Help! Betta may have Dropsy!

[rkolb86]

It all started about 2 weeks ago. This may be unrelated, but I started getting lots of Diatoms in an established tank (3 months?)

About a week ago, Bob's appetite started going out the window.

2 Days ago, he started getting some discoloring under his chest.

Today, the discoloring has spread to his sides, his scales stared standing up, and he is slightly bloated. (not a bad as this guy though...My betta with dropsy after 3 months - YouTube), but he has a tough time fitting between his heater and the tank wall now.

He swims ok, still upright. He has been sitting on the bottom of his tank a lot though, although not always.

I moved him to a bowl for now, going to get some aquarium salt in the AM and will try to feed him a pea.

Any ideas? Suggestions?

 

[jlk]

Unfortunately, once a fish has started to pinecone, your options for treament are limited & the prognosis is very poor. Pineconing results from the accumulation of fluids internally because the kidneys can no longer process them. Dropsy is a symptom of disease & not an actual disease itself. It can be caused by an internal bacterial, parasitic or viral infection though its believed that bacteria is the most common cause. You can try feeding a medicated, anti-bacterial food (petsmart carries Jungle anti-bac food) & putting a small amount of epsom salts either in his tank (1/8tsp/gal) or doing an epsom salt bath (1tsp/gal conditioned water for @15mins 1x day). Some people have had success adding an antibiotic to the water (maracyn2 or maracyn+) when symptoms first start. An aquatic vet can offer other options if you have access to one. Good luck!

 

[awilson133]

why did you move him?

 

[rkolb86]

I wanted to make sure the bloating wasn't just from constipation. I tried an Epsom bath and have yet to see him go at all. I'm still not sure if this is because he hasn't had an appetite in 2 days or because of constipation.

He has become more lazy so I put him back in his tank. I added 1/8tsb/gal of Epsom to it and started a Maracyn Two treatment.

I'm not sure if it is def dropsy but I'm not taking any chances since he started getting worse.

 

[awilson133]

I hope everything works out!

 

[rkolb86]

Looks like my efforts are showing no signs of success. He hasn't been interested in eating in nearly a week. He is almost non-responsive when I attempt to scare him...doesn't even flinch. He's been swimming near-vertically against his heater/beta hammoc since last night.

It looks like I'll be putting him down tonight via the clove oil/vodka method. **** spoiled fish is gonna get Grey Goose because that is all I have.

Sad day.

Thanks for all your help

 

[jlk]

I am sorry to hear this!

 

[rkolb86]

I went out to get some clove oil, couldn't find it locally. Came back to Bob sinking to the bottom. We watched each other as he took his last breathe. He went pretty peacefully.


Bob...you were a good man. You will be missed.


On that note...time to restock the tank.

 

[jmpgop]

I'm sorry for your loss! I have a sick betta right now too. I don't really know what the problem is... Nori hasn't eaten since Friday. I'm now guessing fin rot? Today after doing some antibiotics in the tank he is actually swimming at the top of the tank for the first time since Saturday? Water change, water change, water change and I'm hoping he makes it. But I'm not optimistic.

Can you tell me how you plan to prep your tank to accept other fish without them getting sick? Do you worry about there being something in the tank that affected them?
Janelle

 

[rkolb86]

The only visual sign he had was Dropsy. I'm not sure what the underlying cause was, but my guess was organ failure.

I've had him for 1.5 years, but who know how old he was when I got him...or what kind of conditions he endured.

My tank was always flawless. Sometimes they just go I suppose.

First he stopped eating, then he started fading, then he started pine-coning, then he stopped responding to anything and swimming into stuff, and last he just sat on the bottom or on his bed.

I'm going to do a massive water change (80-90%) and rinse the filter material as well as run the tank as hot as possible for a day or two.

 

[jmpgop]

I'm going to Euthanize my Betta, Nori tonight... His tank is overrun with bugs (little red ones - what the heck are they?) he's now pineconing. He's sick sick sick. Since this post with you I have been fighting for him. Almost 3 weeks he hasn't eaten. This sucks.

 

[awilson133]

im so sorry

 

[ocminpin]

I'm so sorry... I lost a betta to dropsy a few months ago... I had to euthanize...

 

[rkolb86]

I'm going to Euthanize my Betta, Nori tonight... His tank is overrun with bugs (little red ones - what the heck are they?) he's now pineconing. He's sick sick sick. Since this post with you I have been fighting for him. Almost 3 weeks he hasn't eaten. This sucks.

I didn't have any sort of bug issue, but yours is odd...never heard of it.


I wasn't able to get the clove oil before he passed on his own, but I did start a slush bag to drop him into...I figured that it was the best way for him to go otherwise.

Sorry to hear that your fish is dying. It's amazing how we can become attached to these little guys and they can't even bark at us.

If I could go bag, I would have put him down sooner. I happened pretty quickly though for Bob...about a week total from when he stopped eating.

 

[jmpgop]

yeah - it'll be 3 weeks Friday since he stopped eating. Antibiotics, water changes, more antibiotics. I just couldn't watch him suffer anymore. Eventually they starve to death too ya' know...

All we can do is the best we can do. And yes, looking back, I was going to euthanize him after that first week or so... I should have had I known he wouldn't recover and then his tank would explode with bugs.

As for the tiny tiny reddish bugs, I added some salt and cooled the water. I can't break it down until tomorrow so... It'll have to wait - but the bugs freak me out. They're mostly at the surface. Yikes. After doing that last night, I think there are less than 1/3rd still swimming.

Anyway - thanks guys. Nori and Bob are in Betta heaven now

 

[jmpgop]

Oh and I did the ice bath too. He's still in the freezer just to make sure... Weird I know - but I have a friend - her goldfish had fallen out of its bag when she was moving. It fell out in a dark parking lot. It was winter. They couldn't find it at that time. They went back out in the morning and found him. Scraped him off the ice and he recovered and lived for another year. I SWEAR!

Now - Goldfish are different BUT! Weird...

 

[FS7]

I have never had any luck treating dropsy because it's a symptom of so many different things. As mentioned, dropsy is nothing more than an accumulation of fluids inside the body. In my experience, there are few treatable causes of this. Every fish I've had that had dropsy was just kept comfortable until they were no longer able to have a good life. It's very difficult to determine when that is.

To put this in perspective, I lost one of my rabbits back in November of 2010. She was old (about 9 or so, though she was a rescue so I really don't know). She had a history of bladder problems (three surgeries), arthritis, and some other typical "old age" complications. She was obviously stressed on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. She rested on Sunday and was still trying to eat, but was in obvious pain at night so we took her to the emergency vet. The next morning, they discovered nothing obvious, but they did notice she had a buildup of fluid internally and she was having trouble maintaining her body temperature. We went to see her on Monday, and she looked a little down but otherwise not terminally ill. Without knowing what the fluid was and with her body temp problems, we expected to have to put her down the next day. Unfortunately, she went into cardiac arrest late that night.

The necropsy showed that her liver had completely shut down and was necrotic. Most of her kidneys were non-functional due to cancer. She had cancer of the spleen. She had cancerous nodules attached to nearly every organ internally. In this case, the fluid buildup was a sign of massive organ failure due to systemic cancer. We had no idea - and fortunately she passed quickly - but there's not a single thing that could've been done. I imagine it's the same for a lot of fish. If they have organ failure (and renal failure is a common cause of fluid buildup) there isn't anything you can do.