My betta died from bloating, and I don't know where I went wrong..
A rundown of my betta's 4-5 months with me:
When I first brought him home, I knew nothing about bettas or fishes in general. His shop owner neglected him a lot, he seemed to have kept him in a tiny jar where a lot of his poop accumulated, causing slight discoloration in the water. According to him the bowl that is beside my tank in the photo above (Currently housing only one cherry shrimp) was enough to be his home and persuaded me into buying that and keeping him in it. Fortunately, I came home that day and studied about how to keep bettas and learned a WHOLE lot of things and eventually within 2-3days spent a lot of money and started my planted tank setup. In the mean time, my betta had been attacked by an anchor worm for mysterious reasons, I took him to an aquarist who helped treat him and he seemed to have fully recovered (I identified the parasite on the first day and took him to the said aquarist at 11PM mind you). I live in Bangladesh so most of the fishkeeping things and supplies are harder to find here and cost seemingly more than abroad, e.g: API master kits cost A LOT and less variety of plants. After successfully cycling my tank with adding as much plants and items I can afford for the moment---because I had plans of adding even more plants and decors to this tank overtime, I added my betta. I gradually saw his clamped fins expand, him gaining more color and swimming around a LOT. He was a pretty active and curious betta. Now just yesterday, I noticed slight swelling in his abdomen, but no signs of lethargy or pineconing at ALL. He was moving and behaving normally. I researched about it, because you will always find me on reddit or google regarding the SLIGHTEST inconvenience with my betta and his tank, and eventually reached to the conclusion that I will fast him for 2-3days and ordered daphnia online. I even tried making him flare and poop with the help of showing him a mirror (didn't work). This morning I woke up and saw him at the bottom of his tank (As shown in the picture) with no signs of movement with an even swelled belly. I am devastated, because I loved and cared for him so much, I don't understand where I lacked.. I learned and invested in fishkeeping not because of wanting a fish, but because of caring for a fish that I was already responsible for.
Posted Sep 6, 2026, 3:15 AM UTC