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Lady betta in BAD shape, what to do?

672 views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  Oldfishlady 
#1 · (Edited)
5 gallon tank with only her inside
74 degrees (going to invest in another heater asap)
Filter
50% water change weekly
Approx 1.5 years old
Diet varies between tetra betta flakes with brine shrimp, tetra betta crisps, tetra betta pellets, and blood worms she eats the pellets and crisps most frequently.
Currently can't post photos unfortunately.

My lady fish is having a very bad time of it right now. Over the past few days she became lethargic, with less appetite, bloated and seemed to be having a little trouble moving about- making sure she would perch herself on her plants very close to the surface almost all the time. Tonight she turned very pale on her "chest" and near gills and seemed disoriented, swimming erratically and clumsily and then deteriorated very fast to not being able to control her depth. Her scales may be slightly pineconing but if they are it is almost unnoticeable, she is bloated. She became unable to move from the bottom of the tank with her rear floating upwards. She didn't even try to move when I moved her to another tank with very shallow water so she will be able to breathe, she is in miserable shape. What is this? Swim bladder problem? Dropsy? Most importantly what should I try to do for her? If it comes to it I don't want her to suffer too long and I will euthanize her, but if i can try to cure her first I would definitely go for that. If euthanizing comes to be the only option I read that 1 part vodka to 2 parts water is most humane, opinions? I WILL NOT BE FREEZING HER, LEAVING HER OUT OF WATER, OR CUTTING HER HEAD OFF with or without any amount of clove oil. Just so no one suggests those methods. Thanks.
 
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#2 ·
Sorry your little girls isn't well...Its hard to say what is wrong, however, what I would recommend at this point is Epsom salt (Not aquarium salt) 3tsp/gal and tannins while in a small QT floating in a heated tank to maintain temp in the 76-77F range and covered with plastic veggie wrap to retain heat/humidity for the labyrinth organ. Hold food for the next 24h-keep her in a dim lit quiet location.
If you have access to any live mosquito larva-offer several rinsed.

Good luck and keep us posted...
 
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