Did I pass dropsy to all my other fish???

[Starfish1]

Housing
What size is your tank? 3 gallon
What temperature is your tank? 80 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? no
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? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? pellets, bloodworms
How often do you feed your betta fish? every day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? every 4 to 5 days
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:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? bloated, pinecone scales, pale
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? stays in one spot and doesnt move
When did you start noticing the symptoms? yesterday
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? no
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? i have no idea, at least a year old I've had her for almost a year and she was full grown when I got her



I cleaned out 6 of my bettas on Wednesday and shared the cup I used to take them all out of their tanks to clean them. The fish I cleaned first, two days later stopped eating and on Saturday started bloating and pineconing. I cleaned her first and then all the others using the same cup. I'm so worried now that I passed whatever bacteria is causing dropsy to all the other bettas. They all seem ok. They all have water at a consistent 80 degrees and 100% water changes every 4 days and I'll continue doing that so they have as little stress as possible.

I know that dropsy is a symptom of kidney failure, is it possible that my fish could just be dying of old age and her organs are failing rather than a bacterial infection? She had no symptoms of any type of infection at all, fins looked perfect, absolutely no red marks or streaks or anything unusual on her at all. No spots or parasites or anything. She has been a little less active for the last month or two and I thought she was just getting older and then a few days ago started getting paler and clamped fins, I know clamped fins are bad but there were no other signs of anything wrong! Is there any way could this be a sign of old age? I'm so worried about them all getting sick now.

[callistra]

Betta's at pet stores are only 6 months to a year max. If you haven't even had her for a whole year she is very young.

What color is your betta's poop? Is she pooping daily?

Dropsy is a symptom, not a disease. The problem is that many different things can cause it.. if it was a bacterial infection then it could have been passed to your other fish. It's important to have a separate set of accessories for each tank, and nothing that goes in one should ever go in another.

How do you do water changes?

Instead of doing a 100% change every 4 days I would do a 50% change on day 3 and a 100% change on day 5 or 6. I would not let it go more than 3 days without a partial change on something of this size.

For the one with dropsy I would do 50% daily and 100% change by day 4 at least. You also need epsom salt. Pure 100% magnesium sulfate. The ingredients label needs to be checked to make sure there is nothing else in it. It should not smell and it should be white. I get mine at CVS Pharmacy. You need to predissolve 1 tsp per gallon in separate cup/container with some tank/conditioned water and add slowly over an hour. After 12 hours, you repeat this. Once she is acclimated you dont need to keep dosing slowly, just readd along with a water change. Salts don't break down or evaporate ever so you only need to redose along with a water change the way you would aquarium salt or conditioner.

Meds at this point are a crap shoot. If there is no bacterial infection present,then treating with meds can make things worse. However, it is likely her best shot at this point since there's not much else I can see that may be causing it. If you want to use them you need something that goes internal like Kaanplex by seachem, Triple Sulfa or Maracyn1 and 2 in combo.. treat 2 weeks. They will need to be wet diluted too. We can help with that once you find some.. but since dropsy usually moves very quickly, don't wait

What pellets do you feed and how many per feeding? How often do you feed blood worms? How many? Are they freeze dried or frozen? Your feeding habits could have also caused this because the way you are feeding can lead to constipation, and chronic constipation can lead to internal infection, which leads to dropsy.