Betta Has Dropsy?

[GuppyGoddess]

Hi Everyone,

A few months back, one of my bettas passed away. I bought her when she was very young and only about 3/4" long and she lived about 2.5 years in a 10-gallon, heated, filtered tank. We had moved four times so she had gone through some stressful periods and I was suprised she lived as long as she did. In addition to her, I have a second betta who is in a different tank. I just noticed yesterday that all his scales are raised in a pinecone manner and I am thinking this means he has dropsy. Looking at him, I am now realizing the female I had who passed away also had slightly raised scales.

My questions are:

1. Could have using the cleaning equipment in both tanks transmitted something to the second betta?
2. After the first betta's tank still be contaminated? I didn't realize she might have had dropsy as her scales were not raised as much as this other fish and I did a 50% water change and put a new betta in who appears healthy at this point.
3. Is dropsy mostly a water quality issue?
4. I take it, I should euthanize the one who has raised scales, right? No cure?
5. I have also used the same cleaning equipment in my African Dwarf Frog tank. Will they likely also get dropsy?

Thanks for any advice or help.

 

[paradiddle]

What have you used?
Did you cycle the tank?
Is he eating properly? behaviour?

You really should try to have a set of cleaning equipment per tank.
I keep a net and siphon per tank to be sure.

 

[betta fish]

Dropsy is not contagious, it is a fatal condition with no cure, can be caused by a few things, kidney failure being the most common, bettas are very prone to it unfortunately. I would say if the fish is still eating and appears ok other than the raised scales leave it be for now, if it is not eating and not active then it is suffering and prob best to euthanise.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Dropsy is not contagious, it is a fatal condition with no cure, can be caused by a few things, kidney failure being the most common, bettas are very prone to it unfortunately. I would say if the fish is still eating and appears ok other than the raised scales leave it be for now, if it is not eating and not active then it is suffering and prob best to euthanise.

Thank you for your reply. Last night I made the decision to euthanize him. He didn't look comfortable anymore and up until then, he was still eating, but suddenly, he quit being active and didn't eat.

The new betta in the other 10-gallon (yes, it is cycled) seems active/eating, so I will cross my fingers that with some good water changes, she will be fine. Those were the only two betta I've ever had who developed dropsy, so hopefully this won't happen again.

 

[Better is Betta]

How often do you feed your bettas? In my experience, I found that overfeeding can cause dropsy. It causes constipation which leads to organ failure. So if you have been very generous to your fish you may be killing them with kindness so to speak. My motto is to keep um lean and keep um mean LOL

 

[omega59]

Last week or so my male Betta had to be put down by euthanize in boiled water. He too developed Dropsy and was eating swimming fine till one day he sat below breathing very shallow. About 3-5 days after i put my new female Betta in, so far things are good. I believe it is due to bad water conditions/over feeding even though water stats were good. The bit about no cure i don't think it is true. The key is to treat it as soon as signs appear. There are many people who have saved their fish even after the Dropsy has developed a whole lot. It's all in luck i think LOL. Kidney failure doesn't cause Dropsy, Dropsy causes kidney to fail however, because it floods the body with fluid and it can't handle it.

forgot to add, it can also be caused by an infection internally.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

How often do you feed your bettas? In my experience, I found that overfeeding can cause dropsy. It causes constipation which leads to organ failure. So if you have been very generous to your fish you may be killing them with kindness so to speak. My motto is to keep um lean and keep um mean LOL

Thanks, overfeeding crossed my mind. For years, I've been the type who was inconsistant about feeding them and they would have a day off here and there (and nobody developed dropsy). Then I settled into a pattern of feeding them daily and that might have started this whole thing up. I guess I'll research how often to feed them again.

Everyone got a 50% water change on Wednesday and the new fish I bought this week is very active and happy!