Poor Bruce

[catxx]

i think he might be getting dropsy now, and my "hospital" tanks are taken until other tanks cycle.
the other side of him has swollen up, despite plenty of pea and cutting down on his food a little (he's been chomping on baby snails) and this morning his scales were starting to stick out.

(he already has a tumour on the other side, which is definately getting bigger now)

the only meds i have are salt, melafix and fin rot meds. whats epsom salt? is it different to my aquarium salt? how do you give a fish a salt bath??

i might go get him something to sit in seperate from the ottos, he sulks real bad when he's not in his tank though.

grr difficult bruce!

he's still very active in himself though, chasing the otos, stealing their food, wiggling at me, and even started a bubble nest which he's never done in this tank.

 

[juliehainsworth]

Poor Bruce! Hope he gets better soon!

 

[catxx]

sadly i don't think he will get better
he's getting on a bit now
i had him since august, and he must have been a year, year and a half then
for a regular pet store betta that's pretty good
he's had his ups and downs with me that's for sure!

he's my first betta and first fish. i've nearly killed him twice, was a very steep learning curve!

 

[Phoenixfish]

dont sound too good, and unlucky time, first bubble nest

 

[catxx]

it's not his first bubble nest, he's had 4 tanks since he's been with me, when he was in his bowl he was a bubble nest fiend

but since he's been in filtered tanks he hasn't bothered trying, until now.

 

[Joby]

Normal salt will make him retain liquid and dropsy is usually a sign of the body holidng on to liquid and you need to release these liquids which epsom salts will do. It doesn't sound good however, maybe his tumour is getting so big its throughout his body and showing through the other side. If it is then he's not going to get any better unfortunately

Poor little guy, hope you can make him comfortable

 

[catxx]

it could be that joby

at least i am prepared for his passing though
it's not going to be sudden and an unknown death

he will go to my dads garden for a proper burial

i fear it will be sooner rather than later

what IS epsom salt? will aquatic shops have it? or supermarkets?
any uk brands i need to look out for?

 

[Joby]

You can get it from the pharmacy section of a supermarket. Don't have to have a pharmacist present so should be on the shelves. Its just a form of salt but used for medicinal purposes. Its not expensive either, should be in a smallish tub.


I can't remember the dosage etc so you might have to search on here or google it