10 Gallon Tank Emergency: Betta dropsy, pest shrimp, potential parasites, same tank all at once!

PLEASE HELP!
Tank
What is the water volume of the tank?
10g
How long has the tank been running?
Almost a year
Does it have a filter?
Yes, but I removed some old media to start seeding new media with bacteria so the entire filter isn’t growing with bacteria but the tank has been cycled for almost a year now.
Does it have a heater?
Yes
What is the water temperature?
80 degrees F
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
3 white skirt blushing tetras, 3 brass tetras, 3 Oto cats, (trying to increase school numbers but that has been put on pause for right now), and one very bloated betta with dropsy and potentially parasites!
Maintenance
How often do you change the water?
I do my best to do it once every week, and honestly it has been less lately as my life is so crazy right now.
How much of the water do you change?
~25%
What do you use to treat your water?
Seachem Prime
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water?
Vacuum, but not every water change.

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish?
No, I set it up without proper research but have since learned about proper safe fish keeping.
What do you use to test the water?
API freshwater master test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0.5 ppm
Nitrite: 0.0 ppm
Nitrate: 3.0 ppm
pH: not tested
I dosed extra Seachem Prime during the water change I did yesterday, so that should be detoxifying the Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate in the tank. It is said that when Prime is used the toxins will still show up on a water test, but they have been detoxified. I have no proof but that is what I have read and been told.

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish?
2x a day, but I have been fasting them because of the betta since last night.
How much do you feed your fish?
One small pinch per feeding
What brand of food do you feed your fish?
Hikari, Fluval
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods?
I have some, but I very rarely feed it. I don’t really like its nutritional qualities.

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish?
4 months
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms?
I noticed the pests last Sunday night, the dropsy yesterday, and the potential parasites earlier this evening.
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? I noticed plants not doing well a few weeks ago, and then maybe a week and a half to 2 weeks ago they really started to die. I know think the seed shrimp may be causing this. I noticed the Ostracods on a cucumber that I was trying to feed to my Otos on Sunday night. Then yesterday/Tuesday I noticed swelling and diagnosed dropsy in my betta. She was fine that morning when I fed her, it was dark as the tank light was not on, but the lamp right next to the tank was so I don’t think I could have missed anything too major. Then when I got home from school that afternoon I noticed the swelling and pineconing scales. Today I noticed the bloating looked even worse, and saw something coming out of her side which I am suspecting is a parasite.
Have you started any treatment for the illness?
My plan was to start Seachem Cupramine for the seed shrimp and Kanaplex for the dropsy on Thursday. I was waiting because I have carbon in my filter, so I removed some of my filter carbon and replaced it with other media to seed it with bacteria. I was planning to then remove the rest of the carbon and my live plants on Thursday and then add the meds. I was waiting because of how carbon takes medicine out of the water. I have been fasting all the fish (except for the Otos I guess because they are always eating) since yesterday evening. I may feed some crushed wheat germ pellets to help with the bloating and constipation in my Betta, should I do this?
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase?
No.
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all?
The only fish who has visibly changed is my betta. She is showing extreme swelling in her abdomen, and the telltale dropsy symptom of pine cone scales. She now has something protruding from her abdomen, and I have no idea what it is. I have not attempted to ID it yet but I hope you guys can help and if not I will try to figure it out. She is definitely having some swimming issues now, mostly floating kind of vertically upright by behind the heater near the top. I think she is resting on the suction cup on the heater near the surface to breathe easier. I have an old suction cup and some old fake plants, I’m going try to find and hot glue (fish safe glue) them to make an improvised betta hammock for near the surface so she can rest easier.

Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)
Last Sunday night I put a cucumber in to feed my Otos. This is how I first noticed the pests, but I had not fed a cucumber or super closely inspected the tank for a while, so I know that was not the first presence of the seed shrimp. I think they rode in on some driftwood I put into my tank a few weeks ago, but I am surprised since I soaked the wood for a few weeks prior to adding it and never noticed them. I had a scare with almost cross contaminating containers with my tank filter gunk bacteria I was giving to someone else, and a container with water from a creek that runs through my yard. I almost did, and thought crisis avoided because I thought I figured out my mix up, but now I am thinking maybe I did accidentally cross contaminate and that could be how the Ostracods were introduced. I am not sure because I feel like I would have noticed them when soaking the wood but I could have missed them. They have eggs like brine shrimp that can dry out and hatch when they are rehydrated. On Tuesday morning I fed my fish quickly with the tank light off and lamp right next to the tank on and did not notice anything new. Of course I could have again missed something.
When I got home from school on Tuesday/ yesterday I saw that my betta had a swollen abdomen and pine cone like scales. I was shocked as I thought everything was fine that morning. I went to my LFS that night and picked up Seachem Cupramine (copper) and non carbon filter media (I already had Kanaplex so I didn’t buy it then). I took out some carbon and replaced it with some of the new different media to let bacteria start growing on that. The original carbon is, and the rest of it will be, kept in a container of water near a sunny window and I will add an ammonia source to it so I don’t loose my bacteria. I was going to switch over the rest of the filter media on Thursday/ tomorrow, remove the live plants, and then add the Kanaplex for the dropsy and copper to kill the Ostracods. I was doing all of this treatment in the tank because that is where the seed shrimp are, but also because me and an employee at my LFS agreed it is best to dose the Kanaplex to all of them as a precautionary measure as it is still beneficial to the other fish in case they are also dealing with complications that are just invisible. This evening I noticed the bloating/ swelling/ dropsy has gotten even worse in my betta, and there is now something protruding kind of like hanging out from her abdomen, and I suspect that it is a parasite which means there are more parasites inside of her and maybe the other fish too. I haven’t removed her because I am not 100% sure that it is a parasite and I do not have another cycled tank set up and I don’t want to set it up and go through a fish in cycle with a sick fish if it is not a parasite/ anything contagious. If it is transmittable I definitely would take action, and will get the most cycled media and stuff as I can and set her up in my 5 gallon hospital tank. I really don’t want to if I don’t have to though. I think that my betta has dropsy because of the seed shrimp. The tetras won’t bother with them because they have a hard shell but bettas don’t care. I’m sure she has been gorging on the Ostracods and eating way too much. Now that I think about it, she has been acting less starved and less excited about food during feeding times for the past little while. I never thought much of it, I didn’t even think anything was wrong. I mean I really didn’t even think about it really until now I didn’t realize that she has been acting differently because I didn’t think to think about her behavior. I believe her eating so many of the seed shrimp has made her bloated and caused the dropsy. I am very lost right now, I feel like I know so much about fish keeping by then as soon as something happens where I need to react I just can’t remember or get my kind to work or anything. I am very stressed out right now. I lost my other betta to a similar problem. I also successfully treated this same betta for a body infection last February, and now I feel like upset and angry with myself that I let her get sick again. I am really stressed and overwhelmed and I am having a hard time if you can’t already tell (sarcasm). I will add some pictures below to help.

The tiny seed shrimp I don’t know if these pictures will help at all but I am adding them just in case.


They are gathered on and around the moss balls




These are picture ms of the bloating yesterday afternoon



And these are pictures of the bloating and the thing hanging from her abdomen from within the past hour.





So sorry for the super long post. PLEASE HELP! It is desperately needed. Thank you.

 

Please just let the seed shrimp be and don't worry about them. They are part of your little ecosystem, like snails.
The seed shrimp feed on detritus. That's a good thing to have in your tank. But it does indicate that you have some build up they are feeding on.

Having 0.5 ppm ammonia in a 1 year old tank is a concern and must be addressed. Best way is a good water change. Maybe do 75% of tank. This is not a time to be reseeding new media. Get your tank stabilized first.

We need to see a pH value for your tank. That tells us if the ammonia level you have is toxic. Please get a pH test of your tank.

Your fish is stressed do the poor water conditions and that makes them vulnerable. Fix the water conditions with water change and cleaning out detritus and keep the ammonia low, and get your original media back in there. Re-establish you tank at 0 ammonia first. That is your priority.

If you want to seed new media, then get a second filter. Your tank needs the full functioning filter.

10 gallon tanks are unstable like this. They are small so can easily tilt off balance. Just try to re-establish a balance.

You may lose some fish in the process.

 

I don’t know if anyone is still paying attention to this but I thought I would post an update. I lost the betta to her dropsy, treatments wouldn’t work and it just progressed so fast I wasn’t able to save her. I have been dosing a few drops of prime every day to help detoxify some of the ammonia, along with limited feeding and water change. The tetras and Oto cats in the tank are all doing well, with no losses other Han the betta and no symptoms from them. I k ow things are not perfect yet, but I am working getting my tank steady again. I have talked a bit with my parents and we have come to talking about the possibility of a tank upgrade, and my chances seem promising. I think the biggest I could get is like 50 gallons, so really a great place for some tetras. I will be getting more to increase my schools too, especially because this tank is a lot bigger than their first and current home. I will be looking to add some more fish to the bigger tank, so I will probably start a thread asking for suggestions on stocking ideas. I know that I am not ready to jump right into this yet, so I will need some months to come up with the money, cycle the tank, and such. I also plan on leaving this tank a little bit under stocked just to help keep toxins in the water low and the tank more steady. Thanks for your help

 

Sorry about your Beta fish. Honestly, I have never had any luck curing fish of Dropsy. It seems they are far gone once you notice the symptoms. Dropsy is really just a symptom of the fish swelling up and not a specific disease. Same thing happens in humans!

BTW using Prime to detoxify your water is a myth. Prime is just a dechlorinator. But it does nothing for anything else. It has been chemically tested and is the same as any other dechlorinator. Lots of marketing hype in the aquarium world to get folks to buy stuff.

You can learn a lot from a 10 gallon tank since it does need careful balance. One way to keep a 10 gallon more stable is to use over-filtration. I have double filtration on my 10 gallon tanks. Makes a big difference. Most small filters they sell for 10 gallon aquariums are really way too small. This probably lead to your ammonia spike which killed your fish. When you rinse the media in a small filter it can lose the bio filter. So having two filters is key for small tanks so you can 'squeeze the sponge' on one filter while not changing the other.

You will enjoy the bigger tank. But you should keep the 10 gallon too!

And make sure you add a pH test. The pH tells you the toxicity of the ammonia level: http://www.blueridgekoi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/pH-and-Ammonia.pdf

 

I don’t know if anyone is still paying attention to this but I thought I would post an update. I lost the betta to her dropsy, treatments wouldn’t work and it just progressed so fast I wasn’t able to save her. I have been dosing a few drops of prime every day to help detoxify some of the ammonia, along with limited feeding and water change. The tetras and Oto cats in the tank are all doing well, with no losses other Han the betta and no symptoms from them. I k ow things are not perfect yet, but I am working getting my tank steady again. I have talked a bit with my parents and we have come to talking about the possibility of a tank upgrade, and my chances seem promising. I think the biggest I could get is like 50 gallons, so really a great place for some tetras. I will be getting more to increase my schools too, especially because this tank is a lot bigger than their first and current home. I will be looking to add some more fish to the bigger tank, so I will probably start a thread asking for suggestions on stocking ideas. I know that I am not ready to jump right into this yet, so I will need some months to come up with the money, cycle the tank, and such. I also plan on leaving this tank a little bit under stocked just to help keep toxins in the water low and the tank more steady. Thanks for your help

Sorry you lost your Betta.

A lot of folks (including me) use Prime and have had success with it for many years. Not that this has anything to do with you or your post, I don’t, however, recommend using Prime in lieu of water changes, including double or triple dosing it for elevated levels of ammonia.

 

Prime is just a dechlorinator - chemically.

 

I was not aware of that, I just read the bottle and website. Thanks for the info!