My constipated betta needs some ex-lax, HELP!

[m3rma1d]

My Betta, Joeseph Fhag-Fishee, is quite ill.. He's swimming sideways and is pretty listless, staying at the surface of the water.

His water is all right-on, he's not fin-rotting, and from what I can google, he just needs to poop.

I've seen one place telling me to give him a cooked pea (I doubt he'd eat it) another place saying epsom salt dip (scary concept!), and another place saying aquarium-salt dip. Do they mean freshwater aquarium salt, or like Reef Crystals®.

He's so stressed and looks nearly dead, I'm scared to dip him in anything. Does anyone know what to do?




(P.S. HI EVERYONE!!!)

[Stang69]

What kind of food do you feed him? Does he gulp air like a goldfish does? If this is the case he may just need to pass a bubble. Remember wet in wet out. I would feed him some frozen bloodworms and wait and see what happens.

In regaurds to the salt yes there is a uniodised rock salt out that is basically the same as epsons salt. You can dip him in a lower salenity water but be careful as not to burn him. I use 1 rounded tablespoon per 5 gallons.


HTH

Jeff

[Alice]

I fed my FW fish thawed petite peas and duckweed to keep them regular

[Deborah]

I've used the peas with goldfish and it works well. If he is gulping air (as one of my goldfish did) feeding sinking pellets may help.

Deborah (who has not been here for a while and didn't know until tonight that there was a fresh water forum!)

[adrianleewelch]

you could always needle decompress him,(JK) I had to do that to a frontosa once, they gulp too much air when they eat cause they are a deeper water fish and are not used to eating at the surface, If he has air in him, it will be slowly absorbed and expelled, but It may be more attributed to an electrolyte imbalance in the water, maby u need some of that freshwater salt added to the tank, could it be a swimbladder problem ? If hes topsy turvey and all over the place, his swim bladder is ruptured and he will soon be a gonner

[OodleyBoodely]

Hi, Spam! Sorry the Bettas having trouble. Just to rule it out, are you sure it is not disease related. Put him in a small clear cup and look down on him while holding the cup over a white surface. Is his abdomen swollen or lumpy with the scales sticking out away from his body? If so, this could be a disease such as dropsy or fish TB, both of which are very difficult to treat. If it is just bloat and the fish is still eating, then feed high ruffage fresh/frozen food will help (dapnia best, also blood and glass worms). Forget the needle decompression-he's not a goldfish-he is an air-breathing anabantid and is gulping air because he will drown if he doesn't! He is also a strict carnivore so it is unlikely that he will eat peas like the omnivorous goldfish. HTH and good luck.