Dropsy?
 

My g/f's current Betta is on it's way out. Apparently it has a disease called Dropsy. She thought it was just constipated until she noticed his scales were raised.

His symptoms are consistent with the disease but she doesn't know how he got it. does anyone know anything about it?

Sorry to hear mate :(

Don't know anything about it but all the best!

If you caught it early enough, there may be some hope. Change the water and add 1 tsp of salt per gallon of water. Or go to the pet shop, there are medicines for it, but if it's been going on for a few days, it probably won't help. If you decide to give medicine a shot, look for an Internal Antibiotic as external ones will do nothing.

It's usally caused by dirty water and a poor diet.

I hate to say it, but don't be surprised if it dies.

How big is the aquarium and how often does she change the water?

She's thought he was constipated for a little over a week now i think. she noticed he was pretty fat. The site she looked this up on suggested feeding him peas as a laxative, but all she got was white poo.

I can't remember how big his tank is, but i want to say it's a 10 because she was having issues with his heater in a 5gal. she's pretty religious about changing his water regularly, it's rare that she lets it go more than 8 days. She's only fed him the Betta pellets as he won't touch bloodworms.

She's kicking herself for not putting him in a salt bath last week when she noticed, but she didn't notice his raised scales until last night. She put him in for about 15 minutes tonight and after about 15 minutes he freaked out and started darting around so she put him back in his tank.

I don't think she expects him to last another 2 days. he's still bloated and she said she saw a red tint on the bottom of his belly and thinks it may be blood :( It's probably too late for this one, but i'll forward her the info in case it happens to the next one.

Thanks 666

I only asked because I was worried she was keeping it in one of those plastic Betta Bowls. Terrible things.

You might want to suggest changing the water twice a week. Once a week should b enough, but the more the better. Dropsy has no real known cause, it's entirely possible that it had nothing to do with your girlfriend. just one of those unfortunate things.

BTW, if she wants to end the fish's suffering, the most humane way would be to fill a baggy up with water and some ice. Put it in the freezer for a few minutes to let it get real cold. Toss the fish in and put it back in the freezer. The fish will die very quickly.

i'm talking to her right now and he's on his side and having trouble breathing so i think he'll be dead before he freezes