:*( :*( :*(

[SftWrmRain]

This morning I woke to find my male betta, who has been displaying a large distended belly for 2-3 weeks, with raised scales. Immediately, I knew something was very wrong. Up until this point, I assumed he had been eating too much because I had witnessed him eating "bugs" from the side of the tank. I posted here about trying to rid the tank of the bugs because he was obviously unable to control his appetite.

Now I realize he has had dropsy, and I may have been starving him on top of it. :( I am *sick* about this because I quickly did some research and found the following from Betta Talk. It looks as though Valentino will be moving on shortly. He doesn't look well this morning at all. :( I feel like I have been punched in the stomach.

GENERAL INFO:

This is a most common and most fatal betta disease. oftentimes linked to the feeding of live foods, especially black worms. Very little is know about it, but what causes the raised scales is fluid building up under the skin, inside the betta's tissue. Usually what causes fluid to build up is simple kidney failure. And as you know, once the kidneys fail, the body dies. I think that is why we have had so little luck (mmmmm... Let me rephrase, NO LUCK AT ALL) in treating successfully bettas with dropsy. Although dropsy (the symptom) itself is not contagious, BACTERIA THAT CAUSE THE KIDNEY FAILURE in the first place usually are very very contagious. Since I stopped feeding live worms to my bettas I have not seen one single case of dropsy in my fishroom :). Thank God!

SYMPTOMS:

It is easy to diagnose a betta with Dropsy: Look for two signs: an abnormally big (bloated) belly and if you look at betta from the top, raised scales. Scales will look like an open pine cone. If you see this, you are out of luck, and so is Betta. He will soon go to betta heaven :((…

TREATMENT:

No known cure. Keep water clean, keep him AWAY from any other bettas etc… On occasion, in the case of a very mild raised scales, I have seen bettas recover on their own. But I suspect that this is because those cases are NOT real dropsy. Real dropsy always kill. So I guess you have to wait and see what happens. Treating is pretty useless. It may take up to 15 days for betta to die, though usually about 5 days. Any betta with dropsy should be immediately ISOLATED!!!! Prayer may not hurt.

[J double R]

that's no good.. :( i'm sorry.

[wataugachicken]

i'm sorry. this sucks - i think we all know how important Valentino has been to you.

[liv2padl]

Dropsy, is actually a "symptom" and not a disease in itself. the standing scales and blown up appearance are the result of swelling within the tissues and organs of the fish due to a build up of fluids in the kidneys and an inability to excrete this fluid in a normal manner. in other words, advanced kidney disfunction.

the problem with treating this disease is that there are a number of "potential" causes: bacterial infection, parasites, cancerous tumors, virus', internal fungal infections or sudden temperature drop of more than 3 degrees.

If the cause is bacterial, the swelling typically comes on pretty rapidly. if swelling is gradual then one or more of the other potential causes are more likely. unfortunately, treatment is most often useless at this point due to the advanced state of the disease process. When the illness, whatever the cause, has progressed far enough to cause internal swelling, the concommitant internal damage is usually too extensive to be repairable.

the latest research has shown that if the disease cause is bacterial and if the disease process is caught early enough, treatment with Romet B, a broad spectrum antibacterial, *may* be effective when used concurrent with an increase in water temperature to 84-86F for 2 weeks minimum.

BE CERTAIN to maintain HIGH OXYGEN LEVELS during such treatment since at these temperatures, water holds significantly less oxygen at these higher water temperatures. one of the suspected bacterial precursers to the disease process -- Aeromonas, is killed at these temperatures.

concurrently add 1/8 teaspoon of EPSOM SALT -- per 5 gallons of water. feeding foods soaked in ERYTHROMYCIN will kill the second suspected bacteria, Mycobacterium. in rare cases popeye has been found to be caused by Edwardsiella etarda. this is found *only* in fish that have been bred in outdoor ponds -- the functional bacteria in this case is carried by frogs. while fair to good results in treatment have been found by feeding Romet B., even better results have been found using injectable chloramphenicol or amakacin. this is best done by your veterinarian.

EPSOM SALT may help reduce the internal pressure casued by the swelling. extremely good aeration is necessary here due to the use of such high temperatures. NEVER USE SALT (sodium chloride, a.k.a aquarium salt) for treatment of dropsy. this will KILL your fish in a very short time. the affected fish are already having a difficult time getting rid of salts due to kidney disfunction. this causes the blown up appearance and concurrent scale standing. the osmotic inbalance caused by addition of sodium to your tank water will make this condition far worse.

EPSOM SALT on the other hand, does not pass through the walls of the gut or gills and will extract water OUT of the surrounding tissue into the gut where it *may* be excreted.

[bettagurl]

wow,sorry about that :(
I have heard of bettas recovering from dropsy..but its very rare..I dont know what I'd do if Dymin died,I wont even add fish to his tank because im scared he might get sick.
he is so funny,when I got him he had nice long fins,but then he got finrot,I still think he's the best betta I've ever owned :)

[TheMightyQueenPixie]

The only prayer you have is Kanamycin. The fish doesnt need to ingest it for it to be effective. If it is bacterial and caught early enough Kanamycin will take care of it. Not sure if you got it early enough. Google SeaChem Kanaplex for more info. I have used it a few times at the earliest stage of "dropsy" and it has nipped it in the bud.

[SftWrmRain]

Hi guys. Thanks for the kind words. I had no idea I felt so attached to my lil guy. I think it is far too late for kanamycin, although I am willing to order it and have it shipped quickly to give it a shot. Val has had a distended tummy for nearly 3 weeks, and is now not eating, but rather lying on the bottom, breathing slowly and heavily. He also has very "pineconed" scales. I suspect today may be his last.

My family has said, "at least you have babies from him, and maybe there'll be a lil boy that will help keep his memory alive," but somehow it doesn't help when I look at him suffering. :(

Anyway, enough gushy gushy - I guess I'll keep you all posted if you're interested.

[bettagurl]

Hi guys. Thanks for the kind words. I had no idea I felt so attached to my lil guy. I think it is far too late for kanamycin, although I am willing to order it and have it shipped quickly to give it a shot. Val has had a distended tummy for nearly 3 weeks, and is now not eating, but rather lying on the bottom, breathing slowly and heavily. He also has very "pineconed" scales. I suspect today may be his last.

My family has said, "at least you have babies from him, and maybe there'll be a lil boy that will help keep his memory alive," but somehow it doesn't help when I look at him suffering. :(

Anyway, enough gushy gushy - I guess I'll keep you all posted if you're interested.

im very interested :)
I hope you get a Val jr.

[5Bettamom]

I am sorry to hear that. I hope he gets well. How is he doing at the moment?

[fishcatch22]

my betta has been fat like that for a month, but he has no distended scales and is eating normally. I think it just comes from him eating all the baby snails and planaria in his tank...

[SftWrmRain]

I am sorry to hear that. I hope he gets well. How is he doing at the moment?

He's getting worse by the hour. He's been on the tank bottom most of the day, but now his fins are flopping over to one side. His belly area is lighter in color, and his coloration in general is "off." He isn't going to recover from this. I am usually one who prefers to let nature take it's natural course, but it's really hard watching him knowing he won't make it.

Thanks for asking. I'll keep ya posted.

[fishcatch22]

He's getting worse by the hour. He's been on the tank bottom most of the day, but now his fins are flopping over to one side. His belly area is lighter in color, and his coloration in general is "off." He isn't going to recover from this. I am usually one who prefers to let nature take it's natural course, but it's really hard watching him knowing he won't make it.

Thanks for asking. I'll keep ya posted.I think it might be a good idea to put him down.... he's probably in incredible pain.

[J double R]

any word? i kept my fingers crossed last night. :(

[liv2padl]

you might have given my recommendations a try ... epsom salt has helped in many cases i've read about.

[SftWrmRain]

J double R: Thank you for keeping your fingers crossed. I appreciate it.

liv2padl: I considered your advice strongly and appreciate you offering it. The thing is, you just know when it's too late, in your gut.

Valentino passed away last evening. I wish I had known for the couple weeks he was bloated, that it was dropsy. He would have had a fighting chance. I know we do the best we can with the info we have at the time, but I'm usually so good about being proactive and ready to handle anything.

Anyway, his babies are growing stronger every day and will soon be able to bring joy to lots of people. It's the only good thing I guess. Thanks again for the help and kind words. Yes, Val has been very important to me - I didn't realize how obvious I had been. :rolleyes:

[J double R]

i'm sorry. :( perhaps Val and my crayfish are chillin out.. he passed away last evening as well.

[bettagurl]

so sorry :(........well at least you have a chance to get another baby,possibly like his daddy..