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I need medical advice on my betta fish

1K views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  MoreThanAFish 
#1 ·
Handsome is about 2 and a half years old. Over the past few weeks, he has stopped eating or eats one pellet a week, very lethargic, lost of color (he used to be vibrant red), bloated, and has pointy scales where they point upwards now instead of laying flat.. what should I do? Multiple fish websites led me to the conclusion of kidney failure but I want to know of other people who have had this experience..
 
#2 ·
Please do post your water results for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as without those I cannot help you at all. I just re-read your post.... I’m sorry but I’m afraid your betta has dropsy and will not survive this at all. All you can do is just euthanise him.. When scales point up (pineconing) is a usual tell tale of dropsy and dropsy itself is caused by either poor water quality, poor diet, gram negative bacteria or organ failure or overfeeding. What and how much do (or did) you feed him daily?
To treat him, you may want to try epsom bath salts or dosing Artemiss. But the treatment is hopeless and pointless, usually a dead end, so I want to recommend you euthanising him and ending hos suffer rather than making him suffer for longer.
 
#3 ·
his nitrate levels are 15ppm, nitrite levels are 0.3, and ammonia levels are are usually 0.3 or 0.4. PH is around 7. I use biolife filters and clean is tank regularly. He has a filter and moss balls to provide O2. I feed him a few fish pellets 3 times a week and alternate between pellets and tropical flavored flakes. I fill gallon jugs up with tap water and use water purification drops for the next time his tank needs to be cleaned.
 
#5 ·
The tank is not cycled. Sorry. You should be getting 0ppm ammonia and nitrite.
And you should be feeding fish every day with only one day of fasting. You should feed fish with variety of food from frozen food to commercial foods like bug bites. I love to feed my betta every day with frozen goods and as less as possible with commercial food. I don’t feed my fighter fish flakes at all, or just once a month with one flake to prevent constipation. Commercial foods have no feeding value as such so should be fed as less as possible. Learned this with my last 2 bettas who died from dropsy.
When the tank needs to be cleaned? You need to clean his tank once a week no matter if it loos dirt or not. You have an example on your fish now. Two possible causes for dropsy to develop, very poor diet and improper conditions. To put him down you may want to use clove oil. It does not cause him more pain. If you can’t get clove oil, like I do, you may want for him to pass on or smack him hard and cut his head between his eyes, but these ways are inhumane and nasty.
 
#8 ·
I'm so sorry to hear that your betta might get dropsy, but I do hope he'd survived and you haven't euthanized him yet. Knowing that he's been with you for 2 years now, that might be really very hard. Did you try moving him to a different tank, or what they usually call "hospital tank"? You can move him to a "hospital tank." Add 1 teaspoon of salt per gallon of water to the hospital tank
Feed him with fresh, high-quality foods.
Try to treat him with antibiotics (Maracyn-Two), either in the food or in the water. You should test the water in the hospital tank daily to ensure it is appropriate for him.
 
#9 · (Edited)
This is information copied and pasted in from the internet. Unfortunately it is false. First, OP’s betta has dropsy, and he will not survive it and it best to euthanise him and fish who contracted dropsy has usually very little time left to be alive One fish who gets dropsy has 95+% of chance of survival after contracting it. Best not to move fish around to other tanks if they are alone in it as this will stress them out. When fish has dropsy, it is best not to fed them as this will make things worse for the fish. Never add aquarium salt to tank as this will keep fluid build up inside the fish and will not help it at all but will make it worse for the fish and will increase its suffering.

Edit: Even best water parameters (ammonia- 0ppm, nitrite- 0ppm and nitrate- 10-20ppm) will not cure dropsy at all.
 
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