Female betta egg bound?

[labnjab]

Our female betta seems to be egg bound. Her stomach is huge. She looks like a pregnant guppy. We've been feeding the whole tank garlic for over a week, so I don't think its parasites and she has been eating. She doesn't seem to have problems swimming, but shes just slower then usualy and spends alot of time hidding. I would take a picture, but I'm having vista problems and can't upload them.

Can she be egg bound with no male in the tank? If she is, is there anything we can do for her? She just looks so uncomfortable .We have a male in his own ten gallon tank, but he's old and I don't think he would do well breeding.

Thank you for any help

[angelcakes]

your fish could be bloated?
hows her poop if youve seen any?

and if she is bloated try feeding some peas

[Kathyd]

I'm fairly sure females can fill with eggs without a male present. I think that's what breeders hope to achieve with conditioning. Anyway, Faith from BettaTalk did a page on bloated bettas. Maybe it will help.

http://www.bettatalk.com/answer129.htm

[labnjab]

Thank you for the link. She looks like she's egg bound or constipated and not dropsy. She won't even look at the peas. I may have to move her to a breeder box for closer observation and see if she will eat them there. If she is egg bound is there a way to get her to release the eggs, maybe put the male in the breeder box instead of her? I just want to help her she looks so uncomfortable

[labnjab]

After getting her into the breeder box, it looks like dropsy. Her scales look like a pine cone. Is there anything we can do for her, or is she living on borrowed time? Isn't dropsy from liver or kidney faliure?

[Kathyd]

I'm so sorry to hear that. Here is a link to Faith's diseases site.

http://www.bettatalk.com/betta_diseases.htm

[Wiggs]

So sorry to hear :(

[labnjab]

Thank you, I'm gonna put her down tonight, shes just laying in the breeder box, struggling to breathe. It looks like theres no cure either. We've had her close to 7 months.