New Giant Betta With Sbd?

So I just went to my local Petco to get my other Bettas and one of them was going to be a Giant Betta. Usually, my local Petco has a large selection and the Bettas aren't too bad but today was horrible. Usually they have about six healthy Giants and today, they only had two. While one was healthy, the one I got was not.

I did this purposefully because 1. He's gorgeous and 2. I just felt so freaking bad for him.

He was laying on his side a bit and appeared to be having a hard time swimming. It looks like swim bladder but I couldnt tell if it was that or the amount of water in his cup. BUT I figured that I would take him home (along with a partially blind female elephant ear) and attempt to help him out.

So I got him home, acclimated him, etc. It was definitely not the amount of water (well I mean, it probably had something to do with it too cause like, wow) but he definitely appears to have SBD. But I also don't know if it is just the size of his body is difficult for him to keep upright. :/

What are your thoughts and suggestions? Will be picking up some peas from work tonight, just incase. He is definitely a fighter, so I'm really hopeful for him. He seems active as he has been trying to swim around and explore his tank, it's mostly just the falling to the side, not being able to swim up without difficulty, etc. He does not appear bloated either but I don't know when he was last fed so ...

(I was going to post a video but that doesn't seem like an option / also showing off the female cause she is really pretty despite her blind eye).

 

I believe you can post videos.
It's hard to tell from the photos, but I wouldn't be surprised. They aren't always fed properly. It also could be the water quality and cup. I thought my baby betta had SBD or a crooked spine but after some time in the tank, I realized he had neither; it was just something about the cup/water he was in.
I personally think that having them in such a small space might weaken them and their swimming abilities. I mean, they can't exactly exercise.

If you have any Indian Almond Leaves to put in and some aquarium salt, that might help him get stronger. Perhaps fast him or feed peas if he'll eat it. Since he's so new, I'd give him time to recuperate and settle before doing anything further

 

It says the video is too large. How much aquarium salt should I put in? And thanks! Forgot I needed to add leaves to his tank still.

 

I have a different brand that says half a teaspoon per gallon or a tablespoon per gallon. I didn't do a full dosage for my ill-looking baby betta because I wasn't sure how it'd affect him.

 

Sorry, one more question. xP

Do I add it into the tank or dissolve it first somewhere else? Put it in as is? Take him out?

 

I think it'd be beneficial to put it in the tank, but your plants may or may not cope with the salt well.

If you want to try treating potential SBD, an Epsom salt bath, in which you'd put him in a separate container with Epsom salt (and water, of course) is an option.
The aquarium salt would just help with stress, electrolytes, osmoregulation, and I think maybe slime coat. It wouldn't reduce possible swelling that is putting pressure on the swim bladder and causing the fish's balance to be wonky.

With either salt, make sure it's dissolved first before putting it in the tank or putting your fish in it.

 

Sorry, one more question. xP

Do I add it into the tank or dissolve it first somewhere else? Put it in as is? Take him out?

I recommend mixing with water first. Full strength crystals may burn.

 

Thank you both!

Once I get home, I'll take some of his tank water out and do that in a critter carrier. Have to do a water change soon anyways I'm sure. xD

 

So I cannot tell if he is bloated or not. I got a slightly better this time.

 

So I haven't started treatment yet because I want to read up a little more and make sure I do it properly without accidentally killing him, ya know? @_@ Especially after my friend said that when she did her treatment a while back, her fish died the next week.

However, this morning I turned back on the lights and when I did, he came up to the glass and has been moving around a lot more. He is still a little tipsy when he goes to sit down and there are still bubbles coming out of his gills when he breathes in air, but he is swimming longer and a little more straighter than he was yesterday. He's still a little humped over too and does the vertical swim when getting air.

As this is my first Giant, I have no idea what to expect though most have been saying that they're basically the same as normal bettas, just plus sized.

I did want to know if SBD can go away on its own though too? He doesn't seem to be bloated from food, so it was most likely his water conditions which makes me mad because how hard is it for a pet store to do water changes every now and then for the bettas the same way that they do for their other fish? -_- Last night, I also noticed that the scales around his gills seem white, likely from a burn or something else (maybe a fungus?).

But anyways, he definitely seems better than yesterday. Whenever I walk into my kitchen, I see him moving around and exploring. He also isn't as clamped up as he was yesterday, he's not fully expanding but is not shut up either. I said he swims about a minute and thirty seconds more than he was compared to yesterday. Any other tips I should have or know about before I finally begin?

 

Any ideas as to why he has a large air bubble coming from his right gill whenever he gets air? Can't seem to find anything related to it and wasn't sure if it was part of the SBD since my Galaxy Koi did this when I first brought her home too. :/ She also came from the same Petco with the same white stuff in her cup and was believed to have ammonia burns in her gills (will try getting an of what the cups looked like since I still haven't gotten rid of the water, been busy). However, her gill bubbles eventually stopped.

 

No, I've never seen or heard of that before, sorry. Has anything changed?

 

Not entirely. However, I did notice him get better when I fed him.

Before, when I was fasting him, he would: tip when he laid somewhere, stay at the bottom, move some from me coming over to the tank, and would eventually hide in his trike skull. He also would swim with a huge hump and do a vertical at times when getting air.

Now, I fed him last night and again a few minutes ago. There is a huge difference in his personality when I don't fast him (Fasted the first three days, then fed him a little to see if the change of diet would make him poop, then got worried and freaked out so I fasted for another two days and then fed him last night). He happily swims for food, doesn't tilt as badly, still has a bubble gill problem, and is much more active in his tank for the rest of the day. I walk into the kitchen and most times, he's swimming around before hand.

I made a separate YouTube channel so I could post videos. He does still yawn and takes breaks every now and then. A friend and I have been discussing him today and I really think it is down to poor water/ammonia poisoning and malnutrition on Petco's end. When I originally got him, he could barely move in his little Petco cup and the water was gross. Being larger, I assume he was creating a bit more of a bio-load than normal bettas. As well, he was kind of turned in his cup. I don't know if this is also the reason for his ventral fins being two different sizes, as one is shorter and doesn't have as much of an iridescent scale to it as the other one does. :/ Or maybe he has a birth defect, but whatever it was, I don't believe it was SBD anymore, or not entirely. So now I'm just kinda stuck and left wondering what is wrong with him, and if something is wrong, what can I do to fix it (aside from birth defects cause that's self explanatory).

Here is the channel I uploaded the videos onto. Everything is listed by day in the titles. I got him on July 25th, so around a week ago. I made it into a playlist: Superbia - YouTube

 

I really think it is down to poor water/ammonia poisoning and malnutrition on Petco's end. When I originally got him, he could barely move in his little Petco cup and the water was gross. Being larger, I assume he was creating a bit more of a bio-load than normal bettas. As well, he was kind of turned in his cup. I don't know if this is also the reason for his ventral fins being two different sizes, as one is shorter and doesn't have as much of an iridescent scale to it as the other one does. :/ Or maybe he has a birth defect, but whatever it was, I don't believe it was SBD anymore, or not entirely.

Perhaps just give him time to recover and get good food into him. My baby betta that I got a little over a week ago was similar, tilted on his side, not swimming well, looked to have a crooked spine, and very thin. I thought the swimming/balance issues with SBD and there were several big expanded pellets in the cup that were too big for him to eat. But not long after I put him in a 1.5 gallon tub, he didn't show signs of SBD, I was still out about the crooked spine, and positive about underfed/malnourished/bad diet. Within an hour, probably less, he didn't seem to have a crooked spine anymore. All of the problems I thought he had was corrected simply by giving him space to swim around and food he can actually eat. I also initially added some aquarium salt as well, and an IAL has been keeping the tub full of tannins.

Since mine is a baby, perhaps he was able to bounce back faster, or maybe yours was in the cup and conditions longer.
As for birth defect, possibly. I don't know anything about that sort of thing though. If not a birth defect, maybe a by-product of such tight confinement? I mean, a king betta (even regular bettas) in a cup...that's like a tall person living in a clown car or something. How are they supposed to exercise, grow, use muscles, etc. like that?

 

Yeah. I saw one of the cups at the store had some sort of tropical flake food on it so I assume they were feeding him that, and probably about the same amount as the regular bettas, that's assuming he was even fed recently. Now all my anxiety/paranoid thoughts are kicking in like "maybe they stop feeding the ones who look sick" or something like that, etc.

I guess I will just keep watching him over the next few days. I really wish my second package of frozen bloodworms hadn't been ruined by a power outage again. -_- But I can grab some next Thursday so.

I also learned recently that Giants need 10 gallons minimum, so I'll be working on setting that up and getting him placed somewhere other than his current 5 gallon tank. Might take me a few weeks/months but it will be worth it in the long run. <3

 

Poor guy, but id love to follow this thread for more updates on him. He is beautiful, and so is the light girl.

For now, the 5 gal is probably best while he is recovering as its easier for him to swim smaller distances to get used to moving around again. Once hes back in better shape, then upgrade. Fingers crossed for a favourable recovery

 

I fed him this morning and did his water change as well. I'll be adding videos to the playlist of him so that I can share how he is doing as the week goes on and will post whenever there is a major impact on him, whether healthy or negative.

Thank you everyone though!