Dropsy, maybe?

[cjconcepcion]

the maracyn two should be good for now, as long as she can get to the surface fine i think she will be okay, just keep her on maracyn for the full treatment period that it says, and no more epsom salt while shes on it. If you can get her to eat some food with a higher protein content, like frozen bloodworms, that should help too, but its not too big of a deal if you dont want to make another trip to the petstore

[Chimerae]

Originally Posted by cjconcepcion

the maracyn two should be good for now, as long as she can get to the surface fine i think she will be okay, just keep her on maracyn for the full treatment period that it says, and no more epsom salt while shes on it. If you can get her to eat some food with a higher protein content, like frozen bloodworms, that should help too, but its not too big of a deal if you dont want to make another trip to the petstore

You don't know how much of a relief it is to read this after scrolling past tons of posts that say "give up". And yeah, she has no problem surfacing. I'll try to get some into her, but she seems to be gobbling up these flakes like a little dinosaur. (At least that hasn't changed.) Also, should I do anything about the fact that she doesn't seem to be pooping? Or will Maracyn-2 help with it?

[MoonShadow]

The problem with dropsy is that it's not actually of a disease but rather a symptom of a number of possible different illnesses. When the pine coning begins the fish get diagnosed with "dropsy" But the pineconing can be caused by a number of things including internal bacterial infections, sever constipation, organ failure and more.

The best advice I give you now is to definitely keep her quarantined, keep the water clean, and treat with a broad spectrum anti-biotic such as tetracycline or a mix of maracyn 1&2, you want to treat with both maracyns when the disease is unknown because one targets gram positive bacteria and the other targers gram negative bacteria.

Also since she doesn't appear to be using the bathroom, I would stop feeding her for now and fast her for a few days.

[Chimerae]

Got it. Also, about the bathroom thing, I thought it was crucial for me to keep making sure that she kept eating in some form or another?

[KevinPham123]

The "fasting" will allow for any possible constipation to be relieved and food be passed out of their system.

[Chimerae]

Update: She just managed to use the bathroom, so that's definitely a plus. Her stomach's definitely still big, though.
Also, do maracyn and revive mix?

[cjconcepcion]

dont mix them, just keep her on the maracyn, what did her poop look like? describe it as best as you can... it can help us figure out what the underlying cause might be

[Chimerae]

Gotcha. And it was black, spindly, and looked like there was some fluffy white stuff on it. I also should note that it's been at least four or five days of holding it in for her.

[cjconcepcion]

hmmm..... i would hold off on feeding her for a bit, if she poops again, let us know what it looks like, what kind of food have you been feeding her lately? like what brands

[Chimerae]

Daphnia from the betta dial-a-treat for when she wasn't pooping and nutrafin max flakes.