Swollen Belly = Dropsy

[lopeva]

I just noticed yesterday that Bubba's stomach appears swollen. I was thinking constipation, but now I'm not sure. He's not acting abnormal, and is eating if I feed him. Could this be dropsy?

Thoughts?

 

[Kairi]

are his scales sticking out like a pinecone?

 

[lopeva]

are his scales sticking out like a pinecone?

No pinecone scales; you can just tell his stomach is swollen.

 

[l.michelle]

It could just be over eating. Not over-feeding. Sometimes food drops to the bottom that the fish hasn't eaten, and sometimes they decide to be scavangers and hunt it down and eat it. My little girl did that, and she looked like a blowfish i mean, realllly big for about a day. Because the fish don't really know when to stop eating, I would not feed him for a day or so and see if it goes down. That's what I did and it went down.

Usually a sign of dropsy (as your probably know) is the pineconing, if you don't see that yet, i would just wait to see if it is something simpilar.

So yeah, maybe try not feeding him for a day or so and see if his tummy goes down.

 

[oneponygirl]

If you do get concerned about constipation try adding the occasional cooked pea to his diet. It took a bit for my bettas to get used to them but they'll all eat them now and it's very good for them. Just nuke a pea for a few seconds, pinch off the hull and squish or dice it into tiny bits for them.

 

[Syko Lunitik]

Is Dropsy EXTREAMELY common in Betta's???

If Had Atleast 3 that have gotten it...

and....

is there a cure for it???

 

[oneponygirl]

None of mine, the 6 I have now or ones I've had before, have ever had it. What is your tank maintenance schedule and what and how much are you feeding?

 

[vancouver]

It's common with dirty watered bettas.. if that makes sense.

A betta shouldn't get dropsy if you keep it's water clean.. I've had maybe 2/60 bettas get it.. and it was my fault from not cleaning them enough.

 

[Syko Lunitik]

oops

yea i get lazy about water changes.

it's time consuming you know.

 

[vancouver]

I was like that for awhile.. now I have no problems changing water.. I only have 6 bettas now, so 100% changes only take maybe 20 minutes.

An easy thing to do for partial water changes is to keep 2 buckets in the room the bettas are in..

1 bucket fill with water, the other empty. Then use a turkey baster, suck water out of the betta tanks and put it in the empty bucket.. then when you've done X amount of water, add water back from the bucket with water in it.. The buckets are always there, so when I'm bored, it gives me something to do for 5 minutes.

 

[Kairi]

i don't mean to be rude, but if changing your fish's water is time consuming- why have fish?

 

[liz2]

Thats one reason I have my bettas in smaller tanks...easier to change the water. I always have some water standing in the kitchen so that its ready in an emergency. Only ever had one fish with dropsy ...that wasnt a betta..cant remember what it was but it was horrible! Hope your fish is ok

 

[lopeva]

Thanks for the replys. Just needed positive reinforcement; I've never had a case of dropsy with any of my fish, but of course I lept to the worst possible cause.

A few pea bites and he'll be right as rain.

 

[LvBettas]

Dropsy is the result of an underlying illness. It is not an illness in itself. It is caused by something making the fish retain fluid and eventually will lead to kidney failure. It can be caused by dirty water which as a result gives the fish a bacterial infection that leads to dropsy, but it can also be caused by an infestation of parasites, bacterial in live or frozen foods, an after effect from an injury, and so forth. Once the pineconing starts, dropsy is almost always fatal.

Chances are, your fish is constipated. They need to be fasted at least one day a week, and have a blanched pea one day a week to keep things moving along. A variety of frozen foods like daphina, bloodworms and brine shirmp will also help if you are only feeding pellets and freeze dried foods. You should also clean up any uneaten food on the bottom of the tank immediately after they eat. The food can go toxic in a short time and make your fish ill. A new turkey baster works wonders for this.