Is This Pineconing, And If So What Should I Do?

Hey I haven't been on here in a little bit, but I recently noticed that my betta Grinch seems to be pineconing, which is odd because he's been behaving entirely normally. The water perameters are fine and every other fish is behaving entirely normally, so I'm a little worried. I've only had him for about ten months so I don't think it's because he's reaching the end of the line. Please offer me any advice you've got because I really love this little guy and I would hate for him to leave me so soon. Thanks in advance for the advice! Btw the water is not that yellow, my camera is weird and decided to make my water look like that.

 

Yes he is pineconing and has dropsy. Some fish may go for a while without any behavioral symptoms, but then take a quick spiral downwards. Epsom salt baths (1TBSP/gallon) in a separate container for 10-15 minutes (depending on severity) will help relieve some fluid build up and make his scales go down a bit. Make sure to acclimate him to the bath by slowly adding the salt water into his container and removing water. Do the same when returning him back to freshwater. Most dropsy cases are bacterial, so you should set up a hospital tank and start dosing Kanaplex.

 

Angel fish with a Betta?

 

Angel fish with a Betta?

They’re completely peaceful towards each other and have had no problems for about 3 or 4 months

Yes he is pineconing and has dropsy. Some fish may go for a while without any behavioral symptoms, but then take a quick spiral downwards. Epsom salt baths (1TBSP/gallon) in a separate container for 10-15 minutes (depending on severity) will help relieve some fluid build up and make his scales go down a bit. Make sure to acclimate him to the bath by slowly adding the salt water into his container and removing water. Do the same when returning him back to freshwater. Most dropsy cases are bacterial, so you should set up a hospital tank and start dosing Kanaplex.

Okay thank you, I will do so immediately.

 

Angel fish with a Betta?

I have an angel with my female betta and they never leave each other’s side. Unless food is involved. Then it’s each fish for themselves lol

 

About a week ago our betta drake came down with dropsy.

Important - Urgent Severe Dropsy!!

while you can't see it too well in the photo I provided, he was fully pineconed and extremely bloated, he looked like he was about to pop.
He was very weak resting on the floor of the tank.
I wasn't able to do as much as I had hoped, but even that proved enough for him.
He is a very tough fish, as long as he has a will to fight and eat, he will have a will to survive.

Drakes scales were upright, fully out to the side, the next day was even worse I was going to bed crying for him.
We bought some needles, some epsom and gave him baths and added meth blue to his tank.
I had thought about taking him home, but left him in his newly redone tank as he felt at home and had lots of resting places.

I wasn't able to get much fluid out with the needles, but the Clove oil in general calmed him down and seemed to provide ease.
Over the next few days he slowly lost fluids, after the first try of pulling fluids out, we waited 2 days to try again.
I was slightly more successful the second time.
He is now down to nornal size, little to no pineconing, and is very active and happy.
He seems to know how hard we worked for him, and is very pleased when he sees us come near him.

You don't have to do the needle thing, it's difficult and doesn't always work, but meth blue and epsoms should do wonders.

Last hope would be kanaplex, dropsy is sometimes caused by failing organs, so the last thing you want to do is dose with a med that can cause organ failure unless you feel it's really necessary.

I did epsom baths for up to 30 minutes, and watched him the whole time.
I tried not to do them every day, as I don't want to stress him with constant back and forths.
You could do as many as 2 a day, possibly more if you wanted, but my max was always 2, and usually only just one.

 

Just be careful with the salt dip and please keep an eye when you do it. If you notice him rolling over move him back into fresh water. I know it's better to acclimate them but if they go into shock you should move them out of the salt bath as soon as possible.

Make sure you do it with Epsom Salt too and not Aquarium Salt. They are different and epsom salt is what you want for removing fluid build ups. Someone else might know how many times you should be doing it anyways as I hear with Dropsy it's normally done more, but I'm not sure of the exacts for that.