Wth Is Going On?

[Amunet]

Well.. my latest betta is unfortunatly my latest one to have developed dropsy for no reason.
One day he's vibrant & active and eating well, and then the next day, he's not coming to eat and now.. 2 days later, his scales are popping out.
He's not bloated.
His tank gets weekly water changes. It's filtered, heated, etc etc etc.
Everything a little betta would want, except it seems that every betta I put into the tank ends up dying on me. The last 2 bettas that were in the tank also developed dropsy.
Is the tank getting them sick you think?
I've had this current betta for gosh.... months now. I can't even remember when I got him.. and he's been such a lively active guy, and then BAM... for no reason this happens.

WTH is going on?? I don't plan on putting another fish into that tank until I can figure out how to keep another one from getting ill. It just breaks my heart to see the poor bettas end up this way, specially when it could be avoided if I had just did something different.

The tank has live plants in it...I was thinking about disinfecting the tank somehow (maybe w/ a vinegar solution?), but I'm not sure how to go about it w/ plants? Do you have to disinfect plants? I really don't want to throw them out b/c they're very healthy and I've had the plants for a long time.

 

[bronzecat]

Thats a tuffy
Dropsy is normally caused by internal infection by any number of different bacterial species, or can be caused by damaged kidneys.

Is your boy still alive? If so you guys over the pond can get good meds (wouldn't know which one though) As for something in the tank??? Does it have a substrate? If so, maybe giving it a throrough cleaning may help.

Sorry cant be of any use really

 

[Honeythorn]

If it's cycled and filtered then it's unlikely to be the tank. I would check with your water supplier to see if anything has been added to your water , I've read that an excess of sodium chloride can be a factor in Dropsy.

How are the readings from your tank? Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and so on?

Oh, and do you always get your bettas from the same shop or breeder/supplier? Perhaps a genetic weakness or inclination of some sort?

 

[Amunet]

Yeah he's still alive, but he's in very bad shape. The previous bettas I've had that developed dropsy still ate, but he's not even doing that.
I don't think I can do anything for him.

At least w/ my experience w/ dropsy.. it's always ended in death whenever I didn't euthanize the betta.

 

[Amunet]

If it's cycled and filtered then it's unlikely to be the tank. I would check with your water supplier to see if anything has been added to your water , I've read that an excess of sodium chloride can be a factor in Dropsy.

How are the readings from your tank? Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and so on?

Oh, and do you always get your bettas from the same shop or breeder/supplier? Perhaps a genetic weakness or inclination of some sort?

But if it was the water supply, then my other fish tanks would be showing some signs of illness, but they don't.
All readings are normal. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite... I don't check nitrates since I do weekly water changes. The tank is definitely cycled though. After every betta.. I throw away the filter media, replace it w/ a new one along with some mature media from one of the other tanks. Insta-cycle.

I get all my bettas from Petsmart. All of the bettas for the tank have been similar colors, so who knows.. could be all from the same bloodlines. *shrugs* I dunno......

 

[Honeythorn]

Hmm. How odd.

Even though you do water changes it is best to still check nitrates. They may be weaker than nitrite but too much can still do damage of course. It's worth looking into surely since there doesn't seem to be any other reasonable explanation?

If the tank isn't already well planted then it may be worth getting a good bunch of live plants, and heavily plant the tank. They do go some way to using up nitrate , although you still have to do your water changes .

I'd get your bettas from elsewhere too if you can. Petsmart has never had the best reputation for fish, and it may be that they are all coming from one breeder?

 

[azulfire24]

you said you had this one for months? he might just be at the end of his life span, bettas really only get 3 years i have heard up to 5 but that was a home bred betta that was never subjected to the stress of shipping and selling, and some of the chain petshops buy in bulk from breeders that somtimes get ride of their old or non-breeding snuff fish threw a bulk sale. if you gave a petsmart betta several good months that might have been the best time of his life

 

[Amunet]

I'm fairly certain this betta is still pretty young. He was small when I got him, and he's grown some since then but is still smallish.
I feel awful b/c it feels like I should've been able to prevent this from happening again.


And the tank is very well planted. Well, as well as a 3gallon can get. There is one sword plant that's growing like crazy in it. It takes up about half of the tank, there is 1 stalk of cabomba, and a small bunch of anubias.


Sigh..
Well.. I put in a dose of tetracycline into the tank. Hopefully it will help, but... I really don't think it will. Poor little guy

 

[ibbledibble]

it really could be down to genetics, if they are all coming from the same breeder.

i had 3 sibling fish (2 males and a female) in 3 completely separate tanks and all 3 developed dropsy within a week of each other! the males were in 2 different divided tanks, and the female was in a sorority, and none of the other fish got sick at all. definitely looks like there can be a genetic predisposition to it.

not that i'm saying don't try to help him, its always worth trying, and do all the other things suggested to prepare the tank. but don't blame yourself, as its more than likely not your fault! your water stats are good and you have treated him well.

to sterilize the plants, apparently you can use sterazin

 

[Night61]

after i lost my livingston to dropsy i did some reserch on this thing. some of the conclusions i came to was.
1 its not always water quality that causes it
2 it can be a heritary deases that no matter what you do you just can't save them.
3 there is really nothing you can do for the betta once it gets this but make them comfortable and get ready to say good bye.
i wish i could say i found sucess stories but i have not.
good luck

 

[Amunet]

Yeah... I haven't really heard many success stories with a betta recovering from dropsy.
I got a better look at my lil guy and he's definitely not going to make it.
He was a very deep red color, and almost all of the color in his body has gone. Also I said that he wasn't bloated, but it appears that he is slightly. Not that food kind of bloat, but his entire body has definitely swelled up so I think it's safe to say that he has organ failure.

Hoping the icemaker in our freezer produces some soon b/c I'm going to euthanize him. He's so far gone that I think the best thing to do is to just end his suffering *sigh* God I hate doing this.......

 

[HMPK love]

Aw man.... Sorry to hear about your little guy , but I wouldnt use ice to euthanize, it's a really painfull thing to freez, ice crystals form in the blood and puncture the vains, it's painfull. Your bets bet at this point is blunt force to the head, it isn't pretty but its quick, and painless.

A close friend had to do this for one of her boys with dropsy, and honestly I think its the best thing for them. There isn't much you can do at this point, but to stop his suffering would be a blessing to him.

 

[Amunet]

I've had to use the ice cube freezing water method before. It only takes like 2 or 3 seconds for them to die. They panic at first which is just the worst thing to witness but they quickly die which is why I keep doing it this way.

I could NOT hit the fish's head. Like smacking it with something or smacking it on something. I actually did this before with a guppy that was dying and... just no.. it still haunts me today hearing the sound it made.


But anyways.... it's done. The icemaker thankfully made some ice. Put it into a cup of cold water, mixed it up until it was v/ cold and put him into it. He passed in 2 seconds................... god I really hate this.......

Only have 2 pics of him.... the tank is so scratched up that it's so hard to get a good pic of the fish in it... sigh... he was such a pretty little guy though and just so full of life

 

[ibbledibble]

personally i couldn't to the head trauma method, i'd worry that i did it wrong, not quick enough ect. thats why i always use clove oil. its very cheap from a chemist (pharmacist) and you don't need very much, they freak out a little when they realize there is something in the water with them, but it doesn't hurt them, and they just drift off to sleep.(mix several drops of clove oil with some water in a small jar/bottle until it turns a milky white colour. put your fish in a small container, filled with tank water. add the clove oil mixture and cover the container to cut out light. the fish will splash about to begin with, when they recognize there is something new in the water, but they will soon fall asleep. if the gills stop moving you have added enough clove oil to kill them, if not add more clove oil, or alcohol to finish the job. p.s never add alcohol to the water before the fish is unconscious, it will cause them pain)

i think there are two methods of euthanising with ice,
1 put fish in freezer
2 put fish into ice cold water

i think lots of people get these methods confused, in method 1 this is a very slow painful death, and should never be used.

however method 2 as amunet has said is very quick, and while i would still recommend the clove oil method i do not think this is an unforgivable alternative. the fish would not actually freeze with this method, the body would simply go into extreme shock and shut down.

 

[Athena]

Amunet, sorry to hear about your poor Betta fish. I was just wondering - I know that the tank you have is very small at 3 gallons - but was it heated at all? I know some people with small tanks don't bother with heaters but a Betta fish really will survive and flourish better if in a heated/filtered tank.

He was a lovely looking boy - good that you had managed to take some pics of him.

Athena