mlinden84

My daughter just informed me that she dumped the entire bottle of blood worms into Betta's tank. I fished as many out with a net as I could, but he still ate a TON. Now his belly is absolutely enormous. (like he swallowed a marble)
Anything I can/should do?

sirdarksol

Let him digest for awhile. Don't feed him for several days, except for maybe a little tiny piece of pea or some freeze-dried daphnia (both act as laxatives).
I would also do a water change and vacuum, to try to get the extra bits of food that were likely missed.

COBettaCouple

Yea, that's the way to go. Today & tomorrow is definitely a fasting time, then 3 small pellet sized pieces of pea twice a day on Friday and fasting on Saturday.

mlinden84

I did do a water change/vacuum (forgot to mention that)
I have some daphnia. How long should I wait to feed him?
I feel like he's breathing heavier than normal....

COBettaCouple

He's probably breathing heavy from being over-full. I'd fast him at least a day.

mlinden84

Ok thanks everyone for your help!
Poor little guy, he's laying on a leaf thinking "wow that was good, but now i feel soo sick"

COBettaCouple

Yea.. I've been there.. All-You-Can-Eat Buffets..

Allie

I was thinking being a kid at Christmas or Easter. Junk food overload.

I fed Jasper a piece of shrimp once. I had dropped the piece of shrimp in the tank before I realized it wasn't meant for him, the little piece still on the plate was his. I look to see Jasper looking so full that the shrimp end was sticking out his mouth. He digested it took awhile but he was fine. I even tried to pull it out...he wasn't giving it up.

mlinden84

exactly what i was thinking!

mlinden84

He's not looking so good... he's laying on his side on top of his house breathing heavy...

mlinden84

He's still hanging in there, though he doesn't look that great. I did another water change last night and added some java moss to the top of his "house" for him to sleep on.
His poor little belly is still so huge. I was looking at some pictures online and found a few of dropsy that have the same huge belly..... hopefully he doesn't have it. I think I've researched it too much and scared myself so I just need to stop looking! I'm off to class, hopefully he's doing better when I get home tonight.

sirdarksol

Hope things go well for him.

Tazmiche

how is he?

mlinden84

He's still hanging in there, though still severely bloated. The huge part of his belly does have the scales slightly raised... could this just be due to the fact that his stomach is so full? He's been very healthy before this happened. Can massive overfeeding cause dropsy? His belly is also a silvery color, hes always been really dark colored.
I did sprinkle a little bit of daphnia in there for him, but it didn't interest him. He is, however, a little more active than he was last night, or even this morning.
I've attached a few pictures. They aren't great, but they are all I could get.

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sirdarksol

I doubt it's anything more than being severely overfull (though be aware that stress can open the way for infection). The timing, and the fact that he was healthy before this, seems too coincidental for anything else.
He probably won't eat anything for at least another day (this is a good reaction, though it would be nice if he'd eat a laxative). Keep trying with the daphnia.

COBettaCouple

Overfeeding won't cause dropsy and like SDS pointed out.. what are the odds of such timing? He just has a LOT of food in there and the fasting/pea meals plan will help him get that food out safely.

mlinden84

Ok good thanks for the reassurance!
How long could it take for him to pass all of it? (just wondering...)

COBettaCouple

Depending on how much he ate, it could be a week or more. Although the peas should help.