he gets worse or better.

edit: Could it possibly be a swim bladder problem? I recently started feeding them bloodworm and I just read that can lead to swim bladder problems or constipation.

 

[ezrock]

i would think it is swim bladder problem. I have guppies and am inbreeding them and out of every batch of fry there's usually some bent spines. very noticably bent...it's due to genetics unfortunately and is a consequence of inbreeding in guppies. i think if your bettas had broken spines you'd know it for sure!

-Ian

 

[wuvmybetta]

I've never had problems with bloodworms. That's what my fish eat 75% of the time, honestly.


I have seen broken backs before though, due to my own fault. I used to use airline tubing for the first couple of weeks for water changes, and when one gets sucked through that tubing ,even if they're itty bitty, it seems to snap them like a pea Buuut, the few fish that had that happen went on to grow and keep up with their siblings....they were just crooked

Aaand, I have one metallic male from a very small spawn of three. The spawn was quite large but at two weeks of age they all started getting crooked spines and dropping like flies. One crooked spined fish lived along with the two who were fine and he's still alive to this day- just crooked. It was almost as though his body kept growing over a spine that couldn't grow anymore. I attributed all of that to many things that might have went wrong with that spawn, but after much thought I've come to the conclusion that it was because they got too cold at night.

Since it's just the one- maybe he was injured somehow?
Does he get along just fine?
How long has he been like this?

 

[Elisabeth83]

It's nice to hear Wuv that you've got some survivors that are doing good. I'm pretty sure my guys problem isn't from getting sucked up in the syphon or being too cold. I wasn't sure about the bloodworm either. I mean I feed all my adults bloodworm at least 3-4 times a week without problems too. Not sure if it's genetics either (don't really think so) as I don't know if Mom and Dad are siblings or what.

Yeah it's just the one little guy and I only noticed it today. I thought maybe he could of been like that for awhile but then after thinking about it I don't think he could of been as I spend so much time sitting in front of their tank watching them that I'm sure I would of noticed earlier if he had this problem.

From watching him today yeah he gets along just like the others. Something that has just come to me is a couple of times 2 fry will grab the same piece of bloodworm and then they thrash around the tank for a bit until one finally wins...I wonder if he got pulled around roughly and it broke his spine??

I don't have the heart to euthanize him so if he does have a broken spine and it doesn't heal or get better I guess I'll just keep him myself and he'll be my special little buddy

 

[wuvmybetta]

That's what I do, I keep the gimps for my own Well, they just hang around like everyone else anyway. Maybe something weird happened to him, like he got stuck in a strange position or something,or the thrashing as you've mentioned. From what I have seen the smaragdina are terrible about doing that, it seems they'd much rather steal from a sibling even when theres plenty of food to go around.