Please help with sick Betta

[ReneeMarie]

Hi all. I'm afraid my Jules is dying and I need some help. About two weeks ago I noticed his colour was fading and his appetite was diminishing. Within 2 days of noticing the colour change, his body began to puff (around the abdomen and head) and his scales pineconed. I treated him with Maracyn 2 (for dropsy - which is what I assumed it was because of the pineconing) and he started to perk up a bit and towards the end of the treatment he was taking at least a little bit of food (one or two pellets per day on a good day) and his colour was coming back a little but his scales were still pineconed so I did a second course of treatment (which was okay to do according to the product leaflet). Through this 2nd treatment he seemed to be coming along even more, he was swimming and eating and the scales weren't as pineconed. Now that treatment has been over since Thursday Feb 9 and since then he is going downhill fast. He will not eat - hasn't eaten in 4 days - he's pineconed again (though he hasn't puffed up as before), his body colour has faded (and he now has what looks like a white-ish/grey horizontal stripe down his side from his gills to his tail) and he's at the surface floating almost on his side.


Is there anything I can do to help him, or at least provide him with some kind of relief??? I can't stand the thoughts of just standing back and waiting for him to dye.

The specifics - I brought him home less than one year ago (don't know how old he was at that time - I heard they're only supposed to live about 2 years?), he is in a 3 gal tank with proper filtration and such. The water is clean, the levels are all fine.

Any advice???

Renee

 

[dskidmore]

If the Maracyn 2 was helping that much, and there are no other tank occupants to be harmed by overdosing, it can't hurt to keep up the treatment. Dropsey is a difficult problem, and the protruding scales seem to be a major indicator.

What are your water quality parameters? Very pure water can assist in these difficult times. You could do a large water change right before starting the next Maracyn 2 treatment.

I'm pretty sure this is dropsey rather than constipation, but it wouldn't hurt to try feeding him some peas if he will eat.

 

[ReneeMarie]

Thank you. I will try a large water change and use pure water (distilled? RO?) to refill. I will follow this with another Maracyn 2 treatment (he is the only tank occupant). I'll try the peas as well.

Thank you for your advice.

 

[dskidmore]

dechlorinated tap is fine

 

[Zagz]

You have nothing to lose by continuing to treat. If you prefer to try another medicine, you could try AP's Nala-gram, or Jungle's Fungus eliminator, both are recommended for dropsy. Good luck and keep us posted on how you are making out with the little guy.

 

[ReneeMarie]

Good morning all. Thank you all again for your advice. Unfortunately I'm sad to say that Jules died last night

No more bettas for me. That was awful.

 

[dskidmore]

We are sorry for your loss.

I hope you won't give up on the hobby all together. These things do unfortunately happen, but there is also much joy in the hobby. Just like life, there are good times to match the bad ones.

 

[SilverDragon]

Sorry to hear about Jules. I know I get so upset when a fish dies ... I always think it was my fault. And when they are sick, I seem to go to great lengths and spend a pile of money to make them better... Non-fish lovers would think we are crazy for caring so much.

I definately wouldnt give up entirely. Bettas are usually a very hardy fish and you may feel better if you get a new one... unfortunately dropsy is a horrible disease and theres not much that can be done. You just do what you can.

 

[dskidmore]

It would seem wise to leave the tank empty for a month or two, in case the dropsey was caused by a communicable disease.

 

[An t-iasg]

That's a good idea - when one of my bettas dies, I leave the tank empty for a month to six weeks. The live plants are still in there, and I still do fertilizer dosing and water changes, but any parasites or bacteria that are in there will die without a fish host.

 

[europas_ice]

sanatization

I've heard you should sanitize the tank after housing a sick fish:

http://www.bettatalk.com/sanitization.htm

This involves dumping out all the water and live plants, and letting a chlorine/water mixture sit in the tank for several hours. Do you think it's equally good to just let it sit for many weeks? That way you wouldn't have to throw out live plants.

 

[dskidmore]

Sanitizing is safest, (make sure you declorinate very well afterwards) but unless you want to throw out or risk killing those plants, and completely re-cycle your aquarium, leaving it empty for a month is the next best alternative. The practice is best at getting rid of parasites, that need a fish to complete thier life cycle. It can reduce bacterial strains, but it is possible it may not 100% eliminate them.

 

[An t-iasg]

Before I had planted tanks, and one of my bettas died, I would tear down the tank, throw away the gravel, and fill the tank with water and a cup or two of bleach (in a 5 gallon tank). I would also soak the silk plants in there. I would let that soak overnight, then I'd empty the tank, rinse very well, and fill the tank with clean water, put the silk plants in the water, and add a triple dose of dechlorinator. I would let this rinse water soak overnight and maybe repeat with another overnight rinse. Then I'd set the tank back up with a new betta.

Now that I have established planted tanks, I don't want to tear the tank down and risk some of the plants not doing well as I sanitize the tank. I think a fallow period of 4-6 weeks is a good solution. This really should take care of any parasites that need a host, and eliminate bacteria too. You won't eliminate 100% like dskidmore says, but I have had good luck with this method so far. Remember that bacteria is everywhere - hopefully the fallow period will eliminate what killed the first fish, and the new fish's healthy immune system will take care of the rest. You also risk killing off the good nitrifying bacteria by leaving the tank fallow, but starting a fishless cycle or using some media from another tank will solve that problem.

 

[dskidmore]

You also risk killing off the good nitrifying bacteria by leaving the tank fallow, but starting a fishless cycle or using some media from another tank will solve that problem.

If you put in a pinch of fish food once a week, it will keep some of the nitrifying bacteria alive.

 

[europas_ice]

Thanks! I don't have any live plants, so I'll stick with the chlorine method for now.