# Betta has Dropsy/Fin rot?



## Carina (Jan 21, 2012)

My betta definitely has fin rot, but I also notice his scales sticking up a bit.  Does this always mean they have Dropsy? He's still very active and eating normally. I just started his fin rot treatment today, but I'm worried that he may have Dropsy because of his scales being slightly raised. Any advice is appreciated.


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## callistra (Jun 29, 2010)

Yes, this is always dropsy. I'm sorry. What are you treating with right now? You may likely need to switch meds as only a few meds work on dropsy. Also what does his poop look like and how often does he go? Also this type of disease process is usually caused by non ideal water. Please fill this out:



> Housing
> What size is your tank?
> What temperature is your tank?
> Does your tank have a filter?
> ...


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## Carina (Jan 21, 2012)

Housing 
What size is your tank?
Gallon sized bowl.

What temperature is your tank?
Not sure of the exact temperature, but I try to make it between 78-82. Should I get a themometer?

Does your tank have a filter?
No. It's a bowl.

Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
No.

Is your tank heated?
No.

What tank mates does your betta fish live with?
None.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
TetraMin.

How often do you feed your betta fish?
Once a day.

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change?
About every 3 days.

What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
100%

What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?
Only water conditioner.

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
No.

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity: 

I have no idea about any of this. I'm a new betta owner, he's basically my first betta... do I need this?

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
Some of his scales have fallen off, they're slightly raised, and his fins are rotting a bit.

How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
Not at all. He's active and eating normally.

When did you start noticing the symptoms?
About a day ago.

Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Yes. I give him Tetracycline. Just started the treatment today though.

Does your fish have any history of being ill?
No.

How old is your fish (approximately)?
Approx. a year maybe?

Thank you for helping me regardless. I'm new at owning any type of fish... His poop is always round, and it's usually an orange-ish or brown-ish color. Sometimes it's bigger than his food granules, though.


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## callistra (Jun 29, 2010)

The tetracycline may help the fin rot but it will not likely do anything to fix the dropsy.

When you clean the water do you rinse the gravel too? This is important.

You really need a thermometer. One of those cheap glass submersible thermometers with the suction cups are perfect. 

Also temperature swings are bad for bettas, and they need to be kept in 76-82 degree constant environments and ideally 78-79. Any lower and it compromises their immune system making them more prone to illness and temperature swings (causing by things like setting the house lower at night or trying to use pads or a light to keep the bowl clean) can be very hard of them as well.

100% water change every 2-3 days in 1 gallon should be okay (definitely no more than that), although your guy will always live with small amounts of ammonia which will weaken his immune system over time. For now while he is sick I would do 100% daily or at least 50% and 100% alternated every other day. It's also very very hard to heat a 1 gallon well. If you can afford it I suggest investing in a 2.5+ system. 5 gallons would be even easier to maintain but 2.5 is pretty minimal to set up a good long-term environment. You should also invest in a good adjustable heater. For a 2.5g a 25w Marineland Visitherm is what I have experience with. 50w for the 5g works well. They run about $20. Just be aware that heaters rarely run exactly what you set them at so the thermometer will be important here. When acclimating your boy to the warmer water, put the thermometer in first. See what the actual temp is and set the heater a few degrees below what the tank temp says. Then slowly click it up one degree until it comes on. This tells you the difference between what the actual temp is and what the heater reads. Then slowly add a degree or two every hour or so until he is finally up at the 78-79 range stable. This should help him adjust slowly without shocking him. 

As for actual treatment.. you are going to need epsom salts.. pure 100% no additives. I use 1/2 tsp per gallon but a lot of people here suggest more so if you'd like to start out with more like 1 tsp seems like that would be okay. Dissolve it fully in some treated aquarium water before adding it to the bowl. 

You are also going to need a different antibiotic. Kanaplex (Kanamyacin by Seachem) along with Focus by Seachem would be what I'd try to find first...use yellowpages.com and search for aquariums. You can feed and bathe in this using either treated aquarium water to soak pellets along with the meds (I'll teach you how if you can find the meds) or garlic guard also by seachem (pure garlic juice extract). If you cannot try Maracyns in combo (or at least Maracyn 2) or possibly Maracyn Plus. Do 100% change to remove tetracycline before changing up the meds. Also make sure you are dosing for whatever container he is in (1 gallon now or larger if you choose to do so) because packet dosages are usually based on 5-10 gallon containers.


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## dormfish (Sep 4, 2011)

Callistra knows her stuff :cheers:. I can't think of anything better.
I'll just add that Melafix is great for healing fins. Of course, the dropsy is the first priority here.

Keep us updated. I hope your little guy gets better soon!


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## Carina (Jan 21, 2012)

Thank you for the info.  I will try to find those meds and I'll definitely pick up a thermometer for him.


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## Carina (Jan 21, 2012)

I couldn't find the exact meds you listed, but the guy at the Aquarium store told me that Melafix should help him, and also they had Maracyn, but they had Maracyn-TC. Will this work for him?


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## callistra (Jun 29, 2010)

I'm sorry none of those will likely work. Have you tried calling 'aquarium' searched stores in the yellowpages.com? If so I suggest making a rush order of some meds through Amazon.com or http://www.drsfostersmith.com.

Maracyn tc is tetracycline. Maracyn is Erythromyacin. The Maracyn 2 is Minocyline and that will go internal. Maracyn 2 at least or Maracyns in combo is what might work for this from this line. Maracyn plus is two or three ingredients I can't remember off the top of my head but I have heard of it working for dropsy, though I have very little experience with it personally.

Don't want to scare you but once you notice the pineconing you have a very limited window for which to treat him. Dropsy often is lethal within days, so it's really important you treat asap to maximum chance for a full recovery.


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## Carina (Jan 21, 2012)

Oh good. I found Maracyn 2 at Petsmart actually. I didn't think they'd have much in terms of fish. I'll go get it ASAP and treat him today. He still seems very active and is eating, so... hopefully I can save him.  Should I JUST give him the Maracyn 2 and the aquarium salt?


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## callistra (Jun 29, 2010)

No aquarium salts for dropsy. Use epsom salts. I guess 1/2 to 1 tsp per gallon. Just make sure you predissolve in some treated water before adding. Also I believe Maracyn 2 package is for 10 gallons so you are going to have to break it down for the 1 gallon he's in or for whatever else you may move him to.

I believe it says use 2 packets per 10 gallon on day 2 and 1 packet additional day? I saw in your pm he is in 2 gallons now? You will treat double dose back to back for a minimum of 10 days, but you could treat up to 14 if he is showing signs of improvement but is not 100%. You should be changing the water 100% every other day. Highly suggest using aged water. Take 10 tablespoons treated aquarium water and dissolve the packet. For the first dose you put 4 of the tablespoons in the 2 gallon bowl to treat. Each subsequent day you mix this up fresh (cannot save it and reuse) and put 2 tablespoon of the mixture.


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## Carina (Jan 21, 2012)

Ah Ok. Right now he's in completely new water, but it wasn't aged long enough (some of it wasn't) so I had to use some water conditioner. I'll have to change his water again today to get the other medicine out and the aquarium salt out... I don't currently have old enough water to use (I will tomorrow though). Could I possibly buy some bottles of room temperature drinking water to use?

Poor little guy.  I feel so bad for him. Everything happened really fast. It was like one day he looked completely fine and then the next day he suddenly barely had any fins! It's odd too because from many angles his scales don't seem raised. When you look from the top they look VERY slightly raised. Maybe I can still save him.


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## callistra (Jun 29, 2010)

Always use conditioner. The aging doesn't replace your water conditioner and water conditioner doesn't replace the aging process as each deal with some things the other won't (although there is some overlap).

If he's still active and only slightly pine coned you probably still have time. It's a guess at this point but there is hope


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## Carina (Jan 21, 2012)

OMG, I just found a Marine Depot near here which probably has all of what you listed. Thank goodness. T_T Okay, so I should be looking for Maracyn 2 (or Two?), epsom salts... they have Focus by Seachem, should I purchase that instead of the garlic guard, or both?


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## Carina (Jan 21, 2012)

Here's a picture of how he looks... He literally looked fine one day and then the next day started losing his fins, and as I've been trying to figure out what to do the past day or so (changing his tank out, trying medicines, etc.) he looks like this now. I just started treating him with Maracyn 2 today along with epsom salt and the food you recommended me with the garlic guard, but he doesn't seem to like the food.  He'll only eat his old food which is TetraMin Tropical Granules.

Also, right next to his fin is where the wound is which you can't really see. You have to look from kind of behind him... but it's a beige spot that has no scales left on it, and as you can see part of his fin is missing. He still uses it sometimes though and is active, but often I'll see him swimming with only his left fin. 

As you can see though he looks really bad. I'm worried he's in constant agonizing pain by how he looks, despite how active he seems to be. Do you think it's possible to save him at this point?


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## Karebear13 (Jan 23, 2012)

Sorry I am new to this forum and I dont know how to publish things but I was wondering if this is fin rot on my betta

http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr...386098&Signature=ZOqwc10hAutMCT6n5Dkz58W7kl8=


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## Karebear13 (Jan 23, 2012)

Also sorry about your fish. these things happen so rapidly. Mine was completely fine just like yours was and then the next day his fins were protruding and he was huge sadly he didn't make it the next day. It all happened so fast. But you never know Miracles happen.


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## dormfish (Sep 4, 2011)

Karebear13 said:


> Sorry I am new to this forum and I dont know how to publish things but I was wondering if this is fin rot on my betta
> 
> http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr...386098&Signature=ZOqwc10hAutMCT6n5Dkz58W7kl8=


OHSOPRETTY!! I'd say he looks healthy as a horse!! And welcome to the forums!


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## Karebear13 (Jan 23, 2012)

so the black tips on his fins should be nothing to worry about?


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## callistra (Jun 29, 2010)

Your betta has to have been ailing for quite some time to look like that.. zero fins.. Really overnight? Due to the fast progression it may be hard to treat, but since he is still active this is a good sign.

Go ahead and treat with epsoms and Maracyn-2. Make sure to dilute the meds as stated before and fully dissolve the salts before adding.

He won't take garlic and medicine soaked pellets? That's a first, but some can be picky. Minocyline goes internal so hopefully it will do the job along with the epsoms.

ETA: Make sure to do frequent water changes during this. Maybe try one 50% followed by one 100% the second day, alternating like this.


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## Carina (Jan 21, 2012)

I had him sitting next to my computer so I literally saw him everyday and this happened quickly. His fins were fairly short to begin with so I didn't notice until I was changing his water in the bathroom where there's very bright lighting (my room is usually dimly lit so in his old bowl that had no light I couldn't notice his color/short fins very easily). I cleaned his bowl every 3-4 days though and really did not notice anything wrong especially with him being active and eating, and his color seemed fine up until the day I posted on this forum. That's when he started losing his color and I noticed his fins were getting shorter, which is why I said it seemed to happen overnight.

I've never had a fish that has gotten fin rot before and I thought I was OK with the water changes every 3rd or 4th day. I really can't think of how I missed it, because I didn't neglect him.  Sorry if it seems like I'm being defensive but I am really upset it progressed this far and I didn't notice until a few days ago. I'm doing my best to treat him...

It's strange though because that side of him in the picture is the mostly discolored and beat up part of his body. His right side has way more of his bluer color left and is smoother. I am noticing some white tips on his bottom fins right now and I've heard that's a sign of re-growth, I don't think I see any white tips on the back and upper fins yet though.

Anyway, yeah, I just want to clarify that if I had noticed earlier I definitely would've gotten right on treatment. His fins weren't very big in the first place, and he didn't starting losing his color until later, which is what alerted me that something was wrong with him, and it was then I noticed that his fins were a bit shorter. They also did get even shorter while I was discussing treatments in this forum... when I would transfer him into his temporary bowl when I do water changes I could see tiny pieces of his fins floating in his temporary bowl, so it was happening very fast.


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## dormfish (Sep 4, 2011)

Karebear13 said:


> so the black tips on his fins should be nothing to worry about?


The fins seem healthy. It just looks like that the black is part of his natural coloring. Fin rot will look something like this. http://www.petfish.net/articles/pix/arts3/finrot.jpg


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## Carina (Jan 21, 2012)

Well, he passed away this morning. 

Thank you for telling me how to treat him, though. I'm pretty sure he had Dropsy and that's what killed him because his fins actually started growing back very slightly.

I do want to mention by the way, that after the speaker fell into his tank I immediately cleaned his tank and began giving him some Ich treatment because I had noticed white spots on his head. I think it was around this time he began to get more ill and I didn't notice until I saw him in bright light and noticed he was losing his color and his fins were a bit shorter, but by this time he was already pineconed, and that's when I posted on this forum for help.

I will miss my little guy.  RIP. <3


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## Karebear13 (Jan 23, 2012)

Sorry about your loss. It is very painful to seem them go  At least now he is no longer feeling pain. Im sorry. God bless


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## callistra (Jun 29, 2010)

I'm sorry he didn't make it


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## Carina (Jan 21, 2012)

Thank you. <3 That's what comforts me most. He's at peace now.


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