Is Sophie okay? Please help!

[buddie513]

Hello! Sophie is my first betta, and she has always been a bit odd, but now I fear she's sick. I bought her back in September at Petco and she was always really active and hyper. A few weeks later, she randomly laid eggs (without a male, which I've read is really rare), and she still appears to have the egg sack on her belly to this day. She seemed completely normal for a while after this strange behavior, but over the course of the past couple weeks she's grown progressively less active and just sort of lays at the surface against her leaf hammock or her water heater. Occasionally she will freak out and dart about the tank alarmingly quickly, and the other day she hit the rocks so hard they moved! Like I said, she has always been hyper so she has always done something similar to this, but now it's getting alarming and she doesn't continue to swim around normally afterward - she just lays at the surface. Her gills seem to have some kind of red inflammation, too, but I change her 1-gallon bowl at least once a week. Is that not enough? Is she ok? Does she need medicine? Her bowl is kept at 78 degrees constantly, if that helps with anything. PLEASE HELP!

If these pictures aren't helpful, I can take more :) Thanks!

[Oldfishlady]

Sorry you are having problems.....
I would start by making some 100% daily water changes for a few days and see if she won't perk up for you and then stay on top of twice weekly regular water changes of 1-50% and 1-100% a week

It is normal for female to either drop their eggs or absorb them on a regular basis=she will always have eggs but they are not ripe...so don't worry about that...

Keep us updated on how she is doing and if she respond to the clean water

Remember to use a good dechlorinator with any water you add to the fish if on city water supply and try and keep the water temp within a couple of degrees between new and old water to prevent any water temp related problems.

[buddie513]

I changed her water but she doesn't seem to be any better. She didn't eat this morning and she's starting to droop when she's resting. Her head stays near the surface but her body bends downward. She also has this thing hanging off her head on the bottom, and I can't tell what it is. Hopefully you can see it from the pictures. PLEASE if there's anything you can suggest, PLEASE SUGGEST IT! I love Sophie so much and want her to get better!

[Oldfishlady]

It looks like your temp is on about 74F if I am seeing that right....she may be cold.....I can't tell by the pic what that is on her body, can you tell if it is a worm or part of her flesh? google anchor worms and see if any of the pic look like what she has

You added the correct amount of dechloranator...correct......this is really important if you are on city water supply

Do you have any aquarium salt...you can do a leave in salt treatment and see if that won't help

Get a clean 1gal jug-fill with dechloranated water the same temp as what she is in and add 1tsp/gal of aquarium salt-let the salt dissolve and use this water to make a 100% water change every day for 10 days-try and get the temp up to at least 76F but no higher than 78F while she is sick.

[buddie513]

Thank you so much for your help! I googled anchor worms, but this looks more like part of her flesh. Is there any convenient alternative to the treatment you suggest? I am in college and have no transportation to a pet store of any kind! Again, thank you for helping - I'm so worried.

[Oldfishlady]

You can use kosher salt from the grocery store..until then just do the water changes....if it is flesh hanging off of her it is most likely from an injury....best medication is clean dechlorinated water from daily water changes to help prevent secondary infections.

[buddie513]

Hi, again! So at this point I'm not sure what to think. I was really concerned about her on Monday-she looked dead- so I went to Petco and picked up Melafix and Pimafix because I read on other forums that these are basically magic medicines. On Tuesday she seemed worse, then Wednesday about the same, then yesterday a tiny bit perkier. Today she seems the same as yesterday, maybe a little better. She hasn't eaten in 5 days, though. I think I saw her eat a flake earlier when I was changing her water, but that's the only thing I've seen her eat. She is still just laying at the surface most of the time, but will swim around in circles occasionally. She isn't banging herself into things anymore (that I can tell - I've been busy and out of the room most of the days). I bought her a new plant (this one has curved leaves that aren't poky like the old plant's leaves) just in case she slams into it. This way she can't hurt herself on the plant. The wound is looking better, but I'm concerned about a white patch-thing on her gills. It looks like it's on both sides in the same spot. Hopefully you can see it from the pictures. The first is from 2 days ago, and the others are from a few minutes ago. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!