I'm sorry. He looks really bad. If he were my fish I wouldn't try any more. Sorry

 

*Accidentally double-posted. Please ignore.*

 

Please fill this out-


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

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
How often do you feed your betta fish?

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?

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

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?

I would immediately add 3tsp/g of pure, unscented Epsom salts to the water... That is a high dosage but Epsom salts are generally quite safe and help draw out fluid. To do this, add 1tsp/g to his water, then, twelve hours later, add another tsp/g to his water, then, another twelve hours later, add another tsp/g to his water. Increasing the dosage over time decreases stress. I need the info from the form to help you more.

Since popeye is often bacterial, it would be a good idea to treat with kanaplex... Order it online. For the time being the Epsom salts should help.

 

Housing
What size is your tank? 2.5 Gallon
What temperature is your tank? 80F, +/-2 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? A Tetra 3i
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yes, but not recently
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Aqueon Betta Food
How often do you feed your betta fish? 3-4 pellets daily

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? She was doing 100% every other week for the first few months, then switched to 10% every other week for the past several months
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 10%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? BettaSafe water conditioner

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

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: Slightly above 0, she says
pH: ~8.2
Hardness: >10
Alkalinity: >300 kH

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? His eyes have bulged, no other changes
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He has been producing more bubbles since treatment, but generally just floats, staring straight at the surface
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Two weeks ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Melafix for one week, now Maracyn Two for a week
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Yes, this fish has had everything but ick and TB
How old is your fish (approximately)? About 1.5 years


I hope this helps. Note: This was not my fish, so forgive me for these care parameters.

 

Go get some Maracyn 2 and begin treating immediately with a combination of Maracyn, Maracyn 2, and epsom salts. Maracyn only treats for some infections and conditions, but a combination of the two types of Maracyn should cover the widest range of infection that is causing the eye to swell. Epsom salts will treat the swelling. You should be able to use these three in tandem, but every fish reacts differently so keep an eye on him. Keep him warm.

 

I added epsom salt in and I'm going out to grab Maracyn right now. Hopefully with all of these he'll get better, but he looks really bad.

 

Honestly, kanaplex is a better med for this, more gentle, and more useful to have on hand. Maracyn I&II should help but they wouldn't be my first choice.

It sounds like a water quality issue. That tank should be getting at least one 50% water change each week.

 

Honestly, it probably was a water issue. The interesting part is, her tank has consistently tested as healthy for the past few months (she, oddly, logged the results of each test, and tested weekly since March).

Currently, I'm dosing with Maracyn and Maracyn Two, and have 3tsp/g epsom salt in the tank. One of his eyes has gone down by about 33%, but the other is up by 10%-- it honestly looks like it could explode at any moment. He can only eat food if I put it about 2cm in front of his face, and he still misses half the time. I also noticed something interesting today: while his top fin is almost nonexistent due to fin rot from about a year ago, his caudal and anal fins are actually -attached- by what looks like a small piece of fin, only .5cm long, and in no way actually attached to the body, only the fins. I can't seem to take a picture of it, because he keeps moving too quickly. Any idea what this is about?

As for kanaplex-- no LFS, or even petsmart/petco carries it. The soonest I would be able to receive it is five business days. I've already ordered it, but will he even survive til that time? Is there anything I can do with anything sold at PetsMart/Co? I'd try anything I haven't already. I'd even try softening his water or any other fairly intensive therapy if it might work.

 

Wait until the kanaplex comes in to go further with treatment. Keep doing large (100%) daily water changes with 3tsp/g of Epsom salts and the maracyns, and see if he gets better. If he does end up losing an eye (which is not unlikely) keep up the same treatment and watch for infection.

Adjusting the waters hardness/ph isn't a great idea for healthy fish, the water never stays stable.

 

An update:
Maracyn/Maracyn Two combined with Epsom Salt and utilizing all given advice has shown no improvement. His eyes are now back to being large, and of course, now there's something terribly wrong with his fins:

As you can see, his caudal fin, anal fin, and both ventral fins have substantial damage: the caudal and anal fin got ripped apart overnight. It's hard to see, but the edges along where the damage are done are now a black color, as well. His dorsal fin was lost a month after he was bought from the store, and never grew back. He now spends 100% of his time floating at the top of the tank, and he can't see much at all. I spent a good hour today using a mirror to try to get him to flare, and he never even noticed it was there.

It's still 5-7 days before the kanaplex arrives. Is there anything else I can do?