[Judeamarco]

Hello,

This evening, the betta I put in my 5 gal nano tank suddenly can't swallow the pellets I give her. I've been giving her the same pellets ever since I got her

I've had this tank for about a month and a half now and everything has been going great. Plants are thriving and parameters are great. Water is heated as well at a constant 25°C. This morning, I was able to feed her without any problems but this evening, she tries to swallow it then spits it out. She repeats this multiple times before just giving up.

Velvet doesn't seem to be the cause because I can't seem to find any of that gold dust and she's not scratching against any of the driftwood.

No sign of Ich nor fin rot as well. She definitely has the appetite for it but just can't swallow it. She's as active as ever as well.

Any help? She's a healthy betta who suddenly can't keep the thing she eats all the time down. I give her 3 pellets a day usually, sometimes 4 if she's desperate. Did I overfeed her and she just can't take anymore in even if she wants to? Her belly has a healthy roundness to it.

 

[Nordic]

Break out the epsom salt. 1 tsp into one gallon of tank water. Decant some into a jar, and float it in your tank till the temperature is more or less the same. Give fish 10 minute baths twice daily. It will get the stomach going. Stop feeding for a day or two.

Check her from the top to make sure her scales are not standing out like a pine cone. That would be dropsy. Honestly you don't stand much of a chance against that.

 

[roadmaster]

Hopefully pellet's are small.
Can try soaking them in some water to make them softer.

 

[AWolf]

Is it possible the pellets got contaminated some way? Maybe old or got wet? If they get wet and sit in a jar, the bacteria will grow on them and fish won't like them. It happened to me with a jar of freeze dried worms. They got a little damp and the whole jar was ruined. I make sure now I never put my fingers in the jar, but sprinkle some out on the top, and shake that into the tank.

 

[Judeamarco]

That could be possible with the contaminated food although I'm very sure that barely any water got in it. They look good to me. I tried some freeze dried bloodworms, freeze dried daphnia, and some freeze dried mysis tonight after not feeding her this morning. She was only able to keep down the mysis. I noticed some large strings of poop though and did a 20% water change tonight. She still can't eat the pellets. Still the same thing where she eats it then spits it out over and over until giving up. I added some aquarium salt but not the temperature(curse you really good heaters that keep it at constant 25°C even when there's 3 of you in there).

I'll update when something changes.

Bump: I have had fish succumb to dropsy so definitely not that. The pellets are definitely small enough for her to eat but I've noticed she's struggling to put it in her mouth now even though she's been gobbling it up for the past month and a half.

 

[Nordic]

I have had one that only ate the red flakes when she felt sick. I had to sit and sort flake food out for her.