Healing my female badis

652 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by SNSDFAN, Feb 27, 2014

sammydee

Discussion Starter · Feb 25, 2014

Hi fish experts!

I have a relatively new planted tank (~3 months) and purchased a male and female Dario dario along with a few other small tetras. My female has been sick for a few weeks. She started acting sluggish for the first week. I noticed that she was porcupined into the second week, appearing slightly bloated, and I thought that maybe she had dropsy. Her back fin is tucked into a point instead of a flare and she hides under plants often. After this observation, I noticed that a few other fish (guppies) in my tank seemed to be itchy, so I gave two 1/2 treatments of Jungle Ick Guard with small water changes over the course of 48 hours because I have all small tetras in my tank. My female badis appeared to feel better after this treatment, but still hasn't fully recovered. Though she is being more adventurous now, she is still porcupined. She never seemed to be itchy though like the other ones. Does anyone know what I can do and/or what my badis is suffering from?

Thanks!
Sammy

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Kitsune_Gem

· #2 · Feb 25, 2014

She has dropsy, but dropsy is just a symptom of another illness, I can think of two off the top of my head that causes it.

Personally I've never seen a fish recover once dropsy sets in, hopefully others can chime in on it. On the rare occasion I see it, the fish is removed form the aquarium, a water change is preformed, and the fish is euthanized.

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sammydee

Discussion Starter · #3 · Feb 26, 2014

So do you suggest that I ... put it out of its misery?

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dubels

· #4 · Feb 26, 2014

Darn I think my new female basis has the same thing. She looks bloated and has been hiding too but haven't noticed the porcupinig yet.

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SNSDFAN

· #5 · Feb 27, 2014

hmm... IME I have had Bettas develop this spiky scale like symptom.

As stated before they are probably signs of other illness.... and IME I have had some that recovered from it. I also want to say, the healing process is very very difficult to understand.

Let me explain.

I had a male Imbellis mix show this Dropsy symptom, he also developed swim bladder disorder. So okay my first thing I did was separate it into this box like container inside of another tank with female bettas (10 gal).. I changed his water every day... and wallah!!! in about a week and a half.. he got better... I found out b/c he jumped out of the container into the actual tank. But b/c the female bettas were still young.. there was no breeding.. no harassment too b/c I did not feed him a lot. I feel like when they develop that spiky scale dropsy thing, you do not want to feed them like you usually would b/c the food is not going to pass through them anymore since their immune and digestion system are barely working. So... I usually fed him about every 3-4 day (small amounts).

Had another occasion in which my female plakat betta developed this dropsy symptom.. I tried changing the water that day.. She was housed in a 20 gallon long planted aquarium with three other female bettas and 2 Siamese algae eaters. She also developed swim bladder disorder.. and looked bloated.... after that one water change... I changed the water again a week from then. waited another week and did not change water... then week after that... she got better. As of right now, her stomach still looks bulgy so I prob will not be feeding her directly...

So... In conclusion.. I really want to stress that... the healing is very dependent and complex to say directly. Before times, I have tried isolating the betta by its self and water changed it every single day... and yet it still died...
It may also depend on how bad the situation is... meaning the hidden truth "disorder" behind the dropsy symptom can either call it a survival or death situation.

Perhaps you could isolate it or keep it in her same house and water change every third day. not all the water.. but about 50%water. Feeding it about every other day or only every other 3rd day... there is no treatment of what I can find or have read to treat or cure this dropsy symptom.. um,...

Since your Badis is getting better other than the pinecone scales... maybe just keeping up with the water change and #1 thing: her stress level. The more stress she is put under the quicker she will die.

I hope it helped a little.

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