# Which antibiotics for betta fish?



## Krank (Jul 16, 2020)

Hello, which antibiotics i could use in case of dropsy ( i think that's it in english, in polish it's "puchlina". I only have azithromycinum and rifaximinum. I don't have those for bettas unfortunatelly. What human grade ones i could use?


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## Rose of sharon (May 23, 2020)

Hi,

I have used Kanamycin (we have Kanaplex - a fish antibiotic), Amoxicillin, or maybe Keflex.

I guess it depends on the underlying infection - what cuases the dropsy in the first place.

I have had at least 3 bettas die of it, or rather, I had to euthanize because once it gets to that point, usually there is little that you can do as their kidneys have all but shut down.

I hope that this helps a little, and that your fish does get better!


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## Krank (Jul 16, 2020)

Rose of sharon said:


> Hi,
> 
> I have used Kanamycin (we have Kanaplex - a fish antibiotic), Amoxicillin, or maybe Keflex.
> 
> ...


Well thanks, but i don't have kanaplex or other u say. I'm not sure if my fish has dropsy - probably not. It seems like a tumor, i've even got a thread about it.


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## Krank (Jul 16, 2020)

I've got only those i said earlier - azithromycinum and rifaximinum , i don't know "market names", those are probably scientific names or something like that


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## Rose of sharon (May 23, 2020)

A large majority of fish infections/bacterial infections are gram negative. If either of the meds that you have can help with a gram negative infection, that would be good to know. I am not sure about dosing if they are human grade antibiotics.

If it's dropsy, you will see the scales pineconing. Also, the fish will begin to gasp for air as the internal organs shut down. Doing epsom salt baths are common for dropsy, but it has to be pure epsom salt with no additives, etc. 

If it's a tumor, you usually won't have any of these symptoms. The fish will continue to act normally. Many bettas can live a decent life with a tumor. There's really nothing that you can do if that is the case.

If you can post a pic, it might be easier to identify.

Also, there is a fish emergency templet that you can fill out on this part of the forum. It would help if you could post that with the answers.


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## Krank (Jul 16, 2020)

Rose of sharon said:


> A large majority of fish infections/bacterial infections are gram negative. If either of the meds that you have can help with a gram negative infection, that would be good to know. I am not sure about dosing if they are human grade antibiotics.
> 
> If it's dropsy, you will see the scales pineconing. Also, the fish will begin to gasp for air as the internal organs shut down. Doing epsom salt baths are common for dropsy, but it has to be pure epsom salt with no additives, etc.
> 
> ...


There's plenty of pics on my other thread, here's the link Weird "lump?" on bettas side and sypmtoms. I'd be glad if u decided to take a look. There's this emergency template too


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