Help!

[critterena]

ok. i'm pretty sure my fish has swim bladder problems. He looks fine and his colors are bright but he just lies on the bottom of his tank. If you provoke him he will try to swim but he just wiggles and can't swim right. i read about feeding him a shelled pea to help sort things out but he doesn't seem interested. He has a great will to live and I don't want to lose him. Any way to get him to eat it? Any other suggestions?

 

[leddy]

How are you cooking it? Mine will ignore a microwaved pea, but gobble a boiled one...picky devils...

If it's simply the size, try mushing it to a fine paste with small lumps using your fingers-I find it helps a lot.

Other than that, just keep trying-it may be he just has no idea what to do with a pea!

You don't say whether or not you are feeding him his normal food as well? Try letting him go hungry for half a day (or more), if he's a picky eater.

 

[critterena]

he hasn't been eating much. I got him to eat one pellet today but that was only by lowering the water level so much that he could get at it. I boiled the pea and when he wouldn't look at it full i mashed it to no avail. He can't be full after eating one pellet I don't think because he hasn't been eating any thing because he can't get at it. His colors had faded for the last few weeks but they have come back really nice and bright... If i can get him to swim I'm pretty sure he would recover and am encouraged by seeing him eat.

 

[leddy]

Try smearing a little on the end of your finger and wiggling it in front of his nose-he may get the idea.
The poor lad does sound like he's been in a bad way though.

 

[critterena]

ok... heres some more information... he was in his own tank but it was to deep so i put him in a smaller one... then i moved him to a floating isolation tank to float on top of my 55 gallon with my other fish in it. seeing the other fish as perked him up better and where is more shallow he finds it easier to get air. I also just saw him swim up far enough to get air but then he just floats back down.... my female bettas are eyeing him and one of them named rose hasn't left his side. I found that really sweet because he was the only fish that had ever spawned with her. maybe they remember each other?

 

[davidnso]

you can mush it a little for betta access into your betta's mouth, though it makes the water dirty fairly quick..


and according to your short excerpt, bettas do fall in love!

 

[Jaded12]

Ok lets go through his symptoms:

-Hes taken to lying on the bottom a lot
-He has issues swimming
-Hes not horribly interested in food
-He was losing color, but gained it back when but in a situation where he was surrounded by other fish

are all of these correct?

Now questions:

-Does his tummy look swollen or bloated?
-Has he been going to the toilet?
-Does he try and eat or ignore it all together?
-How long have you have had him?
-Where did you get him from?

 

[critterena]

All of thoes are correct
His belly doesn't look swollen.. it looks thin.
He had been going to the wash room but I don;t know how frequently... I did a water change yesterday so the water is still clean... there doesn't appear to be any poo.
I did get him to eat one pellet today and he seemed interested in the food its just where he can't swim he was having a hard time getting it even though i lowered the water level and put the food infront of his nose.... he would miss like his swimming was to bad he couldn't balance. either that or he couldn't see it (which i don't think is the case)
I've had him over 6 months and I got him from pet city (the only pet store where i live except for wal mart and i won't buy from there) All the fish at pet city are treated really well and the manager is a good man who knows what hes doing.

 

[critterena]

speaking of Rose and her affection towards Turqoise (the sick fish) she is now staring at him goo-goo eyed and has mating stripes!! her belly is swollen! perhaps i could start conditioning her and a healthier male.... i've had successful matings before, but the problem is she is my most agressive female. i use turqoise to mate with her cause he was as agressive as she was. They made a great pair cause neither one was afraid of the other and they put up a good fight with out actually hurting each other! I tried her with another of my males and she tore him up but she really enjoyed Turqoise

 

[Jaded12]

Does he kind of float onto his side a little, thats the number one sign of a swollen or damaged swimbladder. but if hes not pudgy then hes not constipated, which is the number one cause of swim bladder problems. You say he looks skinny right? I'm wondering if he may have some type of internal parasite thats causing him too lose weight and putting pressure on his swim bladder.

 

[critterena]

yeah he lies on his side or props himself against the side. All I have is betta fix and melafix for medicines. Where I live we dont have many stores and thats all i can get here. I could get stuff online but i need to know what works. Maybe you guys could recomend some things or sites?

 

[Jaded12]

What you need is some sort of copperbased medication to treat for paracites.

 

[critterena]

ok any good brand names i could search for? and if it IS a parasite should i take him out of the community tank?

 

[SouthernCross]

ok... heres some more information... he was in his own tank but it was to deep so i put him in a smaller one...

A tank can be too deep for a betta? Can someone explain this to me?

 

[critterena]

Betta's actually breathe air so where my fish can't swim good he couldn't get to the surface to breathe or get to the food that was there for him.