Help my betta!

[Juice]

Okay guys this is what im dealing with right now, my beloved betta Finley is sick with what looks like dropsy but he isnt pineconed and he is still eating like a piggy. my best guess would be his sb or his kidney. The bubble protrudes more on one side then the other and he has a hard time coming to the top for food and air but he still manages to do it and it basically looks to be filled with air. Im including the best picture i could get with my phone. I plan on making a trip to the lfs tonight so if there are any meds i can pick up that you feel may help please include them..i dont have my hopes high on this one but if i can try to save him thats what id like to do. Thanks

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[Slappy*McFish]

I'd start off treating him with 'Maracyn Plus' and see if things improve.

 

[Chrisinator]

The other side (top side from the picture) looks like there's a bit of "pinconed" shape. I would say treat with dropsy with vigorous water changes (daily!).

I hope you save him!

 

[Juice]

Thanks guys, I picked up some Maracyn plus and I'll be starting treatment tomorrow. He started to develop this a little over a week ago and at first I thought he was just constipated but the bulge has just gotten larger since then. I was thinking if it were dropsy wouldn't his whole body look pineconed? It seems to be just around the bulge which I would expect to see. Either way I really hope I'm able to save him and thanks for the advice

 

[missmeliss]

I would QT him and drop the water level a little bit so he doesn't have too far to swim up to the top for air.

 

[Juice]

^That's exactly what I did last night, he didn't fuss at all about it poor guy

 

[mel_20_20]

Juice, it looks like a ruptured swim bladder to me; do you think you could gentle palpate the bulge on his left side without him freaking out too much? If you are able to do this, please report back if it feels firm, hard, our soft and sort of squishy.

You mentioned he has difficulty swimming, is he tilted over to the right side?

It could be a tumor, though I don't really think so.

It's theoretically possibe that it's an internal infection of some sort, but I'm not leaning in that direction. An antibiotic certainly can't hurt, but ideally if it is an infection in his gut you need to get some antibiotic food into him.

Also, could you get more photos from different angles? I'd like to see a straight on head shot if possible. Is he keeping his mouth open, gaping? The photo you have gives me that impression.

 

[Juice]

Juice, it looks like a ruptured swim bladder to me; do you think you could gentle palpate the bulge on his left side without him freaking out too much? If you are able to do this, please report back if it feels firm, hard, our soft and sort of squishy.

You mentioned he has difficulty swimming, is he tilted over to the right side?

It could be a tumor, though I don't really think so.

It's theoretically possibe that it's an internal infection of some sort, but I'm not leaning in that direction. An antibiotic certainly can't hurt, but ideally if it is an infection in his gut you need to get some antibiotic food into him.

Also, could you get more photos from different angles? I'd like to see a straight on head shot if possible. Is he keeping his mouth open, gaping? The photo you have gives me that impression.

Oh mel, I'm so glad this thread found you! I don't think he'll mind me feeling on him, he's such a sweet guy which makes this even harder for me. He does tilt to the right side a lot and so I find him wedged between sword leaves in his tank to hold himself upright. The only antibiotic food I have currently is a kanamycin flake, do you think that would work? I also have a anti bacterial food that I treated him with a while back before this issue started, do you think it could have had an effect on his kidneys?? He will eat pretty much whatever I give him and is still very alert. He does keep his mouth open most of the time but has done that since I got him a year and a half ago. He also always had a red area on the base of his tail and I never was able to figure out what it was but it never seemed to bother him much. I will take more pictures of him today from different angles. If it is in fact a ruptured SB, does that mean his odds of surviving aren't good? I was thinking of trying a epsom salt bath to relieve some of the pressure built up but at this point I'm not sure just what to do

 

[Slappy*McFish]

You can soak his food in any antibiotic medication and feed it to him. It doesn't have to be an 'antibiotic medicated food' per say. I would treat his water, as well, as the antibiotics will ultimately be absorbed into his body. The medicated food will just get it in him a bit faster.
Dropsy can be caused by any number of things and is not limited to any one cause. The epsom salts in his water will help reduce swelling, so I'd definitely use it with the Maracyn plus and see if it helps him. It's a good starting point anyway since there is no way to be sure exactly what is causing his condition.

 

[mel_20_20]

I'm having difficulty posting in this thread: I keep getting the message "Internal Server Error", so maybe my post is too long? I'm going to try to send my comment in two smaller posts, so here goes:

Maracyin Plus is a good combo of Sulfadimidine and Trimethoprim and has what the manufacturer calls "medicated bio-spheres" which attach to the body for better absorption. Not all antibiotics are absorbed well through the skin, but this is one of them. You could treat the water and also soak some food in that or make some gel food with it in there as well so that Finley gets some internally.

If you have kanamycin medicated flake and he eats that really well you could do that alone since if this is a bacterial infection aeromonas is likely the culprit and kanamycin works well for that. I have kanaplex (crystals/powder) that I put in the water and also use to make food. Kanamycin is another antibiotic that is absorbed well into the skin and enters the bloodstream that way.

If Finley really likes the taste of the kanamycin flake and scarfs it down heartily, then I'd say go with that. If it's going to be hard to get him to eat it then I'd go with the Maracyn Plus.

Having said all this, if he doesn't seem to improve with the antibiotic treatment, but also doesn't get worse and/or manifest frank signs of infection we may be able to confrim the diagnosis of ruptured swim bladder.

lf it is ruptured swim bladder there is a last ditch thing you can do, but it will take fortitude on your part.


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