Popeye help?

[fightergirl2710]

The bad things just keep coming! My crowntail girl, Cleo seems to have popeye.. Both her eyes are more than slightly swollen and have a white ring around the area where the eye stops and the head begins. I started a sorority a few days ago but I removed her from it almost immediately as her fins got badly torn, other girls in there are not showing any symptoms. Yesterday I found her having white tendrils on her body but I changed the water and they were gone. I think it was slime coat shedding.
What kind of treatment should I give her? And I don't get any fish antibiotics so could someone tell me dosage if I was to use human antibiotics?



Housing
What size is your tank? Previously in 5 gallon, now in 1 gallon QT
What temperature is your tank? 25-26 degrees Celsius
Does your tank have a filter? not in QT
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?yes
Is your tank heated? not in the QT
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? With another male betta divided

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? pellets, bloodworms
How often do you feed your betta fish?A pinch twice a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? weekly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50-100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Tap water conditioner, salt, IAL (now)

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? No


Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Last night her eyes looked like how I described above
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? She is acting normally and made a few bubbles like a male.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Last night
Have you started treating your fish? I put IAL in the water along with some rock salt, going to change to epsum salt today.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? None at all
How old is your fish (approximately)? 1 year old maybe

[fightergirl2710]

Update: She's clamping up, has stress stripes now... I put her in a 1 gallon with heater at 79, will increase to 82 eventually, I've put in 2tsp of epsom salt and tannins like OFL mentioned in another thread... Her belly looks grey. Please help I'm freaking out!
EDIT: She appears bloated. No pineconing (yet)...

[SillyCone]

the infection you described looks more or less like mine but my male isn't clamping on, he just looks like slowing dying =/

Good luck with your girl though

[fightergirl2710]

Thanks! I saw your guy's infection... His eye looks really bad, I hope he gets better... What are you doing for him?

[DarkMoon17]

That sounds like the start of dropsy; gray body, clamped, swollen eyes...
Continue epsom salt treatment, increase temp to 84*F if possible... 100% daily water changes..
You can use Metronidazole (human and animal drug) to treat her. It will help fight off bacterial infections (gray belly is a symptom of bacterial infection which leads to dropsy). You can probably get a few metronidazole pills from your local vet. Just explain the problem. Crush it up and soak frozen blood worms in it for a few hours. Then feed her the blood worms.

The problem with using human medications is that there is no way to know if they will be effective if you just let them dissolve in water. Fish medications are formulated to work in water, human meds are not. Metronidazole is supposed to be taken orally so it works for all animals.

[fightergirl2710]

I'll look for it.. I can use it with the epsom salt right? I don't get frozen blood worms, only freeze dried or live, would they work. She wont eat pellets, I can't soak those

[kgs1992]

I really can't help you with the treatment, but, as far as I know, tetracycline is available at i love pets & there's a vet at shivaji park (end of the lane opposite tibbs).
Tetracycline (that is prescribed for humans :P) can also be found at a chemist.
Refer This for info about the dosage that you should try.
Keep this as your last option, because no pet store will be open right now.
Even if the dosage is a bit high (not too much though, like a whole tablet), I suppose it's okay.

[fightergirl2710]

My grandmom says she can get me the metronidazole, but that is of course the human version but that is only tomorrow evening :( I'll try to get her to give me a prescription in the morning. I have tetracycline somewhere, I have to search... I had to use it for my mouse once. Is this a good option? Because then I can provide immediate action. I have Epsom salt and IAL in there right now, will they react?

[DarkMoon17]

Be careful with Tetracycline. If it has expired, it is potentially deadly to your fish.

Human and fish metronidazole are the same thing. If you can buy frozen bloodworms that would be best. I don't think you can use live for this.

You can use Metronidazole with epsom salt and IAL. I assume you can use Tetracycline safely with epsom salt and IAL (but not in combination with Metro) but I have not used Tetracycline to fight off Dropsy. In my dealings with dropsy, most people have suggested Metronidazole, though Tetracycline might work too.

[fightergirl2710]

OK, since it is 1am right now, and I couldn't find the TCN I cannot do much on the antibiotic front :(. And I definitely wont get frozen bloodworms anywhere... Is it possible to mix the metronidazole with the water like I would do the tetracycline instead? I'll get one of the two in the morning depending on the answer to my question... Luckily she is still eating and had some energy after eating... Eyes are still swollen but have not increased in size. In fact they are not very big, I noticed they were swollen because of the white ring.