Severe Constipation

[Wed]

Nevermind. I searched the forum and got my answer.

Thanks for the help again. I hope it works :( I feel so sad seeing him in his condition.

[Wed]

To my nightmare, I came home today and found my betta's scales are pineconing :( I guess that means he has dropsy? What do I do now? I know there's no cure for it but do I just let him die on his own?

I still did the salt bath and I fed him his daphnia but he still hasn't pooped.

Heres a picture:

[LolaQuigs]

Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that! The bloating was probably a sign of dropsy rather than a result of constipation. I have seen OldFishLady suggest an epsom salt treatment for dropsy, so I would continue to go ahead with that treatment, though sadly it is often too late by the time a fish starts pineconing.

But , though uncommon, it is not impossible for a fish to survive dropsy, so I would definitely do the epsom salts and hope for the best. Once the treatment period has ended, do frequent water changes and keep him as comfortable as possible. If the salts don't help, and it continues to get worse and he appears to be suffering, you may have to consider euthansia.

[Wed]

Thanks.

It looks like the salt treatment I'm doing now is helping with the bloating. It's still there but WAY smaller than it was. My poor guy</3 I'm going to look for that treatment that OFL recommends. If not, maybe I'll just PM her.

[roadrunner]

I hope he can pull through. As I can see, you're doing best you can. Good luck!

[Oldfishlady]

How much Epsom salt are you using and are you keeping him in the Epsom salt all the time....and using Epsom salt water for the water changes, what is the water temp.......do you have any tannins you can add...from either IAL or dried Oak leaf.....

[Wed]

@roadrunner- thank you :) I hope so too.

@Oldfishlady- I am using 2 tablespoon of epsom saltper gallon but since I have him in a QT he's in a one gallon and yes, he's in there all day. I'm doing 100% water changes every day and I believe this is the 4th day of the treatment. His water temp stays at about 75-80 degrees. I'm not familiar with tannins..will that help with the dropsy? maybe I can pick some up somewhere?

Today I found a big poop but he still has his swollen belly but he hadn't gone potty in a while so I am glad to see he let some go today..maybe from the daphnias I've been feeding him. He's not swimming around like a normal betta would but if I get close he moves around and he positions himself in different areas of the tank.

[Oldfishlady]

Good, 2tsp/gal is what you want at this point...you may even want to go up to 3tsp/gal along with the 100% daily water changes with the Epsom salt(Magnesium sulfate)....tannins are from Indian almond leaf or Oak leaf...I use oak leaf from my oak trees...naturally dried and fallen from the tree 10-12 crushed/gallon of water...the longer they steep the more tannins will be released the darker the water the better the Betta likes it....the tannins provide antibacterial/fungal properties and the tanned water can help with stress

Depending on the root cause of the symptoms your Betta is showing...he may or may not recover....sadly once the sign of dropsy shows up it can mean the system has shut down and not a lot we can do but provide comfort....but you also don't want to give up too soon as long as the fish is not suffering....

[Wed]

I don't know where to find an oak tree lol but I am aware that dropsy is really hard for them to beat, or for us to beat. He doesn't look like he's suffering...I mean obviously he could be a 100x better but he's up right, he doesn't struggle to swim when he wants to, he wants to eat. I guess all I can do now is just keep him comfy. His pineconing isn't getting worse though. It's still the same like the picture above and I hope it doesn't. I've seen some pictures of really bad pineconing and I hope I don't have to see him like that.

I'm not giving up by the way. Unless I see him SO hopeless at the buttom of his tank I'll consider euthenising but until that happens I'm going to let nature take its course.

[roadrunner]

I guess that's all you can do. Keep his water clean, warm and give him as much comfort as you can.