Help - deteriorating ??Dropsy??

[nelafreitas]

My beautiful blue beta is swollen turn gray, his fins started to gray, now the ends turned black and are fraying and he is very swollen. He stopped eating and his gill are enlarged and his breathing is labored. Took him to petco they believed it was fungul or bacterial, so I started him yesterday on Melafix. But he doesn't look good. I've heard so much about Dropsy and that it is fatal. He looks like his scales are starting to raise. Does anyone have any advice! I took the carbon filter out and I am supposed to treat him for 7 days, but he doesn't look good. Help!

Housing
What size is your tank? 2.5
What temperature is your tank? 78
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? yes
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? n/a

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? wardley pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? 1 x a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? every 2 wks
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50 to 70%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Aquarium salt - use spring water

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia: n/a
Nitrite:n/a
Nitrate: n/a
pH: 6.8
Hardness: n/a
Alkalinity: n/a

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? yes has grayed, bloated
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? yes, lethargic
When did you start noticing the symptoms? 48 hours
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? yes with Melafix
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? 1 year old

[Sakura8]

Hi nelafreitas and welcome to the forum. I'm sorry your guy is so sick all of a sudden. First I'd like to say that in a 2.5g, you'll need to change the water twice a week, one 50% and one 100% with gravel vacuuming, even with a filter. Do a 50% water change for now. Tomorrow, change out 100%.

For severe dropsy like this Melafix won't help him. He needs a combination of medications: Mardel Maracyn II and API General Cure. When you have the meds, get him into a small QT container like the cup he came in from the pet store or something similar. You'll want to treat him in there with a slightly lower water level so he can reach the surface. Float his cup in his tank so he can stay warm, too. Dissolve 2 tsp of epsom salts and add that to his cup. Try and get his temperature to 82-84* degrees. In such a small cup, you'll have to change his water every day and redo the medication.

I'll be honest, this kind of dropsy is pretty bad. Dropsy itself is just a symptom of a disease but it can indicate the severity of that disease. Your guy most likely has some severe ammonia poisoning and possible constipation leading to his bloating.

Also, you'll want to fast him during this time (I suspect he's not hungry anyway) but if and when he gets better, you might want to feed him 3 or 4 pellets a day.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[nelafreitas]

Thanks! Will run to the pest store as soon as it opens.

[BettaCavy]

definitely do the water changes the way Sakura suggested, and get him in the cup--it helps a lot. The temperature raise also makes them more comfortable and a bit more active. He also looks like he has some finrot, which aquarium salts or Maracyn II can deal with (not sure about Melafix, definitely check) but since he is pineconing, from what I've seen it's very hard to recover at that point :\ I actually just had a fish die from the same thing. But good luck! Keep us updated :)

[DarkMoon17]

He does have fin rot, but the bacterial dropsy is much more important to treat...

Do as Sakura instructed. If he improves on the Maracyn II & General Cure & Epsom Salt 2tsp/gal and is willing to eat, stop the General Cure and switch to Jungle's Anti-Parasite Pellets. They both have the same ingredients, but as it is an internal infection, oral medications are more effective.

Good luck with him and keep us posted.

[Sakura8]

Originally Posted by DarkMoon17

He does have fin rot, but the bacterial dropsy is much more important to treat...

Do as Sakura instructed. If he improves on the Maracyn II & General Cure & Epsom Salt 2tsp/gal and is willing to eat, stop the General Cure and switch to Jungle's Anti-Parasite Pellets. They both have the same ingredients, but as it is an internal infection, oral medications are more effective.

Good luck with him and keep us posted.

Yeah, I was afraid to suggest the Anti-Parasite pellets because I thought he might not be eating and I wanted to hit the dropsy with a double whammy ASAP without waiting for his appetite to return. But DarkMoon's so right, they're much more effective for internal infections/parasites. If he's eating, definitely try the pellets.

[nelafreitas]

Thank you all for your help, I tried everthing as you suggested, but my beautiful "BLUE" died today. Very sad!

[Sakura8]

I'm so sorry to hear that, nelafreitas. :( I'm afraid he may have been too far advanced in his dropsy. But you did everything you could and I'm sure he knew that you cared very much for him. I'm very sorry for your loss.

[DarkMoon17]

I'm sorry for your loss nelafreitas. His dropsy was too far advanced, you did what you could.

[BettasForever]

Aww! I'm so sorry to hear that. If you decide to get another betta, keep up with water changes :)