My awesome buddy, Domino the samurai betta, has stopped eating.
I found this gorgeous boy at Petco in May 2025. I have no idea how old, but he was full grown. He has lived a happy life in his heavily planted 5.5 gal (please don't crucify me) for 6 months. I feed him Northfin betta bits, fluval bug bites, plus a mix of frozen food – blood worms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp.
He first stopped eating 3 weeks ago (Nov 28). I assumed he was constipated, and tried some boiled pea, and an Epsom salt bath (1 tbspn per gallon, for 10 minutes). He improved and ate for maybe 3 days.
When he stopped eating again, I went to my LFS and got live daphnia. I fed him only live daphnia for 3 days. He was kind of interested, and eventually ate them. Afterward, he still wouldn't eat his normal food.
He has been on and off eating for a few weeks since. I bought frozen daphnia, but it is way too small for him to eat.
I thought maybe it was bacterial, and did a full 6 day course of Kanaplex. It didn't have any affect.
He is still quite active, and not acting sick. Though he does rest more than usual at the bottom on the gravel.
** When the air stones are on, he will constantly eat the bubbles. I thought this might mean his stomach hurts, but not sure.
He has no visible illness. All I can think to do is continue Epsom salt baths every other day.
Does anyone have a recipe to make frozen daphnia palatable for bettas??
Please help me and my Sir Domino the Dominator Samurai ❤️🩹❤️🩹
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1pr7c6i
Posted by mewjet18