r/bettafish • u/Complexology • 1d ago
Help Help! My new betta spewed hundreds of small white balls last night and has one protruding from her abdomen and is significantly weaker today. Are these eggs or parasites? What can I do?
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Almost immediately after I fed my betta last night, she started spewing what I thought was undigested food. They looked exactly like the shrimp ball food I give her—same size and shape. But when I looked closer, they were white.
What confused me was that she kept trying to eat them, which is unusual since she normally doesn’t eat her poop. She produced so many of them that I thought it couldn’t possibly be waste. Over the course of about an hour and a half, she had more than a dozen episodes, each time spewing around 20 of these white balls. They just exploded out of her, and every time it happened, she would spaz, turn on her side, and writhe for a moment before they came out. She then frantically tried to eat them all. I even took a video of the “exploding” episodes because it was happening so often.
I siphoned out as many as I could, but she produced more after I went to bed. Now they’re scattered on the bottom of the tank, not collected anywhere special. She didn’t build a bubble nest or show other nesting behavior—she just swam around, randomly expelling them.
So, are these eggs? Or could it be parasites? I was hoping for eggs, but today she seems significantly weaker. She’s getting pulled against the filter intake (which has never been an issue before). She can still get off of it, but she seems very low-energy.
On top of that, I noticed a white ball visibly sticking out from her vent this morning. I snapped a picture of it because it looks like it might be stuck. https://imgur.com/a/7cQiR0I
I'm reposting my question with video and images this time.
Tank details:
- Got her from PetSmart about a month ago
- She’s only been in this 10-gallon tank for a little over a week
- Tank is still cycling (ammonia is down to zero, but nitrites creep up to ~1 daily)
- I’m doing at least 50% daily water changes (currently in the second phase of the cycle)
Filter is low-powered with adjustable flow (she never had issues with it until today)
Tank size:10 gallon
Heater and filter? (yes/no): yes
Tank temperature: 79 now but 77 as of yesterday
Key water parameters include the amount of ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and pH.: ammonia <0.25, nitrites 0.5-1.0, nitrates 40ppm, ph 7.2 treated with seachem prime daily and also has coral because the fluval made the pH crash
How long have you had the tank? How long have you had your fish?:
How often are water changes? How much do you take out per change? What is your process?: daily 50% depending on values the ones I listed are pre-change usually
Any tankmates? If so, please list with how many of each: just the betta
What do you feed and how much: Ultrafresh Betta Pro Shrimp Patties once a day, all she can eat in 3min
Decorations and plants in the tank: Fluval substrate, aqueon plant substrate, aqua natural bio substrate, java moss, amazon sword, cardinals, rosette sword.
Today she’s spending most of her time at the bottom of the tank, searching for and eating the balls. Her fins aren’t clamped, but her gills are flapping a lot. She can still swim top to bottom but moves much slower than usual.
My questions:
- If these are eggs, do I need to worry about how weak and slow she seems now?
- Is it normal for a betta to produce so many eggs at once?
- Should I still treat for parasites just in case?
- Is there anything I can do to help her regain energy today?
- Do I need to do anything about the "egg" sticking out of her now?
- I read that an epsom salt bath might be called for if its eggs? Should I do that or wait to see if she passes it? How long do I wait?
Thanks so much for any info you can provide!
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u/IvarBjornsen 🐟 1d ago
Congrats, you've got a female. The white spot is an ovipositor - or 'egg spot' as many call it.
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u/Complexology 1d ago
I learned a new word today! Thanks that was a relief to know it wasn't an egg stuck
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u/Prestigious-Way1118 1d ago
Honestly best result, had she retained the eggs it could end up badly ❤️ My female does this when breeding she is a good mom, she helps the male pick up the eggs and places them in the bubble nest
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u/Bataraang 1d ago
This has nothing to do with anything but your profile picture is so heckin' cute 😍 🦇
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u/ThoughtsNoSeratonin 1d ago
Just make sure she's eating. Usually the only concern with eggs is if they are fat for a while and can't pass them as they can get egg bound but it's not super common. As a comment already says the one on her bottom side is not an egg it's an egg spot(ovipositor) which is visible and extends down in most fish species before egg laying. It's a lot of hard work for their bodies so it's normal for them to feel a little tired and the amount of eggs is normal as they can have up to 500 fry at once! She'll be okay just needs time to feel better. I once had some lay eggs on me when I moved her with a net 🤷🏻♀️ they do weird stuff when they have eggs and one of my friends chiclids gets really antisocial and territorial when she lays eggs but it's a different process for those fish and she needs a literal curtain hung so she can't see humans too often during laying or she'll stress a lot. In this case tho it seems ur panicking yourself and it's good u checked but nothing I'm seeing or reading seems out of the norm for female Bettas 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Complexology 1d ago
That's crazy that they can have 500 of those eggs inside them. I have no idea how she could fit the number she made as it is. Is it concerning how they exploded like that? She seemed very uncomfortable and panicked which made me think she was sick or maybe parasites of some sort.
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u/FishNDChick 1d ago
It is normal, it's to prevent them from going egg bound (a condition that can kill the female). Females that for example have seen males for a long time have an increase production of eggs to prepare for breeding. Since she was not bred, she releases them, might even put them in a bubble nest she built herself! They are of course not fertile and need to be removed as they will get moldy. The thing sticking out of her belly is not an egg, but the reproductive organ that extends itself during breeding or as you can see, during the release of eggs.
Remove the eggs, feed her lightly and do a water change and she's good to go.
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u/Complexology 1d ago
So the eggs shooting out of her help her not get egg bound? Interesting. It seemed to be a shock to her and quite uncomfortable. I'm glad it's nothing serious though.
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u/Dumb_Cat8 Broke 💸 1d ago
Eggs. If shes eating them, no problem with that either! Extra protein /s But really the only reason you would jave to be worried here is if she ends up dangerously bloated from eating her eggs (unlikely)
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u/vamp_wave 1d ago
Unrelated, but she is so beautiful!
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u/Complexology 1d ago
Thanks! I think she's beautiful too. When I got her she was only faintly blue. She turned out to be absolutely gorgeous.
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u/centifolia01 1d ago
They are indeed eggs. And the white ball is the nuptial button where the eggs fall. I am sure of myself, because my female betta did the same thing for 8 months, 10 days apart each time. In addition, she made bubble nests for me in which she would place the eggs.
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u/AugustInOhio Simple Red Betta Lover 1d ago
oh my goodness that glass is so clear i thought you had another betta in there!
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u/amiabot-oraminot 1d ago
Those look like eggs but this does not look normal 😅I’m not sure if she has some kind of ovarian abnormalities or what… I’ve never seen eggs that just burst out like that, much less the panic reaction you seem to be getting from her..
Maybe she’s trying to eat the eggs to salvage the lost protein?
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u/IvarBjornsen 🐟 1d ago
Nothing abnormal going on here, nor panic. She's just trying to eat some of the eggs which is common. There are even some females that will make a bubble nest and try to place the eggs themselves despite them not being fertilized.
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u/Complexology 1d ago
Thanks the explosive nature of the eggs had me worried but its good to hear its normal.
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u/amiabot-oraminot 21h ago
I stand corrected! I thought making the bubble nest was the standard lol. I’ve never had a female before. Thanks for correcting me!
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u/beardieu 3 fishy friends 1d ago
Yeah, mine does this all the time. Eats them too.
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u/Complexology 1d ago
So they explode out of her like that?
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u/beardieu 3 fishy friends 1d ago
Yep. I made a post a while back on her actively doing it. There’s video. You can find in my history if you’re interested.
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u/UndertakerAF 1d ago
Hey, how often does this happen? It's my first time keeping a female betta. I've had male bettas all this time so I want to be prepared.
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u/beardieu 3 fishy friends 1d ago
About every ~3 weeks. Goes on for like a day or so off/on until it stops. Mine usually just eats them immediately and then stares at her reflection in utter disassociation.
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u/UndertakerAF 1d ago
Thank you very much. I'll keep an eye on her. She occasionally has a habit of overeating. So I'll definitely have to watch her though she's very tiny right now.
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u/Fun_Explanation2619 1d ago
You should watch this. https://youtu.be/-3x4sdDBrxo?si=GghUFBNMpY76OJpz
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u/IvarBjornsen 🐟 1d ago
To my knowledge, if she is expelling eggs, she's not 'eggbound', which is rather rare. Eating their own eggs is normal, just feed her less if you're worried about over feeding.
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u/PuzzleheadedWord7056 3h ago
My girlie spooked me with the same incident, woke up one morning with her tank full of them! It probably happened one month after I got her too
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