Wife's betta died...

[chkltcow]

Yesterday when I got home, I saw what I've known for days was inevitable. The wife's betta was lying in the bottom of the tank dead. For a few days now, it has been bloated and its scales pineconed out..... dropsy, right? So last night we buried him (wife would NOT flush him).... and this morning she asked me if we could get another one. So, assuming this is dropsy..... what do I need to do first? Is it a disease that stays around in the water, or is it just a one time thing? Should I do a big water change and consider it fine, or should I tear down the whole tank, replace the filter material, and bleach everything to nuke any remaining bacteria, etc.?

 

[SRC]

Diagnosis, One of these situations may be the culprit:
Accute Dropsy: Sudden swelling: A bacterial infection will cause internal bleeding.
Chronic Dropsy: Slow swelling: Growing tumors, or even parasites, in the fish may cause it to swell.
Chronic Dropsy: Slow swelling: Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Highly contageous!
Other unknown causes, such as a virus, or permanent damage to the fish's internal organs. Damage to kidneys can occur due to over-use of medication or use of too strong of medication.

Treatment:
It is difficult to treat, but in some cases where the problem is due to bacteria, if detected early enough, it can be treated. This is why you should closely examine the fish's environment for a bacterial problem, and deal with the source of the problem as a part of treatment and preventative.

By the time the scales begin to raise, however, it is very fatal to the fish. Salt baths can help to draw the fluid out of the fish. A variety of medications can be purchased that treat dropsy, which sometimes occurs due to an internal bacterial problem. Medications for external bacterial problems only will not be effective for this problem.

Since it can be attributed to bacterial, parasitic, or viral causes ..I would say most definately clean the tank very well before adding another fish.

 

[chkltcow]

Sounds like Chronic Dropsy. He grew a couple of tumors long before he started swelling up. In the last 2 days his scales pineconed out and then he was a goner. I'll tear down the tank tonight and give it a good cleaning before we add another fish.

Is it safe to fill the tank back up, add some chlorine bleach to it, and let it run with fresh filter media? The chlorine should take care of any remaining bad stuff in the water, right? What about plants... should I get rid of them too?

 

[WILDER]

Sorry for your wife's loss, yes it was dropsy.

 

[SRC]

HOW TO SANITIZE A JAR OR TANK THAT HOSTED A SICK BETTA:

Soak empty jar & fishnet, in a mixture of tap water and Clorox (1 part Clorox to 20 parts water ). CLOROX KILLS BETTAS!!! So OBVIOUSLY never ever let it come into contact with your fish! Only soak objects in the mixture, not the sick bettas!! (DUH!). You should let the stuff soak for about one hour. Then you should RINSE RINSE RINSE and RINSE again. Wipe dry with a paper towel, and the jar is as good as new. Nothing can survive the hour long Clorox/water dip treatment! Hehehehehe.

If a whole tank is infected badly, you might want to tear it down. Move all fishies to new quarters. Empty contaminated tank. Throw away any LIVE plants. Empty all rocks and gravel. The tank should be filled with water and Clorox should be added (same proportion as above). Throw in there the filter (Throw away all the filtering media before soaking filters), heater, thermometer, any plastic plants, anything plastic. Let it soak for a few hours. Then empty and rinse rinse rinse etc… ROCKS AND GRAVEL cannot be soaked in Clorox as they will absorb it and then probably poison your fish. I put the gravel and rocks in a tray and bake them in my oven at 450F for about an hour. Kills everything. Then let them cool off and put them back in your tank (AFTER YOU HAVE RINSED TANK FROM THE CLOROX/WATER MIXTURE). Put brand new filtering media in your filter, and put your tank back together, fill with water and let it run for a few days before adding bettas to it. I recommend using “CYCLE” which helps reintroduce the nitrobacter which are necessary to your tank’s filtration.


WARNING! Chlorox may leave residue in your tank's silicone. If you are bleaching an acrylic tank, the acrylic walls will absorb some chlorox and later spew it back into the water (. What to do then? After rinsing, fill again with water and add A LOT of rock salt. Salt will draw chlorox back out. Then you can empty tank again, rinse and set it up safely. Another good trick to use in conjunction with salt is direct sunlight. Sunlight will neutralize bleach so if you can, leave your tank/jars out in the sun for a day and let them get a good tan LOL. All bleach will be gone, poof, and bettas shall be safe and happy .
http/www.bettatalk.com/sanitization.htm