It Looks Like My Betta Has Dropsy

I originally thought my female betta was becoming egg bond, and that is why she got bigger. However, now I think she has dropsy. She has swollen belly, but she doesn't have pine cone scales. Her belly is swollen where it isn't uniform and symmetric as the other side that is swollen either.

I need to fix this early. I have furan 2 and kanaplex and I will use aquarium salt. I will clean her tank and start treatment now. is there something else? (EDIT: I also just now added sulfaplex and methylene blue.) I hope she gets well

 

It seems like you have done all you can do at the moment, definitely don’t put a betta in such a small tank to get better, because it will stress the fish out. It is kinda hard to tell, if she is egg born, or has dropsy. Is she lethargic? Could you try to send a close up picture, of her side, and head??

Before you do anything, is there a male in the tank?? If not, she definitely has dropsy. Bettas are not live bearers, so they lay eggs, once the eggs come out of the female, the male with carefully place one egg at a time, in a bubble nest he has made.

Correction, doesn’t the female betta have a little withe tube or spot near her analfin?? If so, she is pregnant, do you have a male betta fish??

 

So much meds was giving her a hard time. She was sitting on the bottom of the tank for a while just breathing. I thought I could let her stay there and see if she gets better and the meds work in the morning. However, then I reconsidered and changed her whole water and added just kanaplex and methylene blue and without aquarium salt. Now she is not so inhibited with such much meds. I get metroplex in the mail tomorrow. I might add that to those other two or just leave it as it is.

 

Good, it seems like you are doing the best thing for her....

 

It has been five days of treatment of kanaplex, metroplex, and aquarium salt, and she hasn't improved. Maybe she needs furan 2?

 

5 days is longer than the usual dropsy expectancy average which is like... closer to 3 days
maybe she will actually pull through. Just try to keep her comfortable
how old is she?

 

PheonixKingZ, I don't agree with a lot of what you said, honestly. Male and female bettas shouldn't be kept together. A female betta will hold unfertilized eggs with or without the presence of a male, so a female CAN be egg bound without a male. In fact, putting an egg bound female with a male will often let her release those eggs... But anyway, I don't think this fish is egg bound. Female bettas also show their white egg spot regardless of the presence of a male or her readiness to breed. This betta should NOT be put with a male right now.

Anyway, it's not great to throw a whole bunch of meds on at once. The only thing I would be comfortable adding all together are antibiotics. Methylene blue is most effective as a dip, and can make fish act weird if they're in it for a long time. She certainly does have dropsy. Aquarium salt is not useful for dropsy; only epsom salt can help, but even then, it won't cure dropsy. If I were you, I would completely change out the water she's in now to remove all those meds (slowly and with clean dechlorinated temp matched water), and then dose just Kanaplex and furan-2. Keep up daily 50% or more water changes per day and replace the meds that are lost, plus any extra that the daily dosing indicates. She's not looking so great right now, but if she's still swimming and moving around, then you can decide to continue to treat. I will say, though, it is very unusual for fish to turn around once they get to this stage. If she continues to go downhill, I personally believe it would be more humane to euthanize with clove oil.

 

I keep on trying to read and find more talk on kanaplex + metroplex vs kanaplex + furan-2 vs all three.

I think the second medication doesn't matter too much, it is just kanaplex that matters most. The fluid retention is most likely because just kidney issues whereas that isn't filtering or handling fluid right.

At day 10, I will see if I should continue for a while more or give her a 3-4 day break before continuing again.

 

Oh my word!! How was I supposed to know SM1199? You could be a bit nicer.....

 

Oh my word!! How was I supposed to know SM1199? You could be a bit nicer.....

They weren't rude at all, and honestly, I would have been a bit more frank. If you are unsure of an answer, don't make something up, because Dropsy is normally incurable, so it could have resulted in someone euthanizing a fish that was just egg bound.
ap4lmtree have you used any epsom salt? Try showing your fish a mirror for a free minuted and/or a picture of a male betta. Sometimes the egg bound ones will drop some of their eggs after that. Epsom salt helps reduce bloat, try adding 1 tbsp per 5 gallons to the main tank. Personally, I don't like using aquarium salt with bettas, but that's a personal thing.

 

I’m done with this forum, I’ve tried to help and I was rejected so bye Bettaish, and I hope your betta gets better.

 

?
Ok, wish you the best

 

I’m done with this forum, I’ve tried to help and I was rejected so bye Bettaish, and I hope your betta gets better.

I think you might have quoted the wrong person...

 

It has been five days of treatment of kanaplex, metroplex, and aquarium salt, and she hasn't improved. Maybe she needs furan 2?

Is she any better?

 

I switched from kanaplex + metroplex to kanaplex + furan-2 last night, but she hasn't improved. Rather, each and every day she has gotten worse. Now she is noticeably pining.

I have been changing the water each and every night. Tonight, because she kidneys appear so compromised because she is pining now, I gave her just kanaplex and a drop of methylene blue. Too much meds would be too much on her kidneys I think.

 

She was getting worse everyday. Today one of her scales was coming off. I euthanized her with clove oil this evening. Her kidneys were too far gone. This is her post mortem body before I took her out:

 

She was getting worse everyday. Today one of her scales was coming off. I euthanized her with clove oil this evening. Her kidneys were too far gone. This is her post mortem body before I took her out:

A difficult decision to make, but completely justified. I completely agree with the euthanasia.

 

You did what you could and made the responsible choice, in the end, to keep her from feeling more pain. I wish you well in your future endeavors.

 

Dang, I wasn't getting alerts for this thread. I'm so sorry for your loss, you made the right choice.