Please help! I think she has dropsy

[CoverMeInClay]

I was doing a water change on the sorority tank and noticed when I was looking down from above that one of my girls, Fusia, looked like she was pine-coning. Needless to say I stared wigging out. She is still swimming around like she normally does, she was even biting my fingers when I was siphoning water out of the tank. Is there anything I can do for her in addition to what I already am? Please help. I tried taking pictures, but none of them came out enough to see anything other then her being distraught by being taken out of the tank.

Housing
What size is your tank? 20 gallon
What temperature is your tank? 80F
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? no heater in it right now as it is staying at 80 F steadily
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? 7 other female Betta

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? wardley betta pellets, am planning on getting better food next payday
How often do you feed your betta fish? morning and night

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? weekly, just did one that is how I noticed one of my girls looked like she was pineconing
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 25%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? jungle start right conditioner

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

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 7.6
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? she appears to be pineconing
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? it hasn't
When did you start noticing the symptoms? about half an hour ago when I did awater change
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? she is currently acclimating to the slat water bath 1/2 tsp aquarium salt to 1/2 gallon water
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)? about 6-7 months maybe

[Myates]

Sorry to hear that =(
Does she have a swollen grey belly, clamped fins, lethargic any? Those are the other signs of dropsy, normally the first signs. AQ salt can actually do more harm for dropsy.. so take her out of that... if AQ salt is what you are meaning when you say salt treatment.
Move to a QT immediately..
Perform daily 100% water changes. Increase the temperature to 84*F. Add 1-2 tsp/gal Epsom Salt. Use API General Cure OR API Erythromycin OR Maracyn II and/or Maracyn for best results. Feed something containing Metronidazole, for example, Jungle’s Anti-Parasite pellets.

[Dozzem]

A picture would be helpful. I would put her away from the others in a QT with some esmond salt. Thats all I know :D I hope she gets all better!

[Myates]

I hope she gets better.. but you say she was swimming like normal, so that sort of throws me off a little.. usually by the pine coning stage their organs and such are in really bad shape. That's usually the last sign is the pine coning. But unsure what else it could be. PM OFL or Sakura8 with this thread link, they are very knowledgeable and experts in this area (imo) and hopefully they can help you as soon as they can.

[CoverMeInClay]

I switched her over to the epsom salt bath, her belly does not appear to be grey at all. She has paled in color a bit from yesterday. Every time I go into my room where the tank is everyone is on top watching me waiting for food, she was that way this morning as well as this evening. No change in behavior. Her fins are not clamped. The only things are her coloring and her scales sticking out.

[Myates]

Only one other thing I know can cause the scales going up, but I know it's not it. Most likely the dropsy, and sadly that is the last stage of it. So definitely treat with epsom, and talk to OFL or Sakura8 to double check. Wishing you the best.

[CoverMeInClay]

Thank you Myates. I PMed them, neither one is online right now though.

[Myates]

Welcome. I wish I could offer more, but just going by what I know about the AQ salt and Epsom.. hopefully one will be on during the night, if not, morning.

[Sakura8]

Hi CoverMeInClay, I got your message. From what I understand, your girl is pineconing but otherwise not showing any signs of being bloated or having SBD, right? First, if she isn't already, get her into her own QT container.

It's possible your girl has gotten a bacterial infection that localized in her scale pockets. Since she's in a sorority, she's probably gotten a few nipped scales before and it seems like one of her little nips got infected. This localized infection can cause the scales to stand up even though she isn't bloated. Probably the best way to treat this would be to feed her Jungle Labs Anti-Parasite Medicated Pellets, which have metronidazole. Continue keeping her in at least 1 tsp of epsom salt per gallon so she doesn't get bloated if the bacterial infection goes into her system. If she hasn't shown any signs of improvement after a few days of the pellets and epsom salt, you may want to consider starting her on General Cure, which also has metronidazole.

I hope this info helps. I'm not 100% sure this is the case but it seems the most likely since she's not bloated or having SBD issues. Also feel free to wait and see what OFL says before you start any treatment. Second opinions never hurt. Good luck with your girl.

[CoverMeInClay]

Thank you Sakura. I hope this is what it is. She's been quite eggy, so I wouldn't really be able to tell if she is bloated or not. I'm going to check out where I can get those pellets. Thanks again!