weird fish

[katt-ja]

hi,

this isn't about discus fish but a weird betta fish. i thought he was constipated so i did epsom salt baths with no effect. he shows no sign of sickness except for bloating. then i caught him in the act of pooping one day and there was the silica sand i had in the bottom of the tank in his poop!!!! and he's been pooping it regularly. i don't know why he is eatting the sand but i would think it hurts when he poops and must be the reasoning for the bloating. what can i do?

:confused:

[Ed13]

Many fish and other animals eat sand rocks etc as a natural behaviour. Aiding in digestion etc or as a mistake. The betta was prob searching/hunting for something and ate some sand. I have no clue if the silica sand is hurting it as its usually larger grains than other sands

BTW, is that you on the avatar? What's on the background?

[katt-ja]

yeah, i'm just worried he's not going to be able to pass the grains of sand very easily they are kindda big.. so he's not going to stop eating the sand is he? do you think he is in pain? he keeps eating it so i'm not sure...


yes that is me in the picture. i'm at a zoo in front of a giant aquarium filled with thousands of chiclids.

[Ed13]

I doubt he is going to stop eating it as I've heard they enjoy hunting for ostracods and copepods in the sand. I've seen fish poop very weird things(even saltwater parrot fish, triggers and angels poop tons of aragonite sand) so I can't really say if the coarse silica crystals are actually harming his insides, but it doesn't sound too pretty. On the other hand if he is passing it through it can be that bad.

Cool on the avatar, I thought it was a painting though and you were the artist:o

[katt-ja]

this sand is very smooth.
the grains are very round.
but i hope he will be ok.

but i actually do paint. i think i will do a big painting just like that one day. but that makes me feel better that it's normal that fish do ingest sand from time to time.

thanks :)