Anti Parasite Food

[keithp]

One of my bettas had/has dropsy, she is looking better after giving maracyn 2 and epson salt. But she still has stringy poo which was the first sign before all the ill effects after. She is not constipated as I have fed her little and only bloodworms an daphnia, none of which should clog her. She eat a bit of pea every other day. I heard that they have anti-parasite food which she would eat and will rid of internal parasites. If you think this might help her, what is the name of it, and can it be bought on amazon.com?

 

[loraxchick]

Jungle makes a good antiparasite food. whichever you buy look for the ingredients metronidazole and praziquentil-both good internal parasite meds.
keep in mind stringy white poo can also be from constipation-so just limit to food.
can you post a pic?

 

[keithp]

She is looking better except I noticed her eyes have popped a bit and she is missing 3 scales on her belly when it used to pinecone, the stringy poo.

her 2 weeks ago before meds

her now after meds

 

[loraxchick]

she is actually looking a bit better in the second pic. VERy bloated still, but her belly size has decreased. do you have any epsom salt? every betta owner should keep some for emergencies like this and they are really cheap! you can find them at any pharmacy or other place they sell over-the-counter medicines. the ingredient is magnesium sulfate. if giving it as a dip (out of the main tank) use one teaspoon/gal. leave the fish in for up to 30 mins, 2X a day. if medicating the tank use 1 teaspoon/5 gal. will help draw fluid out of the tissues and if it is from constipation will help her poo (even peas dont always work-fasting and epsom are teh best method).
she also may be very eggy on top of it and is starting to absorb the eggs, decreasing her belly size. "pinecone" is not always dropsy. severe bloating like that can "lift" the scales off the fish.
do not over feed this girl!! seriously the tiniest pit of food every 3 or 4 days until she is no longer bloated.
might not be internal parasites but another round of whatever meds you used might be a good idea.
is she still active, etc? her color looks pretty good to be honest.
let us know how she gets on.
cheers

 

[keithp]

I have been using epson salt with the maracyn and it has helped. I just didnt know the cause of why she pineconed, because she had all the symptoms of dropsy. She is quite active now and her appetite is good, just trying to get her stomach down to normal.

 

[loraxchick]

hopefully she is just bloated and eggy making her look REALLY bloated. again pineconing can be from other things than dropsy. when they get that fat, the scales lift off the body around the abdomen.
she looks 40% better in the second pic. so you are definitely on the right track. just limit her food for a while(not just a few days either) and continue with the epsom.
hopefully shes on the road to recovery!
cheers

 

[keithp]

Do you think it would be safe just to try the anti parasite food, with Jungle I think it said it can be used as a preventative. 2 months ago I fed her a piece of chopped earthworm, which could contain lots of parasites after reading online, that is why I was thinking a parasite could be causing all this. I am never feeding any live foods again, only frozen!

and with the salt when I first got her I would always add a little bit of salt to her tank, for a good year and a half I did this. I read on here somewhere it was bad to do, so I stopped, but could the salt have been preventing bloating issues? Again I understand you say it is constipation or eggs, but it's hard to really say for sure 100% and I want to know what I am doing wrong to cause her to have gotten so ill.

 

[loraxchick]

all last is not created equal. table salt, marine salt, aquarium salt all have the opposite effect of epsom salt(a salt is just a catch-all term for ion compounds..i wont confuse you with the chemistry). with that being said, aquarium/marine salts will actually put water into the tissues to gain osmotic balance. epsom salt has the opposite effect drawing water out. not that your use of salt caused the bloating, but doesnt help IF the fish is bloated-makes it worse actually (the tissues are already having a hard time removing water).
you would need to use parasitic food, as opposed to the water treatment. the fish needs to eat the stuff in order to kill the parasites. so, id keep feeding that if you have been. she does appear a bit better. and as always, keep the substrate/water as clean as you can.
good luck.
cheers

 

[keithp]

Thanks for the help! I should have specified, I have ALWAYS used epsom salt, never any other type of salt.