What the heck is going on?!?

[flautist]

A couple weeks ago, little Sakana was a bit swollen and floating on his side, though every time he turned on his side, he would swimm around a bit to get himself upright again. He was still eating, still nesting, all that fin stuff. I put him in a small bowl with some colloidal silver, and he perked right up. So, after giving his tank a VERY thourough cleaning, I put him back in.

This morning he was perfectly fine. I came home from class 3 hours later, and he is swollen and floating on his side again. I put him in the bowl with colloidal silver again. What could be going on? He was fine for a couple weeks, and now it's back?!? What could it be, and what could I do to prevent it from happening again?

 

[OohFeeshy]

Sounds a bit like swimbladder....? I dunno though. Wait for a bit until someone else comes on.

 

[flautist]

He has just a couple of very tiny white spots on his side... should I put in some anti-fungal meds in addition to the colloidal silver?

 

[Welsh_Woman]

if he has white spots he has....white spot or ich, just get some med for it like anti white spot.

 

[WILDER]

How big are the whitespots, what do you feed the betta, as it sound like swim bladder.

 

[flautist]

How big are the whitespots, what do you feed the betta, as it sound like swim bladder.

they are REALLY tiny... I almost didn't see them.

I feed him Hikari Betta Bio-Gold baby pellets, 3 of them once a day, with a pea every couple of weeks.

 

[WILDER]

If they look like sprinkles of salt it is whitespot, do you have a heater in the bowl, also swim bladder can be caused by over feeding and to many dry foods, it sounds like the fish need a more varied diet of some frozen foods as well, like bloodworms, frozen daphnia is good as it helps the fish digest it's food, try some shelled peas on the fish for a few days.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

This is what whitespot/ich looks like;

http/www.fishpalace.org/ich_anonymous.jpg

http/www.fishpalace.org/ich_bobjohnson.jpg

and this is velvet(note the much smaller spots on the fins in comparison to whitespot/ich);

http/www.fishpalace.org/velvet_qianhu.jpg

http/www.fishpalace.org/velvet_michaelsu...hotmail.com.jpg


Swim bladder can be caused be overfeeding but more than often it is caused by internal bacterial infections(use "anti internal bacteria" by Interpet or similar meds to treat this) and can be very difficult to treat and cure successfully but i have noticed there seems to be a slightly higher survival rate with bettas than other fish of this desease.

 

[flautist]

This is what whitespot/ich looks like;

http/www.fishpalace.org/ich_anonymous.jpg

http/www.fishpalace.org/ich_bobjohnson.jpg

and this is velvet(note the much smaller spots on the fins in comparison to whitespot/ich);

http/www.fishpalace.org/velvet_qianhu.jpg

http/www.fishpalace.org/velvet_michaelsu...hotmail.com.jpg


Swim bladder can be caused be overfeeding but more than often it is caused by internal bacterial infections(use "anti internal bacteria" by Interpet or similar meds to treat this) and can be very difficult to treat and cure successfully but i have noticed there seems to be a slightly higher survival rate with bettas than other fish of this desease.

Well, I can't tell the difference... all I know is he only has 4-5 spots, and they are tiny... like, a grain of salt or smaller.

Should the colloidal silver take care of it, or should I add something else? I don't have the money to get anything other than what I already have... I have an anti-fungus, mela fix, betta-fix, and coppersafe. The coppersafe says it works on ich and velvet... should I add some of that, too?

 

[wuvmybetta]

A little copper safe can't hurt, it will probably help a lot. Also try and expand the diet a bit more. Everything revolves around health and if your fish eat like kings they will be tough as nails. Add frozen to the diet and his swim bladder problems should go away.

 

[flautist]

I would LOVE to add frozen to his diet, but I live in a small town, and the closest larger town is still pretty small, and it doesn't even have a pet store. Where can I get frozen food?

 

[wuvmybetta]

That's a bummer I take living in a massive city for granted sometimes. I know some folks buy it online,maybe they'll come along and help you out with some site suggestions.

 

[flautist]

Well, he's still not doing any better... Last time I could see improvement within a couple hours, but it's been 4 hours now and no improvement. Is there anything else I can do for him? He is in a half gallon hospital bowl right now, with a bit of salt, colloidal silver, and copper safe. The water is at a steady 82 degrees. He is just resting, leaning against the side of the bowl right now to keep himself from going onto his side. A little bit of his back is just barely above the water, so every once in a while I make sure to put a little water on him. That gets him to swim around, but he can't go down, and whenever he stops, he just goes over on his side. He's a fighter... I hate seeing him like this. Is there anything else that can be done, or am I just playing a waiting game right now?

 

[WILDER]

Sorry no only the pea's it sounds like the swim bladder is fairly progressed, once it has it hard to cure, sorry.

 

[flautist]

OMG, I think a diet change is definitely in order! He just let out the absolute biggest poo I have ever SEEN for a betta! When I first saw it, I thought he was herniating, it was so big! Now he's not going on his side anymore, his fins are unclamped... And he's able to go down! He's sitting about a half an inch below the top of the water now. That goofy boy, he just had to poo!!!