# Betta in dropsy stage



## missindifferent (Jun 25, 2010)

Recently my betta has been resting a lot more than he used to (I bought him in May). I thought it was just that he was tired of the new clown loaches bothering him.

Yesterday he didn't come out for breakfast or lunch (very unusual). I finally saw him at night. He's originally red, but looked pink, so I quickly put him in a quarantine tank while I figured out what was going on.

This morning I looked at him from the top and he looked bloated. I also saw a bit of pineconing.

I think it's probably parasitic, because an angelfish had internal parasites after my heater incident (malfunctioning heater was too hot), though it was awhile ago. So I've started treatment.

I'm just wondering, has anyone successfully cured their betta?


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## Sagittarius-Aquarius (Oct 30, 2009)

I've never cured dropsy, but I'm sure it can be done. Hang in there, and good luck. I'll look for some success stories to help.


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## Sagittarius-Aquarius (Oct 30, 2009)

I found 2 from http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/killer.htm.

"Apparently, it's mostly fatal. I found a site with some stories, though:I'm in no way any kind of expert, but I just wanted to share what I learned
from a dropsy episode with my fish with the hopes of perhaps helping someone else someday. When my fish first got it, I didn't have any hope, because I had heard that it was difficult to cure. With a lot of help and suggestions from people a betta forum, esp. Uptongirl and Violetedawn, as well as some other resources, my fish's case of dropsy has been diminished if not "cured". Have no idea what caused his kidney function to fail/decrease. I'm guessing
it was bacterial or viral because Kanacyn seemed to do the trick. Treatment was in stages as I changed things as I found out about stuff. I
have no clue what actually helped--or if it was something I should not have done--so I'm putting everything here:

1. Had him in Maracyn II for about a day.

2. When I got Kanacyn, I put that in the water instead (did not use the 2 together).

3. Tried to keep temp as warm as possible--was a bit difficult because we have air conditioning and he's at work. Some sites say they upped the water
temp to 86C for gold fish. I think his water was probably around 70-72C. But if you're changing temp, please do it slowly as not to stress or harm your
fish.

4. Shielded his tank from stressful light by making a black paper "box" with some air and peep holes cut out. This really seemed to help.

5. Added some epsom salt to his Kanacyn water. (1 tsp for 5 gallons of water.)

6. I was changing his water every other day--100% change. I also kept the water for changes in the same room as the fish tank so it would be about the same temperature when I changed his water.

Notes: The epsom salt helped his swelling. I was so afraid that he'd burst or something he looked so swollen. I'm sure he probably felt more
comfortable, too.
Read medication instructions carefully and follow them to the T. It mentions not combining with other chemicals unless compatible with the medication.
This is really important! I used only Kanacyn and epsom salt together in untreated tap water but I could get away with this because our tap water is
drawn from artesian wells and is not treated with chlorine. So I didn't have to use water conditioners or anything to prep his water. I would not
normally do this, but I wasn't sure if the chemicals would combine OK with the medication.

If you have to treat your water, you might want to get help from someone who's a lot more knowledgable about water conditioning. If you're like me and don't have a 10-gallon tank or water vessel to put your medicine in, we came up with the following:

1 capsule of Kanacyn and 2 tsp of epsom salt were mixed in 10 Tbs of water. 
We then used the ratio of 1 Tbs of concentrate to 1 gallon of water for 
water changes. We kept the concentrated Kanacyn/epsom mixture covered and in
a dark place just in case. This may not be the best way to do this, but it
seemed to work OK.

My fish didn't show improvement until after the epsom salt, so it was about
a week from when I noticed the dropsy and started treating it to see
results. His recovery sped up more after that. So, even if you don't see
results right away, just hang in there and give your fishy time to try and
kick whatevers ailing him.

Like I said before, I'm not an expert, not a breeder. Not even an experienced
fish owner--I've taken care of a grand total of 4 betta! But for whatever reason, my fish and I were lucky enough to, with lotsa guidance, to be able to kick this."

Number 2
Tammy S. sent me an email stating that she cured her betta of dropsy using a technique similar to the one above. Initially, her fish stopped eating and tended to float to the top of the tank. After a dose of maroxy he started eating a little but was still floating a lot. The next day he started showing the bloated, pinecone symptoms of dropsy.

She began treating him once a day with maroxy and twice a day with maracyn II for one day every five days. This continued for 10 days. The temperature was maintained at 70-72 degrees F. and the fish was kept in a dimly lit corner. The water was changed every other day.

On the third day of this treatment she started adding Epsom salt at the rate of 1 teaspoon in 5 gallons, using prtreated water like normal.

One week after adding the Epsom salt the fish started improving. After that he recovered quickly. Tammy also stated that she regularly exercised her fish by showing it a mirror a few minutes every day. As of two months after the treatment the fish is alive, strong, and showing no signs of dropsy.

While annicdotal accounts can never replace scientific data, the above two cases suggest that in the abscence of more informed guidance there might be hope for bettas with dropsy. If you have a betta with this disease and extensive research turns up no scientifically verified cure, you might want to give this treatment a try. As with all diseases, a critical factor is early detection and medication. Left to linger for even a few hours, a fish can sustain enough damage to his or her internal organs that even if the disease is cured, the fish may still die. Also, I have read that Epsom salt has sulfer in it so there may be problems using it with sulfa-based medications.


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