Phloxface

My new blue female rescue betta (Dax) seems to be sick. She was fine the first couple days but since yesterday I noticed she has started getting her stress stripe back, although she still has her nice blue color, and she is getting really bloated all over, not just her belly like in constipation. I can't tell if she has eggs, or maybe an internal infection. The shipment of Bettas that she came in with had 3 fish in it with dropsy that had to be put down because they were too sick to sell. I really can't deal with another case of dropsy after what I went through with Lava these past 3 months. Her scales are not sticking up yet but she is lethargic and not eating. My brother tried to feed her some pea last night but she wouldn't eat anything. I changed her water yesterday and put in an air stone because I noticed her yawning quite a bit and thought maybe she needed more oxygen. If she had eggs wouldn't she have bars instead of a stress stripe? Also I don't think an egg-laden female would be lethargic and stop eating so she has to be sick. I think I will give her some Maracyn-Two and see if it helps. I sure hope it's not dropsy!!!

Speaking of egg-laden, Noelle laid a bunch of eggs the other day. She also had started getting a little chunky around the middle but was still very frisky and eating like a piggy. My brother told me while I was at work Noelle had huge white blobs coming out of her egg tube. He was a little freaked out. She had eaten them all by the time I got home and she was slim again.

COBettaCouple

i'm sorry to hear that Dax is sick.. it sounds more like an infection than dropsy to me but i'm not sure. i hope the maracyn-2 fixes her up. would she eat any minced garlic maybe?

Phloxface

Right now she is so lethargic she doesn't want to eat anything. She just hangs with her head facing downwards and zones out. I really think she may be egg-bound and that it has caused an internal infection as well. The treatment for it is to give her daily epsom salt soaks for 15 minutes so I am going to try that. It may help her to absorb the eggs if she can't pass them. Even if she were severely constipated, which I don't think, this would help. I will also give her a course of Maracyn-Two to prevent any infections from the blockage of the eggs. I hope she recovers. I can't stand to see a helpless little fish suffer.

My brother's wacky idea was to put her in Nile's tank and let him squeeze the eggs out of her. : He's a HUGE boy (3.5 inches not including his tail) and she is such a tiny baby. I think he'd be a little too much for her!

Phloxface

Well, when it rains, it pours... I just checked her and she is even more bloated and her scales are sticking out. She has dropsy.
I decided not to even bother with the Maracyn-Two and went straight to the hardcore stuff, Kanamycin. At this point I don't think I can do anything more than try to make her comfortable. I really don't think she can be saved at this stage of the disease. Lava died within 48 hours after he started pineconing. I had hoped I had rescued her from a miserable life of abuse and all she had was two good days and now she is dying. I wish I knew why the universe hates me so much that I have to witness this twice in the same week...

0morrokh

I am so sorry this is happening to you. You never know, maybe the kanamycin will make her recover. I've heard good stuff about that medication.

Anyway, try to look at this on the good side. She obviously came to the store with the beginnings of dropsy, and if she is going to die from it, she would have died from it no matter who got her. So just be glad that you got her and gave her a nice comfortable tank, rather than some little kid who would've stuck her in a bowl and done nothing at all when she got sick.

Don't give up on her yet though. If I were you, I might think about going ahead with the epsom baths. I know you had a bad previous experience with it, and if you think it would cause her more harm than good then don't do it, but at this stage of dropsy you're sort of at last resort...

Again, I am sorry that this is happening to you again, and I hope that somehow Dax can recover.

Phloxface

I've read several postings online from people who have cured Bettas with dropsy, even after they started pineconing by using Kanamycin and some epsom salt in the tank and keeping the tanks dark to avoid light stress. The dose was 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons. I have her in a 2.5 gallon so I just added 1/2 teaspoon of epsom salt. All the people said they noticed the biggest improvement after they started using the Kanamycin/epsom salt mixture. The theory is that the bloating kills the fish long before the meds can help. Epsom salt keeps the bloating down and gives the Kanamycin time to work. All I can do is try and hope for the best.
These people even managed to cure their fish's dropsy while keeping the fish in a small unheated bowl at 70F.

0morrokh

That is very good to know. How long can you leave in the epsom salt for?

Phloxface

Apparently until she's cured. At small amounts it shouldn't be stressful to her (this is much less than you'd use for an epsom salt bath) and will help keep the bloat down and draw out the infection from her body.

0morrokh

Ok, that's good info to have. Hope she gets better!

COBettaCouple

all the best to both of you from us.

voiceless_kat

Me and the fish kids are all rooting for you and Dax, Phlox..........best of luck, sending prayers and good thoughts.....Val/

Phloxface

I don't think she's going to make it. She looks even worse this morning in spite of the Kanamycin and epsom salt. Her scales are sticking up really bad. She looks so bloated like she may burst. I just hope if she is going to die that she does not linger too long. I hate seeing a helpless fish suffering. I barely had a chance to get to know her.
I'm seriously considering buying the product called "euthanize" which puts down a fish painlessly. I could NEVER put a fish in the freezer but this product sounds like the most gentle and kind way to help a dying fish. I wish I had some the morning I found Lava dying. As much as it would have hurt me, I would not have sat and watched him suffer so much if I could have put him to sleep painlessly. I wish I could help little Dax. Sooner or later I will have another fish dying and I want to ease their suffering.



What a crappy long weekend!

0morrokh

I am sorry that she is doing worse. Maybe you could increase the amount of epsom salt in her tank...like another half teaspoon or so. I hope she will get better. Even if she doesn't, she was a lucky Betta to have you as her owner (well, more like her personal slave ) for her last few days.

I have heard of that product but I don't know anyone who's used it. It might be a good thing for all of us to have on hand though. I sure wish I'd had it when my fish all came down with TB...

Well anyway, let us know how Dax is doing. I hope she makes it.

COBettaCouple

we're sorry to hear that she's doing worse. we'll be getting some of that product ourselves, just in case. i hope for her to either recover or go quickly so she doesn't suffer a lot - which is how i feel of our own when they're in that situation.. the best would be if she somehow recovers.. she's got the best of care, so if there's any chance she'll make it.

Phloxface

Not much change today. She's still very bloated and scales sticking up. She won't eat.
I keep the area around her tank dark. She is very sensitive to light and swims away and hides when I try to examine her with a flashlight. I keep the tv and noise level down too so that she can rest and obviously have blocked her view of Niles with a book to keep him from stressing her. He knows she is on the other side of the book though and keeps trying to jump out of his tank and over the book to her. (Don't worry, his tank is covered and he's not going anywhere.)
I added her second dose of Kanaplex. In spite of her condition thought she has no problems with her swim bladder. She is not sinking or floating. She stays at the top mostly to be close to her air supply but has no problem swimming down and hovering sometimes midtank. It seems to be a great effort for her to even lift her head to sip some air. Her body is tilted downwards a little because she is so heavy around her belly.
Her color has faded away and she is nearly transparent! I can clearly see that she is overflowing with eggs! You can see lots of distinct white balls inside her right over her egg tube area. It may be the egg binding caused an internal infection that set off the dropsy. I did read on one site that a severely egg bound female can sometimes exhibit raised scales just as in dropsy. Other sites say egg binding will only bloat her but not raise her scales so I don't know what to think. The only treatment for egg binding is epsom salt and time. She "may" be able to absorb the eggs but it can take up to 2 weeks. This is assuming she doesn't also have dropsy. All I can do is wait and pray. She has Kanaplex for infection and epsom salt in her tank to try to help the bloating. If she can hang on long enough maybe she'll get better. Problem is, with dropsy, often the organ damage is so bad that the fish will only continue to get sick again like Lava did for months on end.

The weird thing is, even though she is SOOO sick right now, her anal fin which was badly shredded from fighting when I got her is healing up nicely. It's almost 50% grown back! You'd think the stress of being so sick would have caused finrot...

COBettaCouple

they're tough & resiliant fish and always fight hard to get better. hopefully she will pull through and you're certainly giving her the best care.

Muffymouse

Sending prayers for the both of you. Good thoughts too. not that it will make you feel any better but my Angie lasted for several weeks with her really bad case of dropsy (and I didn't know what to do to make her better), so maybe your little girl will make it long enough for both the salts and the meds to kick in and work. Hang in there.

chickadee

Hang in there. She is a fighter evidently and she has a wonderful caring and loving mommy. It sounds like you are doing all you can and should for her. I have never seen the scales raise with egg binding but if her body is small enough, the scales could still raise just from the internal pressure and skin tension. Just don't give up hope and perhaps it is not dropsy after all. She could also be experiencing a bit of pressure on the kidneys causing some bloating but not necessarily a disease process.

We will have you in our thoughts and prayers.

Rose

Phloxface

Little Dax passed away this morning.

I barely had her for a week! It is so sad to see her go. I had hoped to give her a good life in a nice warm clean tank with no one bothering her but sadly she only got to experience that for a few days. I am glad her suffering is over and if I had the "euthanize" product that I will be ordering now, I would have gently put her down 2 days ago to spare her this pain. I never want to see another fish go through this. If any of my others are very sick and dying I want to be able to gently let them pass and end their pain. She was in so much pain and nothing I did or gave her seemed to help. She definately had dropsy. She looks 4 times her original size and her scales are sticking out at a 90 degree angle all over. It's horrifying! She will be buried with Lava, Phlox and Whisper in the flower pot.
I am being careful not to cross contaminate the other tanks. Her tank will be bleached and put aside as a future hospital tank if needed. The gravel and silk plant will have to be thrown out. I'm not sure about the resin ornament... Does anyone know if this can safely be bleached? The two buckets and cup I used for her water changes will be thrown out. They are cheap anyways, from the dollar store so not worth the trouble of bleaching.
Lava's tank is in the process of being bleached because he too died of dropsy so I want to make sure it is not spread. When it is cleaned Niles will be moving in there and his tank will be cleaned and put aside for future use.
I am not buying anymore Bettas at this point. Two cases of dropsy in one week have made me gun shy. I will instead be saving my money to buy equipment to keep my other tanks healthy so that my 6 fish will live a long and healthy life.
On my shopping list is an "EHEIM battery operated sludge remover tool" and UV sterilizers for all the tanks.

nmwierman1977

I am sorry to hear that Dax did not make it. It has been rough week for you. It is better that she didn't suffer for very long though. When Royell had Dropsy and he passed away I disinfected his tank with vinegar and water. I put like a cup of vinegar in mixed with hot water and let it sit over night and then I rinsed everything a bunch of times. I threw out the silk plants and bought new ones. I did disinfect the resin ornaments. It is safe to do that as long as they are rinsed thoroughly. Obviously it's your choice what you want to disinfect with, but I felt much safer with vinegar then with bleach. Good luck and I hope that all of your other fish stay healthy for you for a very long time. Natalie

COBettaCouple

we're really sorry that Dax didn't make it. Dropsy is something we are touchy on since we lost our first betta to it. after we lost super mario, i rinsed the tank and everything in it with the showerhead in the bathtub a few times, using the water at the hottest it would go.. then i dried it all and boxed it all up and let it sit for a month or so. It's now being used by our platy sorority and there's been no dropsy problems or anything like that in the tank. we didn't have any resin decor though.

all the best to you and your fish and i think you know Lava & Dax had the best care possible and more of a life than they would have otherwise had and they felt loved, which is right up there with food for bettas.

Phloxface

Yesterday I was at Petsmart picking up some gravel and things for the new boys and I went to check on the two females in the biOrb tank (where I rescued Dax from) and I was horrified to see the red female had died of dropsy too. Her body was all bloated and she had turned almost white. The poor little cambodian that was left in there was not sick yet but I am sure I will get to see her suffer and die soon too. I hold no grudge against them for biting Dax. They were just doing what Bettas do. Apparently the other two got along nicely but now one is dead. This particular dropsy must be VERY contagious. The dead fish looked like it had been in there for at least a day! I had to DRAG an employee over to show him the fish and told him to take her out and told him my other fish had died of dropsy too so PLEASE do not put any other fish in there with the cambodian!!! I do not want to see another innocent fish put into that death tank to also contract dropsy and die horribly! If they started medicating that cambodian now before she starts showing symptoms they might even be able to save her but I doubt they care that much. I almost felt like rescueing her and trying to medicate her myself to save her from the same fate that Dax and the red fish had, but if I cannot save her it will just break my heart! I just didn't think I could go through that again. The cambodian is really very sweet by herself and always comes rushing over to greet me when I am there. I just feel so unbelievably guilty for leaving her behind.

Considering how contagious this dropsy is, I am very worried about little Frasier who is in Dax's tank. I cleaned the tank and bleached it for a few hours but I am still worried it may not have been enough. If he gets sick I will never forgive myself!

COBettaCouple

seems to be a Deathco store the way they care for the fish.. although petsmart isn't much better. yea, it's hard to leave her there to die, but then you've been thru a lot in the dropsy war lately and have the 2 new boys and a pouty boy to deal with.

i really think little frasier should be fine .. we didn't even use bleach on mario's tank after he died of dropsy. just rinsed it over & over with hot water in the shower and let it sit out in the garage in it's box for a few weeks.

0morrokh

I am so sorry that Dax didn't make it. You did all you could for her.\

As for the dropsy, I am not sure that it was necessarily contagious...the water in that little tank was probably as bad as in the cups since there were 3 fish in there, and the poor water quality could have caused the dropsy in both of them, without the red one actually "catching" it from Dax. Since you bleached the tank I doubt Frasier will have a problem.