My female Betta has Dropsy

[Elisabeth83]

I don't know what is going on in my neck of the woods but it seems I am being hit hard with fish diseases.

2 females I bought from a pet shop were really big but I didn't think anything of it. Now I am thinking these females are OLD! One of the females has dropsy...bloated looking and when she turned around I saw her scales were all lifted up

The other female never acted right to begin with. Scared and hiding...now shes always resting on the bottom of the tank

So I ended up buying 2 old girls on their death beds it seems.

So dropsy there is basically no cure...so it looks like I'm gonna have to euthanize her? I read it isn't contagious??? I dont want to watch her get any worse. She already looks like shes in pain

This is how I am feeling

 

[platyperson]

There are cures it may be a bit hard though just give her your time.
Since salt water has a lower osmotic pressure than fresh, sometimes keeeping a fish
with dropsy in a slight salt solution will decrease the water entering the body. This will give the fish's organs time to recover without the strain of trying to expell all the extra water so that it will be able to resume normal functioning when it returns to normal water. All changes should be made slowly. The fish should be isolated and 7.5ml (1/2 a tablespoon) of salt per 4.8 Litres (8 pints) added over a period of time. As the fish recovers, use water changes to dilute the salt solution until the water is back to normal.
Or, if the cause is bacterial, you may want to add 250mg of chloramphenicol to each gallon of water the fish is in, but this may be messy (even though it is the best type of treatment) so it is best done by a fish vet.
Good luck

 

[Joby]

Oh Elisabeth you're not having any luck at all

So sorry to hear about your girls

I've heard dropsy is very contagious. SRC gave me a good link last time when my girl was suffering but I can't remember what it was but if you search for dropsy on here you should come across it. It says not to use normal aquarium salt but to use epsom salt instead. I gave my girl epsom salt baths twice a day and had some in her water but I still had to euthanise her in the end

 

[Texaswoman]

I have saved a female before using epsom salt, but I don't know the dilution. I just added some because I didn't know exactly how much, but she couldn't have been worst off. Probably 1/2 tablespoon for a gallon I'm thinking approx. I also treated her with Maracyn 2 daily and did water changes of 50% daily. I also had some Melafix when I started treatment because she had come out of the spawning tank, but that eventually got diluted, so I don't think this was something that made a difference. If you have any collodial silver I would add some of that in with her water. Good luck, and I hope she pulls through.

 

[Elisabeth83]

I decided to euthanize her She was pretty bloated up and had this weird patch starting to form on her side. Probably a tumor or something from old age...who knows

Gosh I am so down today. I feel so frusterated and sad

I went to my lfs today and talked with the guy about the other symtoms my other sick girl is having (not the girl with dropsy).

clamped fins
laying on the bottom
not eating
skin cloudiness

He said it sounded like costia and not a bacterial infection. It makes more sense I guess as the sick girl was scratching on some plants. I originally treated for parasites but then stopped treatment thinking it was bacterial instead. Did 60% water change and started using the bacterial medication instead Oops! Now I got home and looked up Costia and the symptoms are almost exact to how my girl is acting.

When I was netting the girl out who had dropsy I noticed 2 tiny white spots on her left fin. It looked like Ich. So Costia definately makes sense.

I'm gonna have to set up a quarentine tank so things like this dont happen ever again

 

[RandomWiktor]

I lost a very old fish to dropsy and it was rather disturbing. I think I should have euthanized because it took 5 very long, very agonizing days to pass away. I've found with others I've intentionally bought to attempt to treat dropsy, ocne the scales raise, it is very very hard to treat. I only had one who even began to recover, and he ended up dying from other causes (my roomie accidentally backed into the peice of furniture, knowing it and the tank over and thus squishing the fish). I think euthanasia is the best way.

What is up with LFS and pet stores selling old bettas lately?! A store employee confided in me when I asked her why the stores bettas were so large and constantly sickly that the store gets old spent bettas from the breeder at a fraction of the usual price, which is why theirs are only $1.99 and not $3.99. What an outrage.

I'm so sorry to hear about your little females

 

[Elisabeth83]

I think your right about euthanizing them once the scales have raised. I read through different websites on dropsy before I decided to do it. A lot of the sites said that it's basically incurable and that they will continue to pine cone until the day they die and I just thought if she isnt going to get better why put her through it I actually thought she was dead this morning when I turned on the lights. She was resting on a leaf near the surface not moving at all. I couldn't even see her gills moving. I opened the lid and she swam off and when she did I noticed how bloated she was. Then I said to my boyfriend Oh gosh I think she has Dropsy I watched her for a bit and when she turned I could see the scales sticking out. It wasn't full on dropsy like some of the pictures I've seen but I knew it was heading that way

She looked like she was in pain. She wasn't swimming right and she was resting on teh bottom a lot. So I decided to do what I thought was best although it broke my heart. She looked at me with her big eyes and I just felt awful

I should of known better about these females. They didn't look too huge at the store but once I got them home and put them in the tank and saw them next to my oldest female betta (which I bought when she was quite young and I've had her for around 5 months now) they were almost double her size

I can't believe stores would do that to people I mean come on. Breeders shouldnt use them til they are old and then sell them to pet stores they should keep them themselves or give them to friends. We don't want to buy girls who only have a couple months left in them

Ah well I just hope I can give the remaining older girl a nice life til she passes. I just PRAY none of my other girls get dropsy...it's a horrible disease

 

[WILDER]

R.I.P.,you soon will be an expert on fish deseases, hope things turn for the good soon.

 

[littlefishie]

Next time [God forbid], maybe try colloidal silver? I've heard that it can cure just about anything.

 

[Elisabeth83]

I've never heard of colloidal silver here...what is it?? Is it sold at pet stores?

What do you use it for? )

 

[Elisabeth83]

R.I.P.,you soon will be an expert on fish deseases, hope things turn for the good soon.

Gee I sure hope so!! My Mom already calls me "the fish expert" I'm far from it...but hopefully one day

 

[littlefishie]

I've never heard of colloidal silver here...what is it?? Is it sold at pet stores?

What do you use it for? )

It's available at GNC and health food stores.. try clicking this link.. it's a topic about buying colloidal silver online, and how it can help.

 

[SMSBrunetteGirl]

Oh I`m sorry

 

[turbotiber]

Oh I"m so sorry to hear about your girls I hate dealing with dropsy and when my fishies got them I couldn't bear to euthanize them... but oh I cried cause I felt so horrible I couldn't do anything Hope the other girl starts to get better and that your other fishies don't get any sickness