should i euthanize a betta with dropsy

almostaskater62

almostaskater62

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Jul 10, 2007
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i have a betta that i just realized has dropsy, he was always in a little rock cave in his tank, so i just noticed. i read it can take 15 days for him to die, so i'm wondering if i should just put him down now, any thoughts?
also what's the best way for a betta

thanks
 
i actually just froze him, after reading some more i felt it would be best

is it safe to use the various things in his tank again? is dropsy that infectious that putting another fish in with that stuff will get them dropsy
i would like to get some puffers for the tank, but if i can't use the very nice java fern or piece of driftwood again i'll just decommission that tank
 
To be honest, i wouldn't have euthanized him yet and IMO freezing wasn't the best way. That way is too slow and kind of torturous..once again my opinion. Clove Oil would have been A LOT better....anyway.... if you caught the Dropsy early enough (i'm not sure, you didn't mention how long he had it or when you noticed it) you probably could have tried to treat him and then atleast you would have known you tried to help him but couldn't. There are 2 kind of dropsy, contagious and non-contagious. Non-contagious happens when you over feed him to much and then you've got organ malfunction which causes the Dropsy. You should feed him one day and then don't feed him the next day, that way you can really decrease the chances of developing Dropsy. The contagious form is from a virus or infection but usually theres another problem involved before the dropsy sets in. Not sure what kind your Betta had but I THINK the more common one is the non-contagious kind therefore you should be okay putting in other fish
 
i didn't feed him every day, even every other day usually.
i read clove oil wasn't good for bettas and that they can thrash for like 45 minutes so that's why i didn't do that. i also read that chances of survival were VERY low, and i wouldn't have been able to even go out and get stuff to treat it for a few days, maybe a week
 
sorry to hear that.
 
that sucks. I've never had a fish with a disease, but I did mangle one in a python accident once. I decided to freeze it. I felt like crap when I shut the freezer door, but I felt worse watching it try and swim until it got stuck on the filter intake over and over. It's a tough call.

As long as the tank is empty, I would give the contents a light bleach bath and rinse them a few times and let them sit in the sun for a couple of days.
 
sorry for your loss

I lost a betta a few months back. he got bloated and before I knew it, his scales started pineconing. I was too chicken to help ease his suffering. I tried medicating him to no avail and he died about 3 days later. You did the right thing so don't second-guess yourself. You were the one who saw his suffering and had the means to end it!
 
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