What To Feed Betta When Live Food Is Unavailable

[nortonmad213]

ok thanks, i just had a look at him. he's all clamped up still but he's moving now

 

[nortonmad213]

hi guys so bit of an update.
tank has been in darkness following wildbettas instruction,
i have been dosing with king british velvet control every other day as per the instructions on the bottle
i dosed once with aquarium salt a fortnight ago.
all in all its looking up. his fins are starting to open i just hope that i havent missed something else.
ill post more pictures tonight or tomorrow as time allows.

 

[jasonh_000]

do NOT medicate your fish if you do not know if he has an illness or what the illness is.
 
if you want to add a bit of salt to the water, you can use kosher salt or seasalt with no iodine.  dont use much and dont add it all the time.  it builds up.
salt isnt a wonder cure.
 
the best thing to do is leave him alone.
if you have a filter, turn that off.    you dont have to cover his tank.
 
why do you think he has velvet?

 

[Shelster]

I have just read through this thread - Nortonmad, I hope he is showing good signs of improvement! Look forward to seeing new pics when he is better and the black out is over. Well done for acting quickly

do NOT medicate your fish if you do not know if he has an illness or what the illness is.
 
Jasonh - did you read through the thread? Nortonmad had been advised that it MAY be velvet, and what tests to do to check for this, which he did. The results were conclusive of velvet, so he then asked re medication.

 

[nortonmad213]

hi guys, so i know photos have been a long time coming and i cant seem to get any good ones so i have a video for you instead, please excuse the quality again.


video on way

 

[nortonmad213]

http/youtu.be/W4jpZUkRRuo

 

[tunagirll]

Someone's had his breakfast
 
He's looking much better! Well done.

 

[Shelster]

Great to see him much improved, good job!

 

[jasonh_000]

Jasonh - did you read through the thread? Nortonmad had been advised that it MAY be velvet, and what tests to do to check for this, which he did. The results were conclusive of velvet, so he then asked re medication.

 
YES, i read the thread. that's not what i gathered from it.  where's the conclusive results?  he seemed confused about what was the issue.
i saw the before pictures and that fish didn't have velvet.  perhaps the fish was ill and it fought it off, or it was just depressed.

one thing i noticed about the after pic is that sucker sure is bloated. if he is feeding it freeze dried food and not re-hydrating it, that could cause digestive issues.
 
also should turn off the air pump.

 

[Wildbetta]

 

Jasonh - did you read through the thread? Nortonmad had been advised that it MAY be velvet, and what tests to do to check for this, which he did. The results were conclusive of velvet, so he then asked re medication.

 
YES, i read the thread. that's not what i gathered from it.  where's the conclusive results?  he seemed confused about what was the issue.
i saw the before pictures and that fish didn't have velvet.  perhaps the fish was ill and it fought it off, or it was just depressed.

one thing i noticed about the after pic is that sucker sure is bloated. if he is feeding it freeze dried food and not re-hydrating it, that could cause digestive issues.
 
also should turn off the air pump.
 

 
 
 
I believe that he figured out it was velvet after I told him how to check for it.  He stated that he saw the "dust" and then started following my instructions. 
I am not sure if you have ever dealt with velvet on bettas first hand but the symptoms that this fish was showing was indicative of velvet.  The fact that the fish after treatment is no longer showing clamped fins and is active, show me that I was correct in the advice I gave.
 
Turning off the air pump would not help this betta at all since it is running the filter (if I understood correctly how his filter is working).  While technically bettas CAN live with no filter, there is no reason to not have one especially if the tank is 5 gallons or more.  It is actually more beneficial for the betta to have the cycled filter than to go without one.
 
I do agree though that the betta looks quite bloated in these recent pics.  Norton -- I advise fasting him until the bloating goes down and then feed him sparingly a good quality pellet on a regular basis.  Frozen foods can be offered a couple times a week instead of the pellets if wanted.  Try to stay away from freeze dried foods and flakes which are bad to cause bloating and constipation. 
 
Here is the part where the velvet was found on the fish.
 

 

nortonmad213(IP: 92.18.97.26)


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Posted 07 May 2014 - 11:57 AM

Wildbetta, on 07 May 2014 - 09:43 AM, said:

He is extremely clamped so he is def not feeling well.  Temperature is good and that is the first thing I check when I see a clamped fish.  One of the most common betta issues is velvet.  A condition that is caused by an organism similar to ICH.  Treatment is basically the same as ICH except with an added total blackout of the tank.  Turn off all the lights and take a flash light and shine it across your betta.  If you see anything that looks like dust(some people describe it as gold but it could easily be grayish) then you are most likely dealing with velvet. To find more info on velvet (as well as pics) google the name : 
Oodinium pilularis
 
 Other issues could be internal parasites or a bacterial infection.  Have you seen him poop recently? If so was it white or stringy?  
 
I wouldn't turn off the filter but if you have an extra airstone/bubbler in that tank I would remove it as bettas really don't care for such things.  

wb by blackout do you mean towel over the tank? or just keep the light off? thanks. i looked at him for ten mins with flashlight and i can see the goldy dust that you spoke of. the only med as i said above was king british. was unsure on how quick velvet kills so went ahead and got that


 

 

 

[nortonmad213]

Hi. I'll start the fasting today. I have been feeding him on hikari betta bio gold. I was at amusoc festival and left him in my sister's care. I gave her instructions but am unsure if she was rushed and just poured some in or not. Wb the filter is run by the air pump. It was also running an air stone but that has since been removed. Jason I can understand why you may be confused but this isn't the only place I asked. And the people on the other site also suggested treating for velvet