Should I put him down?

aardvark1

aardvark1

Too many tanks are almost enough...
Sep 27, 2005
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Warner Robins, Georgia, USA
(Use that term because not sure of the spelling of euthaniasia)


Anyway, Phred the Betta has dropsy. Belly is swollen into a one inch ball; no pine coning that I can see. The lack of pinesoning is what threw me for awhile; took him too the LFS (PetSmart is all I got) and the diagnosis of Dropsy was confirmed. Moved him to the 10 gallon which is set up as a hospital/quarentine tank, and been dosing him with Maracyn-two for the last week; belly seems to be getting bigger.

Not sure if he's bored or lonely (was in my 29 gallon community tank with lots of buddies) but just lies on the bottom under the heater and only moves when I open the top to feed him.

Anyway, think he'll get better or is he suffering?

On a somewhat related note, besides a good water change, what should I do to the Hospital/ Q tank once he's gone? Strip down, sterilize and toss filter element (which will ruin the cycled status of the tank...)

Thanks in advance!
 
i'd say regardless if somethiing's seriously wrong or not i'd still completely clean the tank any methods you can think of to get rid of the germs-do them. also try opening up a green pea and giving that to him, it's s'posed to be some sort of betta laxative lol, i think it has to be cooked. also if you fed him tubifex worms or freeze dried bloodworms, that would also make a betta blow up really big. happened to my friend's betta. it died because of impaction. he fed freeze dried bloodworms to his betta everyday or every other day with a mix of that betta bits stuff. i'd avise you to stay away from BW unless they're frozen.
 
Hmmmm.

Been feeding him on flake and freeze dried BW; he don't seem to like the "real" Betta foods.

Might try a pea and/or fasting for a couple days.
 
definitely do not feed him that freeze dried stuff. on most betta sites and care sheets ppl do not agree with using them. do the pea thing every day if he'll eat it and fasting will work also. afterwards experiment with other foods and see if he'll eat them. sometimes bettas can be picky eaters. but i doubt he'll pass up frozen bloodworms. when you try the green pea treatment for a while tell me how it goes. you might want to start on it fast because if he's left like that in about a week or so he may die. depending on the strength of the fish.
 
If there is no pineconing then it is not dropsy, regardless of what that chain store says.

Dropsy is not a disease; it's an indication of kidney failure. A broad range antibiotic such as Maracyn-Two is not going to help with that. You need to find out what the real problem is and treat that.

How often are you changing the water/how much water are you changing out and what are your water parameters?

Please do not feed peas to your betta more than a couple of times a week. They are insectivores, not herbivores, and you could do more harm than good.

Roan
 
Normally at least a 30 % water change weekly (Sunday afternoons are the "Python day"). The "Big Three" are as close to zero as possible.

His belly looks like a balloon; can almost see through it the skin is stertched so tight.

He seems to be happy (ish). Floats tail high, but when he was with his buddies i the community tank, would swim all over the place. and be the first at the top when it was time for feeding.

Was my first fishie. Was visiting PetSmart (my God-daughter volunteers for the local Recue Agency and was visiting her) and saw these neat fish in the cups. Bought him and a small 1/2 gallon bowl. some books and magazines. Did some research here on the web and went back the next day and got a 10 gallon setup. Now 10 months later, 4 tanks and more fishies!
 
How much are you feeding him? IME balloon bellies in bettas are usually from over-feeding. Mine is in a 36g "community" tank and it's hard to make sure he doesn't over eat. He's with rainbowfish and some assorted bottom feeders and since bows are surface feeders, he gets MORE than his fair share. He has a balloon belly most of the time.

Roan
 
Roan-

When in the community tank, it got just a pinch of flake-the "Horde" normally finished it off in under 5 minutes.

Hosp/Q tank, 3-4 pellets-which he eats only under duress or 4-5 BW.
 
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