Why Is He Doing This? Help

[redbetta]

My new marble copper pk is swimming around basically vertically, first I thought he was being stupid but he cannot get horizontal. His bum just keeps going down again and his face up. He doesn't have that heavy of finnage, and when I got him a month ago he was fine... Anyone know what he's doing? I've watched him for about 3 hours now... Thanks in advance, it means a lot to me, he's my most expensive betta

 

[Silvani]

Sounds like swim bladder to me.

Which is most commonly caused by constipation. So a good old cooked pea may help your little guy out. (De-shelled and smashed up to betta sized bites just incase you didn’t know)

 

[redbetta]

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat, you're kidding... He's not bloated or anything though

I guess I'll have to try that but it's hard because I'm in a university dorm. Sometimes they make peas, I guess I can hope until tomorrow. He just ate some pellets so ohpefull that doesn't make it worse. Will he be ok until tomorrow?

Ok I have soup stuff here, and it has peas in it so im going to make it just for him to have a pea. I'll wash it good first so it doesnt have any soup stuff on it. so i just feed him what's inside of the pea??

 

[Silvani]

He should be ok as long as he is able to get to the surface to breath. And with his head tilted up that really shouldn't be too big an issue. I really haven't heard of many fish dieing of swim bladder, as long as they can eat and breath. But be careful of taking peas from your university cooking, they may have used butter on them and that would not be good for the betta.

If you can't get your hands on some peas it may be a good idea to fast him for a day instead.

edit: Just saw the soup part. I wouldn't trust that personally... but if its washed off well it may be worth a shot. I can't advise it though.

 

[redbetta]

Well do I feed him the shell of the pea too? I don't know, see he just came from a spawning tank, so really he shouldn't be constipated, he hasn't really been fed.

Oi god, this scares me. Well he can swim up and down fine, I just fed him 2 little pieces of the washed pea, I hope he will be ok. He ate it like it's nothing at all and I've never fed him peas before. None of my bettas have ever had this. Hmmm

 

[Silvani]

No you do not feed the shell. But if he is just out of the spawn tank and was fasted in there, I’m not sure what would be causing this… perhaps some others may have some thoughts.

 

[redbetta]

Thanks Silvani for your help. I'm not sure myself, but maybe the pea will fix him up.

 

[Synirr]

I've heard that swimbladder problems are sometimes caused by internal bacteria infections, but I can't confirm that. I guess if you wanted to try some antibiotics on him it couldn't hurt?

 

[Silvani]

Just FYI I found this thread on swim bladder:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=117078

 

[redbetta]

thanks for your replys, he seems to be able to go for air but this morning he's also just laying on the rocks. So sad this is. Should I just fasten him now?

What kind of medicine should I be giving him? I live in Canada and I've never had this issue before.

 

[redbetta]

anyone?? please.. he's now just laying around on the bottom, and I think it's just constipation, but who knows. what kind of treatment can i give him and should i be fastening him or feeding him more pea?

 

[WILDER]

Peas, daphnia, or the cod liver oil method.

http/www.bobstropicalfish.com/constipation.html