Recently I took in a young female betta that was living in a plastic filled 1 gal cube at a school I work at. The teacher admitted to being in over her head and upon hearing I have a betta of my own and an empty tank from a recent death, she gave me the fish. The problem is that I’ve had her about a week and i’m stressing about how to get her down to a healthy weight in a way that isn’t harmful to her health in the process. I’ve fed her 2-4 fluval betta bug bites a day, except for two days which she’s had a small amount of daphnia for bloat. That’s all I could find on reddit, so i’m just wondering if anyone else has dealt with this and how I can make sure i’m going about it in a way that’s all around beneficial to her.
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1ogwfa1
Posted by oliviaisolivia
8 Comments
Isn’t that dropsy?
I don’t really think your betta looks obese. IMO looks like dropsy or bloated.
Oh unless it’s full of eggs…?
It looks like bloat. Id fast her for 1-3 days and see if it goes down. After id give her some daphnia to help relieve anything else. Do you know what and how often she was fed previously? 3-6 pellets a day is fine once the bloating is cleared, fast for a day too. The fasting once a week will reduce risks of bloating later on.
bloat or egg bound
Quite probably very eggy. If she’s otherwise well and active i’d not worry too much. Being egg bound is very rare in bettas, and without a male present she will either absorb the eggs or release the,mwhen she’s ready. Fasting for a couple of days can trigger release or absorption of the eggs but I wouldn’t starve her.
Epsom salt baths can help with bloat/inflammation.
In a separate container/tank add 1 TBSP of plain unscented Epsom salt per gallon. 15min max. 4-6x a day.
I think she is egg bound. Daphnia and increased her water temp to 82*. She should drop or resorb her eggs in a day two after that.