# early stage of dropsy



## sanosfish (Mar 10, 2010)

Please help

The situation is:

My betta is showing signs of slight pineconeing he is in a 10 gal filtered tank and no matter how much water i change the water still appears murky (but no debris floating). The filter is maybe 2 months old. 

Question:

Is there a chance i could save my betta by moving him to an empty bowl with clean water and aquarium salt (im afraid without the shelter his plants as well as a drop in overall water temperature he will be stressed out more and die but what if its the water killing him)? Why is my water continuously murky?

thanks you guys i'm really paranoid and worried about him..


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## Welsh (Apr 13, 2010)

Dropsy is an internal infection usually caused by poor water quality. The swelling that you see is because the fish is absorbing more water than it can reduce and it can be caused by many different problems. How are your nitrate levels? If there are no water quality problems then you may want to attempt an antibiotic treatment in a bare bottomed quarantine tank or A salt water bath can help draw out the excess fluid that your fish is holding


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## Noko (Jan 10, 2010)

I recently had a case of dropsy with one of my little platy fry. After a week of pristine water and some epsom salt has indeed 'cured' him. I also fed him some anti bacterial fish food and raised his temperature a bit. He was in the pine-coning stage (do you know how hard it is to see raised fish scales on a platy that is smaller than my pinky nail). He was also bloated and had popeye.

I caught my guy within hours of him pine-coning. I would suggest that you keep your betta in warmer water (I had my platy in 80 degree water) and find a way to draw out the excess water like Welsh said. I'm not an expert with fish diseases though, just saying what I found that helped me out. Dropsy is caused by multiple things. It's hard to figure out that one thing and treat it accordingly.

As for the murkiness, it could be because of some of the decorations. I had a clay pot in my 20 gallon tank that made the water look cloudy. My dad had murky water from an extremely old filter (as in hasn't been changed in possibly a year) in his 55 gallon tank. I also had some driftwood in my betta tank that released some tannins that turned the water brownish. I got rid of the driftwood since it made the water look gross and I'm sure my bettas would prefer clear water. Even if they don't live in crystal clear water in the wild.

I wish you luck with your betta. There is a chance he will live. I know what your going through (sadly seeing how I would prefer to say none of my fish have ever gotten this).


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

I would QT the Betta and use Epsom salt 1tsp/gal along with 100% daily water changes for the symptoms of dropsy. No filter and lights out, water level low if the fish is struggling to swim, adding IAL or oak leaf is also helpful if you have it on hand.

Often once this symptom shows up recovery is rare due to system shut down, however, if the fish is not suffering-I would at least try and treat

Water temp in these cases IMO/E is a fine line-too high can lead to other problems related to bacteria and too low can be stressful for the Betta, I usually treat in water temp of 76-78F


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