Manny The Betta Refuses To Eat...

[diesel21]

Hi guys,

I've had "Manny" for almost 6 months now, hes a great little plakat. However he seemed to get lice or a paracite of sorts (maybe from new snails? looked like disc shapes on his sides, discolouration and stopped eating) so I treated with anti paracite treament. It seemed to work, however he has stopped eatin for two weeks now, thou he is still active and flaring.
I bought a fresh pack of his food but still spits it out and swims away. I have heard Bettas are fussy but thought if i just kept tryin maybe he would start munching again. Getting very worried now I have seen on ebay someone is offering fresh bloodworms for a reasonable price, however im worried about introducing a new paracite on the live worms... Does anyone have any suggestions or how to entice his appeitie? Thanks

 

[Colin_T]

The round grey discs that latch onto the fish's side are argulus or fish louse. They can cause some serious damage if not removed.
The medication might have upset the fish. Do a 50% water change and gravel clean each day for a couple of weeks and see if that helps. You can try feeding him live brineshrimp, available from the petshop. It will be free of diseases and the moving food might encourage him to eat. Alternatively have a look in the garden for aphids or mozzie larvae.
Mozzie larvae are often found in buckets of water that have been sitting under a tree for a few days. They are even more common in buckets of water with rotting leaves in.
*NB* it is illegal to culture mozzies in many countries.

The fish won't starve just yet. Unlike mammals that use most of the food they eat to keep warm, fish take their body temperature from the surrounding water. This means the food they eat goes straight into developing muscle tissue and for swimming around.

 

[diesel21]

hi there, I have been doing extra water changes as I've been paranoid about the lice
I think I shall order some brine shrimp then and see how he does as he's still alert thanks for taking the time to offer advice

 

[Athena]

Also, bear in mind that giving bloodworms all the time can cause them to become constipated and put them off eating - so try offering a squashed, shelled pea - that usually does the trick of sorting out any bowel problems!

It's happened a few times to my betta in the early days of having him when I didn't know about fish getting constipated LOL - now I always give him a shelled pea (squashed into tiny bits) once a week and he gobbles it up and hasn't gone off his food since.

Athena

 

[diesel21]

good idea, I shall go hunt in the freezer!he still comes up to the food I do offer but looks very unimpressed lol.I've ordered some brine shrimp to see how that goes down but shall try pea in the mean time! thanks

 

[modaz]

as colin stated, these parasites have to be removed manually, its pretty easy to do but if left on the fish they do some bad damage and this could be the problem, check him over and see if he has small ones on him and then get him out of the tank and remove them, this is the only way i find affective. Add some stress coat to the tank afterward to chill him out and some pimafix would be good too to help with any healing issues. Once the parasites are gone the fish usually get better very quickly.

 

[diesel21]

hi I'm doing another 80% water change tonight, as thought I saw some small white specs on the glass on the inside are these baby lice? I shall look him over gd and proper tonight. nitemare!

 

[diesel21]

YEY!!!! Manny has just stuffed in the Pea!! Im soooo relieved, just finshed his water change and hes starting to bubble nest great signs! Thanks for your help folks much appreciated!