Egg Bound? Or Just Really Fat?

I'm sorry these aren't the best pictures of my female betta Julia, but she's gotten real fat over the past few weeks. She's in a community tank with harlequin rasboras, Cardinal tetras, and salt and pepper corry cats. There are no other betta in her tank.

The problem is, lately she eats everything! She eats the top flake food for the harlequins, and the sinking pellets for the other guys. I tried fasting her for a couple of days, she'll shrink slightly. I've given her daphnia, but she stays big. She is a lot less active now in her larger state, she spends long periods hanging in that floating plant. She used to be very active back in her "fit" days.

My tank has long been cycled, I haven't lost a fish in months. Is she just really fat, or is she egg bound? I have two males in a divided 10 gallon tank. Does she need some TLC? I can't raise baby betta right now, but maybe the one of my boys can give her some relief.

 

It looks like you have really severe bloat. Have you tried to feed her peas?

 

I tried a while back, I believe she did eat some. I'll give it a try tomorrow. Will daphnia help with bloat?

 

Honestly, I'm not an expert on feeding, but I do think that it speeds up digestion since it is high in fat.
I'm honestly a beginner in the hobby myself.

 

Fast for 3 days and feed the daphnia.

Daphnia has worked betta for my bettas than peas.
Get the pun?

 

Fast for 3 days and feed the daphnia.

Daphnia has worked betta for my bettas than peas.
Get the pun?

I knew there was a reason I like you.

Seanny Pants, with your TLC - it's obvious you really care about her - she will improve and soon be back to herself.

 

I knew there was a reason I like you.

Seanny Pants, with your TLC - it's obvious you really care about her - she will improve and soon be back to herself.

Thank you for your advice and puns. This photo is a little better. It's sad to see Julia struggle to swim, she's normally very dominant. I'll follow your advice for fasting, followed by laxatives. Thank you.

 

Does she look like she is pineconing at all? I thought I could see some in the last photo... You can tell better if you view her from above.

 

Does she look like she is pineconing at all? I thought I could see some in the last photo... You can tell better if you view her from above.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by pineconing, but this looks to be it. Julia is very listless, I dropped a few pieces of peas I to the tank to feed the other fish, but Julia just watched it go by. She spends most of her time in this floating plant, yesterday she simply sunk to the bottom when she left the plant.

 

Oh my gosh... I’m thinking dropsy honestly (I know it’s a symptom)

 

Dropsy is a symptom of organ failure, and if she's been this way for several weeks then it may be too late to help it... Unfortunately, I don't consider myself enough of an expert to try to tell you what treatments to do. There are lots of good threads with lots of treatment options if you do some research.

 

Try an Epsom salt bath. I’m sorry, but I forgot the dosage of salt.

 

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by pineconing, but this looks to be it. Julia is very listless, I dropped a few pieces of peas I to the tank to feed the other fish, but Julia just watched it go by. She spends most of her time in this floating plant, yesterday she simply sunk to the bottom when she left the plant. View attachment 449119

Wow, is some serious dropsy. I’m not sure there’s anything you could do at this point. I’m thinking it’s kidney failure. You could give her epsom salt dips to bring down the bloating a bit but I don’t think she’ll recover

Any ideas what could have caused it in the first place?

 

Try an Epsom salt bath. I’m sorry, but I forgot the dosage of salt.

I think it's too late David. She is very fat and is losing quickly. Think it's time to put the poor betta down. Now OP how did your betta get that fat? How many times a day were you feeding her? What was it?

 

I think it's too late David. She is very fat and is losing quickly. Think it's time to put the poor betta down. Now OP how did your betta get that fat? How many times a day were you feeding her? What was it?

Thank you to everyone for your advice. Julia died Saturday night, so she fought for eleven days after my original post. I had her in a separate medical tank, changed her water everyday and gave her medicine according to the instructions. She didn't eat in the medical tank. I didn't put her down because I figured that if she was willing to fight, who was I to say no? Julia was my responsibility, and I wanted to do my best to give her every opportunity. I'm sure she did suffer those ten days, but she won't suffer ever again. She was about a year old.

To answer a previous question, Julia was living in a 20 gallon community tank and she got so fat because she was eating the other fish's food, including the sinking pellets for my cory catfish. I did try fasting her when she looked a little fat, but all of sudden she exploded. The tank is cycled and the water parameters always tested to be excellent.

On a separate note, I have two male bettas in a divided 10 gallon tank. They are both about a year old, all three (including Julia) came from the same breeder. The water parameters are excellent for this 10 gallon tank. I am concerned for my one betta, Caesar. He's bloated, and I don't know if it's normal bloating, or if he has dropsy. I might have overfed him a little, I did try fasting him a couple of days last week. I gave him some peas yesterday and I will try fasting him again. He still has a healthy appetite, but has been more lethargic the past few months.

I included pictures of Caesar, from these pictures, what do you think should be my course of action? If he's just bloated, I can leave him in his tank and fast him accordingly. If he also has dropsy (not again) I will need to put him into the medical tank so I can give him medicine. I rinsed out the medical tank with hot water, and let it dry out since removing Julia.

Again, thank you to all.

 

Thank you to everyone for your advice. Julia died Saturday night, so she fought for eleven days after my original post. I had her in a separate medical tank, changed her water everyday and gave her medicine according to the instructions. She didn't eat in the medical tank. I didn't put her down because I figured that if she was willing to fight, who was I to say no? Julia was my responsibility, and I wanted to do my best to give her every opportunity. I'm sure she did suffer those ten days, but she won't suffer ever again. She was about a year old.

To answer a previous question, Julia was living in a 20 gallon community tank and she got so fat because she was eating the other fish's food, including the sinking pellets for my cory catfish. I did try fasting her when she looked a little fat, but all of sudden she exploded. The tank is cycled and the water parameters always tested to be excellent.

On a separate note, I have two male bettas in a divided 10 gallon tank. They are both about a year old, all three (including Julia) came from the same breeder. The water parameters are excellent for this 10 gallon tank. I am concerned for my one betta, Caesar. He's bloated, and I don't know if it's normal bloating, or if he has dropsy. I might have overfed him a little, I did try fasting him a couple of days last week. I gave him some peas yesterday and I will try fasting him again. He still has a healthy appetite, but has been more lethargic the past few months.

I included pictures of Caesar, from these pictures, what do you think should be my course of action? If he's just bloated, I can leave him in his tank and fast him accordingly. If he also has dropsy (not again) I will need to put him into the medical tank so I can give him medicine. I rinsed out the medical tank with hot water, and let it dry out since removing Julia.

Again, thank you to all. View attachment 452115View attachment 452116

He looks like he had overeaten, you can give him an epsom salt bath to help him pass the food (it acts as a laxitive the ratio is 1 tablespoon to 1 gallon of water, 15-30 minutes for the bath - if the fish becomes stressed move it to fresh water immediately; signs are pale color, listless, and dropping to the bottom with very little gill movement) dissolve the salt completely in the water before adding the fish to make sure they don't accidentally eat it (a piece of the salt can hurt them if they ingest it because they are tiny).

 

I know it's tempting to overfeed your fish because they give you the puppy eyes, but you are also doing lots of harm.