Severe Bloat

[parxs]

Saturday night I went to Walmart with a friend and when we passed by the fish I obviously snuck a glance and saw a bright orange (relatively speaking) crowntail betta. At first he looked to be fine but then I realized he had a very long, clear, stringy poo and was extremely swollen and he didn't seem to be able to swim down in his cup at all. Having dealt with bloat and swim bladder issues before I brought him home, gave him a quick salt bath and put him in a 5 1/2 gallon tank that is now vacant save for some nuisance snails. I fasted him the rest of Saturday night (it was about 10:30-11pm) and yesterday morning, then yesterday afternoon I put him in the cup floating in his tank so he could get a bit of a pea off the bottom. He ate some of it and I think he might have had a teeny tiny poo. Today he's much less swollen than Sat. but he's still floating and while he's mostly upright he will occasionally be on his side. I'm planning on fasting him all day today and tomorrow and then a pea on Wednesday but I don't want to be stressing him too much, afterall he did just get to a new home, and I'm worried about starving him. Is there anything else I can do to help ease his bloat or help it clear up more quickly?

 

[Caitlin86]

The white stringy poop concerns me..he could be carrying internal parasites. Prazipro is a good treatment that won't mess with ur biological filter and will help with parasites. Alot of ppl use praziquantel as preventative treatment 4 new fish.

 

[AllieSten]

I agree, I would go with Praziquantel. Prazipro being one of the best brands, but anything with Praziquantel will work.

You are doing the right thing by fasting him. I would fast him for 48 hours then give him the pea. Then feed once a day for a couple of days. Once you add the prazI he should be feeling better in just 24-48 hours.

 

[parxs]

I don't have access to PrazI right now. I don't have any good fish stores within 40 minutes so should I fast for 48 hours and then feed him a pea but soak it in garlic first? And then assuming he clears up continue only feeding garlic soaked food? Or what is the dose for garlic in the water to help treat IP?

 

[tunafax]

How is he doing today?

If PrazI is very unavailable and you desperately need something, Jungle Lifeguard and Topfin(?) Lifeguard fizzy tabs would clear parasites. ApI General Cure too. Available at Walmart and Petsmart. I used to QT bettas with it - just desolve the tab in a separate container and qt your fish - don't add to main tank - and be very careful with the dose.

But I hope this is all unnssisary and he's doing better today.

 

[parxs]

No better today. And my car broke down, can't get ANYTHING today He looked like he was trying to poo yesterday, just a bit of stringy clear poo, he's definitely very blocked up, no food still tomorrow, pea on Thursday. If he's not better by then and my car is fixed I'll try to pick something up on Friday. Edit: I just found some General Cure in a box of random fish stuff but it says it expired in late 2014, is it still good? I know with most human meds (and food and pretty much everything else) the expiration date isn't accurate and it's still good past it's best by date but is that true here? Would it do anything bad if it were expired or would it just not work?

 

[parxs]

Sonny is finally better! He was still off this morning but I gave him a pea in a small cup again and left him in there for a few hours giving him more every now and then using a toothpick (he's still hand shy) and finally he wouldn't eat anymore and I let him back in the tank and he wasn't floating anymore. He's swum to the bottom to explore some and I dosed the General Cure again. He hasn't eaten anything but peas in nearly a week so he'll get a small pellet possibly two tonight or tomorrow, he's still small and weak but he can actually swim now!!