[GoodGuyKhan]

Housing
What size is your tank? Quarantine in 1 gallon, normal 5 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 76 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None atm, normally in a ten gallon divided with another male

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

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 1-2x a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 20- 45
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Prime, IAL, Banana leaves, once a month some aqua salt

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

Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:20
pH:7.4
Hardness:NA
Alkalinity: NA

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Scales Raised, stomach somewhat bloated, looks swollen
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Lethargic, Refused food twice, When in large tank stayed near surface.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Monday of this week
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? He was mail ordered so when arrived some aquarium salt was measured and added to tank, after pine coning I was advised to hospitalize and use API General Care
Does your fish have any history of being ill? NA
How old is your fish (approximately)? 4-5 months

So yeah, only have had him for a week. Received him Friday last week and by Monday he looked bloated and refused food. Yesterday I noticed the area around his beard had raised scales and now the raising is spread throughout his lower body. I did use Aqua Salt as I assumed the bloating could be parasitic or he was stressed, this being before the pine coning. Before the aqua salt he had refused food and wouldn't move away from the surface to breathe. I know my tank is fine oxygen wise since my other betta, Rin, is on the divided sided without the filter, filter being a sponge the creates bubbles that shatter and ripple the entire surface of the tank lightly. Thanks in advance.

 

[juanitawolf]

seems like dropsy, is an organ failure and is really hard to cure, i havent dealt with it, lets see what others say

 

[GoodGuyKhan]

I'm really hoping it's not, I've dealt with dropsy before. I'm thinking the aqua salt could have caused the scales raising, think salt causes fluid to build underneath scales, but I only added <2 tablespoons. Which is the recommended dosing. Also don't think the salt theory explains the strange behaiour and weird scab looking thing near his beard.

 

[Alaura123]

I heard that the raised scales are from dropsy, and if the dropsy is from organ failure, than I don't think there is anything you can do about it, but if it is an infection, than it should be curing with the treatment and water changes, and I think the scab near his beard is a body ulcer

Im not experienced with this also, but this is all I know, and I will do some more research and tell you what I find

 

[hrutan]

That does sound like dropsy. Does he have extreme swelling under the areas with raised scales? If his bloating isn't extreme enough to force the scales up and out, I'd assume dropsy and begin treatment immediately.

 

[VivianKJean]

Ok first off.

Dropsy is a symptom, not a disease. It is caused by excess fluid in the fish. It is a sign of EITHER organ failure OR a bacterial infection. There is no cure or treatment for organ failure so you treat the fish for bacterial infection. You need to get your hands on Seachem Kanaplex asap. Petco/Petsmart does not carry it so you have to order it online (which may take too long) or you have to find it at a local fish or aquarium store. Until you get Kanaplex, add 1-1.5 teaspoons per gallon of water of Epsom Salt (this is not table salt or Aquarium Salt). to add the epsom salt remove a cup or so of water, dissolve the salt in that and then every 15 minutes add a bit of the salted water back into the tank until all the water has been returned.

 

[GoodGuyKhan]

Appreciated. I'll start treating as a bacterial issue, lol I'm done ordering bettas online. My first died of dropsy, second got lost in the mail for two weeks but shockingly has survived and is healthy, and now this.

 

[hrutan]

That is some lousy luck. Did you order from the same place each time?

 

[GoodGuyKhan]

No, all from different sellers on ebay. Shockingly the first and last made it to me in only two days via usps priority, so their stress levels shouldn't of been so bad, but eh. Maybe it's a sign I should stick to locally buying fish. Save me some money lol. Ironically my baby betta from petco is my healthiest betta. Never had any issues. Not even fin tears.

 

[hrutan]

Sometimes it's lousy luck, sometimes it's something else...

Heh, I joined the IBC partly with the intention of finding local breeders and stores to network with. Things like Aquabid and Ebay are usually just fine, but why ship if you don't have to?

 

[GoodGuyKhan]

I've actually tempted that idea before. May actually do it. Be good too, meeting breeders and hobbyists who don't live half way across the world.

 

[GoodGuyKhan]

Yeah... Little update guys... Not looking good at all. I'm not euthanizing yet, thoroughly believe they have the right to try and live and I have the duty to help them, but his condition has worsened horribly. Just got back from my girlfriends after tying the Epsom and yeah.. Poor guys body has swelled to a noticeably uncomfortable size and nearly all his scales are protruding now. Fins ripped, breathing heavily, all those nasties. If I can manage to upload photos I will.

 

[hrutan]

I am so sorry to hear that.

 

[GoodGuyKhan]

Yeah he's passed. Left a bubble nest ironically. I was going to take pictures but decided against it as they were fairly graphic for a betta lover like me. One thing I noticed is his abdomen not only swelled but there was a red tinge to color under the scales. No idea what that's from but maybe it was organ failure or rupturing. Sorry if that sounds really stupid, but I'm just trying to understand what happened to the poor guy. Died in a sleeping spot so I guess I can pretend he went in his sleep. SIP mister.

 

[hrutan]

SIP, poor fish.

Sudden thought...

Did the first boy that died of dropsy use the same tank as this one?

 

[GoodGuyKhan]

Nope. Morrissey, the other dropsy victim, died in my gfs hospital tank which was subsequently tossed after his death. I had the thought of possible contagion as well.