I've been working on treating my sister's betta who came down with dropsy 3 or 4 days ago. He was kept in a 36gal bow front lightly planted tank with a male BN pleco and a ton of snails. The tank has been cycled for a few years now but the betta has only been in it for roughly 4 months. My sister didn't think it was a problem when he started getting a little tubby and stopped eating *sighs* She just though he was getting fed too much. When she found him on his back laying on the gravel breathing hard she finally decided to move him to a 1(ish) gallon hospital tank with a mini heater and a tiny filter. She didn't tell me any of this (which she should of) until a the day after she moved him. She also decided to dump the rest of a packet of API General cure into the tiny tank, so I have no idea how much was added as a whole packet treats 10gals.
I took one look at the poor dude and thought he was close to the end, laying belly up on the bottom of the tank, super swollen and very pine coned out. I thought I would give him a shot.
So I got out the epsom salt and mixed him up a small container of it and let him soak in there for about 15 minutes while I dumped all the water in the hospital tank and refilled it half way with fresh water and about 2 drops of methylene blue (it can't hurt). I added a small ornament that sits about half and inch under the water, put the heater back in and set an air stone to a slow bubble. This was 2-3 days ago. He had an epsom salt bath once a day and got his water changed during his bath. I kept adding a couple drops of methylene blue after each 100% water change.
Since then his swelling has gone down to the point he looks pretty much normal and his scales are not as pine coned. He swims around and begs for food like a normal betta. I fed him a bit yesterday and he's been pooping normally. I think this might work out. Unfortunately I didn't bother tanking any pictures as I though he would be dead by now...
I just wanted to make a thread about this to hopefully bring a bit of hope to others who may experience dropsy in bettas. I'll update this as he continues to recover (or worsen IDK yet).
I took one look at the poor dude and thought he was close to the end, laying belly up on the bottom of the tank, super swollen and very pine coned out. I thought I would give him a shot.
So I got out the epsom salt and mixed him up a small container of it and let him soak in there for about 15 minutes while I dumped all the water in the hospital tank and refilled it half way with fresh water and about 2 drops of methylene blue (it can't hurt). I added a small ornament that sits about half and inch under the water, put the heater back in and set an air stone to a slow bubble. This was 2-3 days ago. He had an epsom salt bath once a day and got his water changed during his bath. I kept adding a couple drops of methylene blue after each 100% water change.
Since then his swelling has gone down to the point he looks pretty much normal and his scales are not as pine coned. He swims around and begs for food like a normal betta. I fed him a bit yesterday and he's been pooping normally. I think this might work out. Unfortunately I didn't bother tanking any pictures as I though he would be dead by now...
I just wanted to make a thread about this to hopefully bring a bit of hope to others who may experience dropsy in bettas. I'll update this as he continues to recover (or worsen IDK yet).
