HELP: Chronic constipation or dropsy?

[katiemcginnis]

Poor guy has been like this for five days. I haven't been feeding him. I put him in a gallon of water with 1/2 teaspoon of Epsom salts for 20 minutes. No luck. He won't eat peas--I've tried every day.

[LeoTheLakerBetta]

That bump looks kind of far back. Hmmm it would be helpful to others if you filled out the information sheet.

Here is a link to that sheet.

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=49233

[katiemcginnis]

Housing
What size is your tank? 10 gallon
What temperature is your tank? 75 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? Dwarf Frog

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? flakes, frozen brine shrimp+bloodworms
How often do you feed your betta fish? Once a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 1 time a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50 percent
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? water conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? It's fully cycled

[jessp118]

When you look from the top, does his scales look raised? If they look raised then he has dropsy.

[callistra]

It doesn't look like dropsy to me.. I don't see raised scales do you?

The lump is in an odd place.. makes me wonder if it's a tumor.. Maybe a mod can comment?

You don't have to do quick baths with salts that low. You can leave him in that low a content for weeks at a time and it would take a few days for epsoms to effect swelling, assuming it is swelling and not a growth of some kind.

[katiemcginnis]

Any advice would be appreciated. He looks really bad off: he's really weak. I feel like he's going to pass soon. I put epsom salt in--4 teaspoons in 9 gallons. (Figured the rocks negate a gallon.)

[callistra]

That's about a half a tsp per gallon. Rocks generally take up about 1-2 gallons.

You might try pming one of the mods. They may not see this for a while since this forum moves fast and there are a lot of threads. I've never seen a lump that far down on the fish's body.. it doesn't seem to be part of the GI tract that's for sure.

[Sakura8]

Hi Katie. So sorry your betta is sick like this. You said you haven't been feeding him but when you did feed him, would he eat? Has he had this lump for only five days or has it been steadily growing larger over several weeks?

It's definitely not dropsy because there are no raised scales or general bloating. Rather, it looks as if he has either a tumor, as Callistra said, or a problem in his swim bladder. Does he have trouble swimming or buoyancy problems?

One other possibility is a fatty deposit because of a high protein diet. If this is the case, keeping him in a high dosage of epsom salts and carefully monitoring the fat content of his food may decrease the size of the deposit. However, if it is a tumor there is nothing that can be done except to make him comfortable. :( Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing if it is a deposit or a tumor. Because of that reason, I would suggest keeping him in a smaller hospital tank with 3 tsps of epsom salts and tannins, such as Indian Almond leaves or naturally dried and clean oak leaves.

[Coppermoon]

I'd say neither. Most cases of constipation stay in the gut area..that lump is too far back. Dropsy is a symptom not an actual disease, and like others have already stated, there are no raised scales. Dropsy is Kidney failure basically...they swell up because the kidneys don't remove water from the tissue.

I'd have to say tumor....the fish does look pretty skinny. How is his poo? Clear indicated diarrhea in fish, so therefor I wouldn't use Epsom salt on him.

[callistra]

Clear means infections. There are no contraindications for epsoms and it's the best thing at this point that might help, except the IAL is good as well.