Okay - had to share this one as have lost bettas before to dropsy.
A few weeks ago I picked up a betta from someone who didn't want it anymore, it had fin rot and less than half of it's proper fins left.
After a week his fins were coming back and he was swimming more, was just about to add him to my divided fraternity tank when he started to pinecone. I was kicking myself as I had been trying to research if he had popeye when the pineconing started.
I started with epsom salts and then found Jungle's Fungus Cure (contains furan 2) at Walmart here in Canada. For the first week and a half nothing seemed to help and he wasn't eating.
Twice I tried to find oil of cloves to euthanize him as I didn't see the point in having him in pain and when I did finally find it I went to do the deed and he started swimming a bit (lop-sided and not well but quite quickly all over the tank).
I decided to let him try - after two weeks his pine coning has gone and he is eating again and swimming more (still a bit weak).
The treatment I used I found online:
- 2 teaspoons of Epsom salts (in his 2.5 gallon tank - dissolved first in tank temp water) - not as a bath just added to his tank. I added it in two halves over a day so as not to stress him immediately.
- The recommended amount of Jungle Fungus cure tablets (about a quarter of a tablet for his 2.5 gallon tank in my case). I never exceeded this dose just added 1/8 a tablet back in when I did a water change of 50%.
Changed 5-70% of his water every 2 days (just using the gravel syphon so as not to stress him out by taking him in and out) and replenishing the epsom salts and Jungle's Fungus cure based on the water I took out (if took out 50% of water then add the right amount of Fungus Cure from Jungle for 1.25 gallons and just over a teaspoon of Epsom salts).
I kept his filter on but removed the carbon portion of the filter.
Also made sure he had a betta hammock so he could rest near the surface (about 3/4 inch below water level) and baffled the filter outflow with zip ties and aquarium sponge so he wasn't having to worry about a strong current to stay on the hammock.
He didn't eat for approximately a week, he is a slightly weird little fish as he only eats tropical flake anyway (won't touch betta pellets or betta flake - am guessing it was what he was being fed) so I literally put a single flake (no more!) in once a day and upped that to twice a day one he started eating again - put it near his hammock but not over him.
Left tank lights off for two weeks as he seemed to hide when they were on while he was sick.
The other big ingredient was patience - I was tempted to try changing meds every few days but for the antibiotics to work patience was needed to give a consistent treatment.
I am not advocating always trying to cure dropsy (as if the fish has had too much damage to internal organs it really cannot be cured) but wanted to share these tips in case they were helpful to anyone else.
I can't say how long the little guy will live months or years as he was in pretty rough shape when I got him but he is doing okay for now and eating well. Hope it is helpful to anyone else who decides to try and treat for dropsy.
A few weeks ago I picked up a betta from someone who didn't want it anymore, it had fin rot and less than half of it's proper fins left.
After a week his fins were coming back and he was swimming more, was just about to add him to my divided fraternity tank when he started to pinecone. I was kicking myself as I had been trying to research if he had popeye when the pineconing started.
I started with epsom salts and then found Jungle's Fungus Cure (contains furan 2) at Walmart here in Canada. For the first week and a half nothing seemed to help and he wasn't eating.
Twice I tried to find oil of cloves to euthanize him as I didn't see the point in having him in pain and when I did finally find it I went to do the deed and he started swimming a bit (lop-sided and not well but quite quickly all over the tank).
I decided to let him try - after two weeks his pine coning has gone and he is eating again and swimming more (still a bit weak).
The treatment I used I found online:
- 2 teaspoons of Epsom salts (in his 2.5 gallon tank - dissolved first in tank temp water) - not as a bath just added to his tank. I added it in two halves over a day so as not to stress him immediately.
- The recommended amount of Jungle Fungus cure tablets (about a quarter of a tablet for his 2.5 gallon tank in my case). I never exceeded this dose just added 1/8 a tablet back in when I did a water change of 50%.
Changed 5-70% of his water every 2 days (just using the gravel syphon so as not to stress him out by taking him in and out) and replenishing the epsom salts and Jungle's Fungus cure based on the water I took out (if took out 50% of water then add the right amount of Fungus Cure from Jungle for 1.25 gallons and just over a teaspoon of Epsom salts).
I kept his filter on but removed the carbon portion of the filter.
Also made sure he had a betta hammock so he could rest near the surface (about 3/4 inch below water level) and baffled the filter outflow with zip ties and aquarium sponge so he wasn't having to worry about a strong current to stay on the hammock.
He didn't eat for approximately a week, he is a slightly weird little fish as he only eats tropical flake anyway (won't touch betta pellets or betta flake - am guessing it was what he was being fed) so I literally put a single flake (no more!) in once a day and upped that to twice a day one he started eating again - put it near his hammock but not over him.
Left tank lights off for two weeks as he seemed to hide when they were on while he was sick.
The other big ingredient was patience - I was tempted to try changing meds every few days but for the antibiotics to work patience was needed to give a consistent treatment.
I am not advocating always trying to cure dropsy (as if the fish has had too much damage to internal organs it really cannot be cured) but wanted to share these tips in case they were helpful to anyone else.
I can't say how long the little guy will live months or years as he was in pretty rough shape when I got him but he is doing okay for now and eating well. Hope it is helpful to anyone else who decides to try and treat for dropsy.
