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H.. Is my boy sick?!

2K views 46 replies 10 participants last post by  Sena Hansler 
#1 ·
Housing
What size is your tank? 2L
What temperature is your tank? 25'c
Does your tank have a filter? no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? no
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? FBW
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2-3 times per day, 3-4FBW

Maintenance

How often do you perform a water change? everday
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 100%
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?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH: 7.4
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? cut that looks fluffy on chin, fins look shorter and ragged.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? very lazy and not happy. very little movement. Swims a little funny
When did you start noticing the symptoms? 2 days ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? yes, 1/2 teaspoon ES
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? 6-8 months
 
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#2 ·
Okay, the cut could be healing which then you need just clean water usually. Epsom salt won't help, as Epsom is for internal and AQ is for external. Raggy fins... have any items in the tank he could get caught under, or in, or on? do the edges look fuzzy?
 
#3 ·
ok. I will change his water.
There are only little pebbles in the bottom. Nothing looks as if it has sharp edges.. He is my favourite little boy and he is definetly not himself. I dont know if im panicking but even his scales looks different..
 
#4 ·
Green Leaf Organism Freshwater aquarium Amphibian


I cant get him to stay still long enough for my camera too get a clear photo. But he looks VERY different.. He is the same as my DP and you can see he looks different. I also feel like he looks a bit puffy in the face
 
#10 · (Edited)
#12 · (Edited)
How much do you have him on right now?

you'll want to add a teaspoon or half a teaspoon (dissolved in aquarium water and added that way) every 12 hours to bring it up to 3 tsp if you can. This'll be a for now method until you get anti-bacterial medication which I would highly recommend right now!

whoops meant 3 tsp per gallon >< do you have a bigger container? you said he is in a 2 liter.. do you mean 2 gallon? if not, find a container that holds at least 8 cups of water (1 gallon) for treatment, and try keeping his water warm... aka keep away from drafts and such usually works :)
 
#13 ·
I have him on 1/2 teaspoon. For his 2L tank. Should I lower the water or is 2L ok... What type of anti-bacterial meds do I need? I live in a VERY small town so I cant just get things..
I have a multi cure for velvet, white spot and fungal disease.
 
#14 ·
I have an 8L tank that I could either fill to 8L or fill halfway to 4L.. It has a filter in it and I have a spare heater. I could do that?
 
#15 · (Edited)
To treat for dropsy, put him on 3 tsp/gal of epsom salt.

Combine Maracyn 1 and Maracyn 2 and keep on the same dose of epsom salt. Have the temperature at 78 degrees.

Fill you 8L tank halfway and skip out on the filter. Use the heater to keep the temp ideal though.

Both maracyns are used to cover gram negative and gram positive bacteria since it's very difficult to tell which is causing the issue.

Order the medication, but just try the high dose of epsom salt for two days or more to see if it doesn't resolve itself. If his face looks back to normal, keep him on the epsom salt for 2-3 days afterwards to makes sure anything in him is gone.

you'll want to vary his diet if you're only feeding him frozen/freeze-dried blood worms (I'm assuming that's what FBW means).

For 4L you'll want about 3 tsp premixed in tank water before you add him to the tank.
 
#18 ·
sigh.. I dont think I will get it in time though.. I have to order it off ebay from the USA and I live in australia
 
#25 ·
For long term it is since it doesn't let your betta build up the correct immune response to bacteria that it will experience in regular tank life.

If you keep him in the 8L tank permanently, you'll want to just do 1 50% and 1 100% weekly after treatment. For now it's ok because he's sick and you don't want whatever is making him sick building up.
 
#26 ·
Thanks Pataflafla for helping out :p Sadly I kind of figured it would be dropsy ;( And we know how hard it is when they get it! I do wonder though, are there any miniscule signs for dropsy? Most people seem to get it head on out of the blue.
 
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