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I would like some help :) Thank you in advance!

592 Views 3 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  Tita
How to treat Popeye?

I have tried Metronidazole by feeding with medicated food; swish around the med in bloodworms.

It is working, but slowly. I am not sure how much time my Betta has. I wish to get him up and healthy again.

Wish to give him back his driftwood and plants, but at this point nothing is in his tank except him, his sponge filter, heater, and white sand as a substrate.

I posted previously, but no one responded. If you can, please help him. He has been like this since December. I change his water and add Epsom Salt. I assure you this is not a water quality issue; I unfortunately got him with this condition.

I think now it is more than Popeye. He is originally blue, but has red patches of coloration on his fins. His fins (top fin) just discolors and falls off, then regenerates and falls again. It is painful to see this in my fish; Please help.

It is a severe case of an internal infection; I have no experience with this as this is my first time seeing this. Please help me if you can.

Will my fish die from this eventually? I have no idea how he has lasted this long. I hope that you can help him out.

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There are many different causes of popeye. The Epsom salt that you used may have helped reduce the swelling, but wouldn't necessarily treat the underlying cause. The metronidazole would have helped if the issue was due to anaerobic bacteria or some parasites. But there are other causes of popeye, too.....

Can you post some photos? If you can get some pictures of his eyes, his fin coloration and deterioration, and an overall side view of him, that would be very helpful.

Are both eyes equally swollen, or is one more swollen than the other?

Also, can you fill out the form below so that we have more information? Answer what you can, and leave anything else blank.

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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?
What BRAND of food do you feed it?
How often do you feed your betta fish?
How MUCH do you give at each feeding?

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 - OR - How long have you owned it?
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Thank you for taking the time to help; much appreciated!

Are both eyes equally swollen, or is one more swollen than the other?
Initially both were swollen and red, and now one of his eyes does look less swollen than the other one and not red. The other remains really swollen and red.

Also, can you fill out the form below so that we have more information? Answer what you can, and leave anything else blank. Understood.

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Housing
What size is your tank? 10 Gallon Tank
What temperature is your tank? (lowered it recently as I have done a lot of research on bacterial infections) 77F
Does your tank have a filter? Yes Sponge Filter
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yes 50 watt Heater
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None he lives alone in his tank

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Staple: New Life Spectrum Pellets. During the week a mix of Bloodworms, Brineshrimp, Daphnia, and Beefheart
What BRAND of food do you feed it? New Life Spectrum Pellets, Hikary Bloodworms and Daphnia, San Fransisco Brineshrimp, and my own Gel Beefheart recipie
How often do you feed your betta fish? Because of treatment every day
How MUCH do you give at each feeding? 2 Bloodworms and 2 Pellets or so

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Every day
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 25% usually once out of the week I am doing 50% water changes
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Seachem Prime as a water conditioner, and Epsom Salt; one teaspoon per gallon of water that I take out

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm
pH:mad:7.5-7.6
Hardness: Not sure
Alkalinity: Not Sure

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Yes Patches of red and discoloration on whole body; very pigmented red color on fins
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? No I got him already sick so I am not sure; he does seem a bit lethargic at times, but manages to scavenge for food
When did you start noticing the symptoms? A while back ago. I am not sure...2 months or more? He started to loose a lot of color
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Epsom Salt as directed by a member here and I have added Metronidazole to his food intake. Seems to be helping a bit
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Yes I got him with Popeye. I did not know, but did give him a good home (his current home); then he started loosing a lot of color. Someone here was kind enough to diagnosed my Betta with Popeye. The member instructed me to add Epsom Salt and do a treatment of Para guard with Tetra. Both I have done and they have helped, but he is still very sick
How old is your fish - OR - How long have you owned it?For a few months, but the Betta is fairly young
Previous Post (the first about my Blue Crown tail)http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=365730
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You can see how it has progressed; although he looks better he still does not feel that great. Changed substrate and filter as requested by the person who helped me the first time.

Thank you for your help! I hope that I can get better pictures tomorrow. I do not have the tank lights on it is just room lights. I read that lights can be bothersome to fish with Popeye so I don't have the lights on at all. Since I am using the Epsom Salt I do not have any plants in the tank. Again Thank you for helping me. I hope this little dude can get better.
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