Help With Bloated Betta

[KristineNote]

Hiya. I have 3 male bettas. Sparky, my oldest, I've had for about 3 months and he's in a 2.5 gal tank alone. Blue is in a 9 gal tank with some ghost shrimp. And my poor Pepper who I've had for about 2 months is sick again, he currently lives with an African Dwarf frog in a 2 gal tank.

When I bought Pepper, a double veil tail (?) red betta, he had what I thought was ick so I put some aquarium salt in his tank. His tail was also badly torn. It's pretty much all cleared up now. Last week I noticed his belly got huge so I stopped giving him his bi-weekly blood worm treat. So it's been about 8 days since I last gave him freeze dried blood worms. He is on betta floating pellet diet, once daily. I do a 50 percent water change weekly on Pepper's and Sparky's tanks. My other two bettas are completely healthy, but they never were injured or sick since I've had them.

The thing is I think Pepper's bloating started when I changed my filter? But I honestly don't remember.

Here's a bad quality video I took with my flip video cam. First image is of Pepper now, then Pepper a while back (can you see how well his tail grew back? c and then of Sparky for comparison of bloated stomach size.

http/s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll240/KristineNote/?action=view&current=Bettasss.mp4

Now, is it my dwarf frog's fault? The filter? Blood worm treats? Or something else? And what should I do to fix my poor Pepper? Little guy's been through a lot. I mean his tail finally is showing improvement and his ick is pretty much gone but now he's all bloated

PS, I had to remove my frog from my molly tank (15 gal) 'cause he ate the neon tetras. I'm trying to find another home for him so that's why he's currently with pepper in my smallest tank. But if he's causing the bloating then I'm going to move him in with Sparky until I finally find a home for him.


and edit: all my tanks have heaters and filters, thermometers and I do weekly strip tests. I keep my tanks at around 80 degrees F.

 

[divegirl]

Hi, the first thing you need to try is to feed him a cooked, de-shelled and crushed pea [fresh not tinned....a frozen one will do], this will sort him out if he is constipated. He does look bloated but happy otherwise. Feed the pea then do not feed for a day or two then feed another one.

Lisa x

 

[KristineNote]

Hi, the first thing you need to try is to feed him a cooked, de-shelled and crushed pea [fresh not tinned....a frozen one will do], this will sort him out if he is constipated. He does look bloated but happy otherwise. Feed the pea then do not feed for a day or two then feed another one.

Lisa x

Thank you Lisa it's almost morning (when I feed them) so I boiled a few frozen peas for a few seconds, peeled off the shell, crushed the insides a bit, and dropped it in Pepper's tank. It's at the bottom and so far he's ignored it. I gave the rest of the peas to my pet rats :3 lol. Anyway, thank you for the advice! I hope he gets better soon~

 

[divegirl]

No worries. Just remember fish can go up to a week easily with out food, so keep trying him with the pea until he takes some, it will rule out constipation as his problem if nothing else!
Just a quick question....you say you feed freeze dried blood worms, do you pre-soak them as if not they can swell up in the fish's stomach and cause bloating.

Lisa x

 

[KristineNote]

No worries. Just remember fish can go up to a week easily with out food, so keep trying him with the pea until he takes some, it will rule out constipation as his problem if nothing else!
Just a quick question....you say you feed freeze dried blood worms, do you pre-soak them as if not they can swell up in the fish's stomach and cause bloating.

Lisa x

It's amazing! Pepper is no longer bloated. Thank goodness! All thanks to you. You have my eternal gratitude. Is it okay if tomorrow I give him his pellets?

I will from now on soak the bloodworms before I give it as a treat to my bettas. I have never done that before but will do so from now on.

 

[divegirl]

Oppps sorry, forgot to come back sooner! I would feed little and often from now on and you should include the pea as part of his weekly diet from now on. Say you feed bloodworm on a Monday, feed pea the next day then starve for a day the go back to pellets. In the wild a fish would control what it eats and 'self medicate' you need to try and replicate that in the aquarium for him.
Really pleased he's feeling better

Lisa x