hello, unfortunately one of my bettas has come down with dropsy i believe. hes in a 10 gal. divided tank with another betta, and i had medicated them at first with melafix because one of the bettas slipped thru the divider some how and they got in an argument before i noticed them, but the sick bettas fins didnt heal at all, and hes been laying on his side all the time for at least 3-4 weeks now. i feel horrible, he keeps gradually getting worse and worse. he lost all his color weeks ago and now hes pineconed and bloated, and wont eat. it breaks my heart, and his betta friends too, since the sick betta is laying right next to the divider on the gravel and the other is swimming right next to him on the other side of the divider watching him all concerned, and hasnt left that spot all day i almost want to just put this guy out of his misery and euthanize him, since hes been gradually more ill for a month probably. it kills me to see him like this, and he must REALLY be a fighter since he looks extremely bad right now, but hes still hangin in there. i put maracyn 1 and 2 in there yesterday but i really think its too late. will all those meds hurt the other betta since its not ill?

so he isnt on his own? if they have dropsy you really need to isolate them. it is extremely catchy! that is the #1 priority at the moment. then is making sure the other one is ok and then the one with dropsy. im so sorry. is it really bad then? it might be best just to let him go. im really sorry

I'm so sorry about your betta. I don't know much about dropsy, but (and this is strictly my opinion) I think you should quarantine the betta that does not appear sick, mainly because dropsy is contagious. But I (and again this is just me and I can't handle watching a beloved pet suffer like that when there is obviously no hope) would immediately euthanize the poor betta who is so bad. There was a thread on this forum not too long ago about the humane method of euthanization for fishes. If your guy is still hanging on and you feel you should relieve him, post here or PM me and I'll give you the recipe, if you don't have it.
Again, you have my deepest sympathy.

So sorry to hear about your betta. When one of mine had dropsy, someone here suggested epsom salt baths. Though he was already huge and really pineconed when I tried it. So it didn't do much for him.
Erin

Get him to a fish vet or it might be too late, but 250mg of chloramphenicol per gallon of water usually cures it. ( i reccommended the vet because chloramphenicol is usualy harmfull to humans) Yes a bit of salt can help aswell because while the fish is infected its body is letting in more water than usual through its skin so the the salt can actually stop the water from going in the fish.
Heres some advice from a book:
Dropsy is a disease/symptom of internal bacterial infection in which the cavities of the body accumulate fluids until the scales tend to stick out at right angles.
There is evidence this is a virus infection but 250 mg of chloramphenicol per gallon added to the water will usually cure. When only a single fish devopes this condition, it does not normally spread.
Another book says:
Since salt water has a lower osmotic pressure than fresh, sometimes keeping a fish with dropsy in a slight salt solution will decrease the water entering the body. This will give the fishs organs time to recover without the strain of trying to expell all extra water so that it will be able to resume normal functioning when it returns to normal water.The fish should be isolated and 7.5ml (1/2 a tablespoon) os salt per 4.8 litres (8 Pints) added over a period of time. As the fish recovers, use water changes to dilute the salt solution until the water is back to normal. But if the cause is bacterial, antibiotics from a vet may help.
I hope your betta makes it

I wish that your betta survives

i honestly dont know how hes doing it, but hes still hanging in there.

what is chloramphenicol? and can i find that anywhere to buy myself?

and also, about the epsom salt baths, how much epsom salt did you use, and did you put it directly in the tank or..?

any help would be appreciated, i feel terrible for this guy

I used about 1/8 teaspoon for the 1 gal container I used for the dips. I looked back through to find my old posts, in one of them someone said 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons. I think I scaled it down for mine though the best I could. I also used Maracyn2 along with it. In the end I put the epsom salt right into his tank with the Maracyn2. Remember epsom salt, not aquarium salt.

HTH, hun
Erin

he died today
and so did one of my new female bettas from a diff tank, oddly enough. so i cleaned out the 10 gal. divided tank completely since it was so gross n cloudly from the maracyn i was using, but my remaining betta in there looks so sad without a buddy to flare at lol if i put my remaining female betta on the other side with maybe a few more female bettas, would they flare at the male betta? or not really care? because i thought of that, but my male betta only looks happy when hes swimming around flaring at whoever is on the other side of the divider haha

I am so sorry to hear about your bettas, that is really sad when that happens. I do hope your feel better soon.. I lost my boy lucky a few months ago due to a bad case of ICH.. and i still miss him I wish you the best of luck!

I'm sorry to hear that, hun.

I don't know much about the females, but I would think you could put one on the other side. You'll probably see your little man blow the biggest bubble nest ever! Not sure, but I think just one girl on that side would be better than more. I hear they can get aggressive too. I know you can keep more than one together if there's enough room, but it doesn't seem like you would.

Someone who has some girls will come along and help you out better. Good luck!
Erin

Best wishes on his recovery!!

i would say she died of dropsy too. sometimes dropsy does not have any symptoms and as it is very catchy and she was in the same tank as him, i would say this was the cause of her passing away too. im so sorry