Some updates! He hasn't pooped since his breakfast this morning, but he doesn't look too bloated, so I'll continue feeding him.
The IAL has really helped - he looks gorgeous now, he's even showing some iridescence in his fins, and it looks he's been dusted with glitter. *O*
I've noticed however, that he's nearly always in fishy sleep-mode unless I go over and engage him. Then he'll start swimming around, looking for food. He constantly switches sleeping spots, sometimes he's on the bottom, sometimes he's at the very top, and on different layers of leaves. Does this count as lethargy? Or is he just bored/very calm?
It could count as mild lethargy if it's greatly different from his normal behavior. Otherwise, he could possibly be resting up or even just bored, as you suggested. Definitely keep an eye on him and if he stays kind of dopey or gets even worse, we can explore some other options for him.
I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I'm experiencing the exact same thing with my betta. I'm on the 3rd day of Maracyn 2 (sorry....the only thing I can find locally and I'm too freaked out not to use something) and Epsom salt. He started out with just a slight eye-bulge and no other symptoms - no bloat or constipation - but then became a little lethargic. Unfortunately, I didn't start treatment other than a small amount of Epsom for about a week because he was acting otherwise fine and I thought I might be imagining the eye bulge. When the left one became more prominent I started the Maracyn for popeye. Yesterday I noticed his belly is gray so I've transferred him to his hospital tank, upped the temps, and am going to continue the Maracyn. Today he's slightly pineconed.
I'm hopeful still.....he's active and eating. I'm going to try and find the parasite pellets today.
I've been following this thread from the beginning....how is your guy doing?
Be careful with the Maracyn. It's not very effective in high pH and if you use the 5 cup method for dosing, you must toss out the leftovers as it is not good after 24 hours. Try 3 tsps of epsom salt per gallon as well. Good luck!
I am sorry to hear your little guy isn't feeling well. :( Shigeru's doing okay - he seems to have injured himself though, so that's more fuel to the fire of my anxiety. >_< *crosses fingers* What's your boy's name?
I skipped Shigeru's breakfast today since he hadn't pooped since yesterday. Today he has pooped, but I'm afraid the break in metro might have had bad effects.
He seems to have injured himself - there's now a patch of greying scales on his right side and one scale in the middle of that patch that seems to have lifted off and turned translucent. In fact, the whole patch looks like it's about to raise up. I put in some Stress Coat and I'm going to start feeding him food with metro again. Is the raised scale indicative of an injury? O_O
I'm encouraged by the fact that the greying and raised scales are localized and that he's still active, curious, alert and hungry. He was able to do the food-wiggle dance for a good 3 minutes while I was looking him over, and he's still swimming about from perch to perch now.
I've also noticed he seems to have developed a light oily film on both his eyes. It's like he's prematurely aging, poor thing. He's just going through one thing after another!
I haven't tested the PH out of the tap lately but the last time I did it was 7. After it's been in the tank with the substrate it goes up to 8 but his hospital tank is bare so hopefully we're okay. However, I did give him his first 3 doses in his 5 gallon with the substrate so that may be a problem. As for the dosing, I gave 1 package the first day and half yesterday and today. Then when I moved him to his 1 gallon hospital tank, I mixed half a package with 5 teaspoons of water and dosed 1 teaspoon. I threw out the rest since it didn't seem worth saving.
I only used 2 tsps per gallon of Epsom, I'll up that to 3 tomorrow. Luckily, so far, he's not bloated and has been pooping. And he's still pretty active and relatively happy.
His name is Tuna Bob. He's such a personable little guy and I've tried so hard to do everything right and I think I have up till now but he is a Petco fish and also has lymphocystis so he's probably already immuno compromised.
Hey BB.....are your guys eyes popped at all? So far, Tuna Bob's eyes aren't cloudy or filmy, but the bulging has gotten worse. That's part of why I wasn't sure I was dealing with popeye since they looked fine from the side and it was only when looking at him at an angle that they seemed protruding.
The raised scale could be indicative of an external parasite such as a skin fluke buried under his scales. If that's the case, adding metronidazole to the water as well as feeding it should help as well. On the other hand, it could just mean he brushed up against something and knocked it loose.
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