Dropsy- Beaten?

[flillia]

After a rash of dropsy deaths in my tank caused by a one-two epidemic of velvet and septicemia brought in from ONE LFS fish that wasn't quarantined (she looked healthy, I swear!), I've been watching my fish like a hawk. I noticed around a week ago that one of my grrl bettas didn't come up for breakfast so I tracked her down and sure enough, she was pineconing.. and had popeye. I rushed her into my hospital tank and she's been on a combo of Maracyn and Maracyn II for around 8 days.

She's doing much better - she's eating like crazy and swimming around the punch bowl that is her temporary home. Her popeye hasn't decreased any (in fact, I think she's blind in one eye now) and she's still pineconing, but she isn't bloated (at least any more than usual, she's always been a fat lil fish) and she's more perky every day.

Is it possible that she really is getting better or is she playing with my emotions like my grrls love to do? Does the pineconing ever go away if a betta beats dropsy? *Can* bettas beat dropsy? If the pinecones never go down.. at what point do I declare her cured and stop the antibiotics? I'm going to have to buy her her own private betta mansion since she's having a hard time seeing and I want to make sure that she gets enough to eat. At what point do you think I can buy one without returning home to a dead betta?

I've been told before that dropsy is nearly impossible to cure.. but I brought my very first betta back from the brink of death by columnaris and ever since then it takes a lot for me to give up on my fish

 

[liz2]

well done you! I had a betta boy with popeye and that got better. never had anything get better from dropsy though. can you not get a plastic container? I use these in emergencies, you can get quite big ones with lids, almost transparent sides and drill holes in the lid. I have got a sick fancy goldfish and he is one of my faves, really sick tried everything now she is just curled over in bottom of tank, stumped.

 

[Jaded12]

The problem with dropsy is that there are 2 different kinds, one is caused by a bacterial infection which if caught in the early stages and treated properly with the right medications such as epsom salt baths, there is a chance it can be cured. Unfortunately the other type is cause by severe kidney failure which causes fluids to build up in the abdomen causing pine coning. This type is NOT treatable and is 100% fatal. The problem is its nearly impossible to tell which strain a fish has. Good luck with her!

 

[Amunet]

I had a female betta that pulled through dropsy before (she eventually died of something else though, think it was b/c she was eggbound and couldn't release them)....

She had minor pineconing, but it never went away after she got better. It got slightly better, but never went all the way back down.

Are you positive she's not bloated?
I would probably add some epsom salt to her tank. 1tablespoon per 5 gallons of water. Dissolve it first, then add. If she has any kind of bloating, the epsom salt in the tank will help alot.

I would treat her for a while longer just to be sure, and then stop. Make sure to keep an eye on her though to make sure that she is ok and of course restart the meds if she gets worse.

 

[flillia]

Thanks for the comments everyone, I just wanted to say that Hope (her new name!) is actually doing wonderfully. Her scales are still a *little* raised but they look more like a green pinecone than an opened one. She's eating and swimming and seems as happy as she can be. She's even seeing better, I think.

I'm stopping treatment now since I'm out of medicine (and she hasn't shown symptoms for a few days). I put her in the 10 gallon that I'm setting up so that she can chill out with my 2 ADFs.. I'm going to watch her for a few weeks and if she looks okay she can rejoin her sisters in the 29 gal.

My only problem with her right now is that she's stealing my froggies' yumyums

Also, I'm fairly certain that she's not bloated.. but it's a little hard to tell sometimes with my bettas because they seem to be perpetually egg-filled. I had never heard of females being eggbound until just a few days ago.. but my females are all 3+ years old and have been like that constantly throughout so I'm guessing they're okay