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I got this male about 3 months ago. When I got him he was a bright yellow with green in his fins. I attempted to breed him 3 weeks ago, but the female died, and I decided against another attempt. Since then, he has not built another bubble nest, his color has faded alot, and he is reluctant to take food. I am feeding hikari and freeze-dried blood worms. He was my most active male before, and now he wont flare at anything and has no interest in his food. Now his scales are slightly popped out like dropsy. Any ideas for treatment? I recently moved him into a 2 gallon, and put a light on him . I've been changing water every 4 days with declorinated water.

This is what happened when the female died...

she was laying on the bottom, wouldent move, fins were slightley more torn than they were when I looked last, but nothing else looked too bad. I got the net so I could put her back in the glass chimney overnight, and went to net her. She didnt swim at all when the net came twards her, and the water movement (from the net) made her shift so I could see her other side. It was red, not bloody, and her scales were popped out like dropsy, but only around the eggs. It was also only on one side.

I figured he beat her to death, but now I think she had dropsy.... I know its not likely, but I would really like to save this male, he's my favorite!

Oh, I forgot, he is not swollen. And I read somewhere that dropsy could have something to do with internal parasites. The medications I currently have are....

bettamax -
http://bettalistserv.tripod.com/Meds/BettaMax.htm
CLOUT -
http://www.koivillage.com/medications/clout.html
Quinsulex -
http://www.123fish.net/gc/getDetail.php?ItemNo=AQ676

You could try a medicine for dropsy, but sad to say I don't think it will survive, good luck anyway.

Not dropsy but most likely a bacterial skin infection...

Gentamycin, an antibiotic, is effective as is a few other broad spectrum meds.

After a battle, Bettas often suffer skin/scale infections probably brought on by poor water quality/maintenance.

--garyroland.

Out of what you have there, since I agree with gary on it being some sort of infection, I would say go with the BettaMax. . . it's a very good broad spectrum medication, easy to dose in small tanks, and should have your betta feeling better in no time. Just follow the directions on the package and you're set. Make sure it's actually bettaMAX and not bettaFIX: MAX is capsules, FIX is liquid.

In a 2 gallon tank, 100% water changes every 4 days is a little bit much. Take it down to once a week as you have more volume to play with on the 2 gallon and the frequent changes will only stress him out. If you're worried about water quality, try %50 every 3 days if you want. Airline tubing makes a cheap and effective siphon/gravel vac for small tanks, and I use this method myself for sickly and old bettas as it's a lot less stressful.

Good luck.

The reason Gentamycin is dosed is because it can be effective in combating the early stages of Dropsy...

It's a "just in case" treatment I often suggest.

There's no other med that will touch Dropsy and that includes the silly remedies that call for Epsom salt baths.

By the time Dropsy is noticed (bloat) all the Epsom will do is speed up the death by shocking the heck out of a sick fish.

--garyroland.



[span class="edited"][Edited by garyroland 2004-08-06 17:21][/span]

Thanks guys, I will be out to get some Gentamycin today, I'll let you know what happenes. Still no swelling, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.