Re: Betta Fish hungry, but can't grasp food

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Betta Fish hungry, but can't grasp food

by Phebe

Jan 6, 2009

My betta has not been able grasp his food, for several weeks. He is hungry and very responsive, but very rarely gets a bit; perhaps one every 3 or 4 days. He used to always enthusiastically and proudly snatch his food, swim away chomping on it and then be back for more. Now he tries, but the pellet just floats away, when he tries to grasp it. I have switched from his usual Biogold to 2 other betta pellets, peas which he really wants, but has the same problem with, dried shrimp and Daphnia (sp?) - which disintegrates, as soon as it melts. His water and every other aspect has been checked. We will get some live blood worms, or what ever the pet shop thinks is best, asap. Swishy always comes to greet me. I see no signs of trouble anywhere on him. Help?

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Phebe On 1/06/09, Phebe wrote: > My betta has not been able grasp his food, for several > weeks. He is hungry and very responsive, but very rarely > gets a bit; perhaps one every 3 or 4 days. He used to always > enthusiastically and proudly snatch his food, swim away > chomping on it and then be back for more. Now he tries, but > the pe...See MoreOn 1/06/09, Phebe wrote: > My betta has not been able grasp his food, for several > weeks. He is hungry and very responsive, but very rarely > gets a bit; perhaps one every 3 or 4 days. He used to always > enthusiastically and proudly snatch his food, swim away > chomping on it and then be back for more. Now he tries, but > the pellet just floats away, when he tries to grasp it. I > have switched from his usual Biogold to 2 other betta > pellets, peas which he really wants, but has the same > problem with, dried shrimp and Daphnia (sp?) - which > disintegrates, as soon as it melts. His water and every > other aspect has been checked. We will get some live blood > worms, or what ever the pet shop thinks is best, asap. > Swishy always comes to greet me. I see no signs of trouble > anywhere on him. Help?

Hi! My betta has recovered! My computer crashed and I lost all my data, or I would have re-contacted someone in Hawaii, that wrote me, with the same problem. Even though the freeze dried Daphnia(?) disintegrated, it may have helped, as I left his water, dirtied with it, for 2 or 3 hours, a couple of different times. Perhaps enough got into his system, to start clearing him out. I believe that his problem may have been from ingesting fuzz-type bits, from the surface of his water. (The top of his bowl is now loosely covered, in case that had been the problem). Swishy started eating again, when I started squeezing up all the pellets from around the edge of the water, and his pea bits off of the bottom, with a turkey baster and then squooshing them back out, into the water. He got all excited and immediately attacked a piece, and gobbled it up! For many days, he had not seemed to be able to grasp food, though he tried, but with out energy. Now, every 2 days, I take out his "plant" and rock, to give him lots of room, put in an assortment of food and suck it up with the turkey baster and then squeeze it out. He loves it! There will be several bits swirling around for him to pick from, and he will vigorously snatch one, and chomp. Then after a couple of minutes, and after he has taken a gulp of air from the top, which he has always done between bites, I do the turkey baster routine again, and again he eats! After about 5 times, he slows down and has obviously lost interest, so then I just use the baster to remove all the left over bits,(betta food and pea bits) and replace the water with fresh (treated) water, at the same temperature - which is kept on the same heating pad, as his bowl is now. His water temperature stays around 75F. The fresh water in the separate container is often not the same temp, so I just run the outside of the jug under hot or cold water and it very quickly will change the temp. I have been using a digital meat thermometer to check. I use the interior of frozen, thawed peas that have soaked in a bit of his own water. Swishy has always loved the inside of peas and as they have kept him eating when other things haven't, I will keep them, in the things that I offer to him. Just wanted to offer up all this info, in case it can help another Betta owner in distress!

Jan 23, 2009

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