Female Betta suddenly funny shape and fat

[kjrabbit]

My red female has been raised in a tank with platy's. She is large and well fed but suddenly she is very fat and her right side is bulging. She has not been any where she can see other betta's although I have them. Is she ill, or full of eggs. Should she be seperated? She has recently been fed freeze dried bloodworms only ( the dog ate the other jar of fish food)

I have another female, and two males. All in their own tanks. She is the only betta raised with other fish. Should I put her into a tank with one of the males, or just put her into a tank by herself until this issue resolves?

[Tiari]

A diet exclusively of blood worms is not good for a Betta, and can lead to bloating, constipation and fatty liver disease. Definitely appropriate some good Betta food, to vary her diet.

She may be bloated and constipated. Try feeding a thawed and 10 second skinned microwaved pea, cut into tiny pieces. If she is constipated, this will help clear her out, and serves as a fish laxative.

[CherrySparkles]

If she won't eat the pea (a few of my fish have turned up their noses at it), daphnia is another great "fish laxative".

If I'm not mistaken, constipation often shows up as an asymmetrical bulge? (ie: it's larger on one side of the fish). If the fish is quite distended, I'd try fasting her for a couple of days before adding any more food to an already backed up system. If at that point her body hasn't sorted it out, then try feeding a laxative food? (and only that, as we're still dealing with a blockage and don't want to add much more to it). If this doesn't work, you can try dosing with epsom salt. I can't recall the dosage/procedure off the top of my head, so you will want to seek guidance from the forum on that. Or if you can get her to flare, the agitation might encourage/help her to have a fishy bowel movement. I know that it can help with males.

Also, you mentioned putting her into a tank with another betta? Unless the tank is securely divided so that the fish can NOT have any contact with each other, and preferably can't see each other too well, do NOT do this. Whether a male and a female or two females, they WILL fight and one will end up grievously injured or dead. Male + male combos will create fights to the death. Male + female combos only work under careful supervision for breeding purposes, with immediate separation following. Females can live together, but only in large groups so that aggression is spread out, and in tanks that are heavily planted/decorated so that they have room to hide from each other and establish their own territories.

Without pictures/more information, we can't tell for sure if she is constipated, gravid or something else. Are her scales sticking out at all? How is she behaving? Constipation is very common in bettas, especially, as Tiari said, when they are being fed as yours had been. I would go on that assumption first and see how the fish does, in which case she does not need to be moved from her current tank into a solitary hospital tank.