Keeping Fish

[Shellybean02]

this is Brooke:

This is Lynn:

And this is Penny:

My pretty girls complete my aquarium^-^

 

[Shellybean02]

Whoa please help... I just noticed that Penny got bloated, how did this happen so fast? What happened to her, as it didn't happen to the other fish? If this is serious please let me know ASAP so I can isolate and treat her. She is swimming fine but sticks to the bottom now. None of the fish showed any signs of sickness a few minutes ago, someone please tell me what's going on

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Are he scales sticking out, sounds like drowsy.

 

[Shellybean02]

You tell me? The Internet makes dropsy sound really scary; how could this happen in a matter of minutes?
*She doesn't seem to have any color loss, clamped fins, a "pinecone" appearance, or troubles of any sort*

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Dropsy has to do with osmotic pressure, the fish loses it's ability to not absorb excess water, it can be a bad thing and unfortunately can be common in bettas, stress can bring it on like being moved into a new tank and if water conditions are too different in moving them, or some just have something internally going on.

I will usually use aquarium salts to help take off the pressure, I have read about others using Epsom salts but haven't tried it, I will add the recommended amount of salts on the package, usually 1 teaspoon per 10 gallon, than add more each day for several days than do a water change to lower it. It doesn't always work and some don't recover.

Dropsy can also be brought on by some fungal as well as bacterial issues that become apparent during stress, there are tablets that can be used to treat these infections and you should probably keep some on hand. Since you have snails I would try raising the temperature of the tank a bit to see, some bettas are so stressed by sitting in the pet shop that they don't all make it.

Bettas are short lived fish, about two years old, but most live about a year or so depending on the individual as when you buy them they are already mostly mature.

You will have a sharp learning curve with keeping fish, read all you can and try to understand all you read, once you get it, it all will be easy, or at least you will know what to do.

 

[Shellybean02]

My options are: She's bloated from the stuff she ate around the tank; she became egg bound from looking at the males; she has a parasite/parasites; she has dropsy. Can anyone eliminate either of those, with the info and more pictures *coming soon*?
She became like this a few minutes after I left the room. I dropped some frozen brine shrimp which she and Lynn chased after and ate. The other fish show no signs of bloating. I'll try fasting her for two days(she's in isolation), if she doesn't get skinnier then I will be very concerned.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It's possible the salt in the brine shrimp caused it.

 

[Shellybean02]

oops... Are the other fish at risk? I removed her from the tank, and I'll try to get aquarium salts ASAP. Do I have to isolate all the fish and decontaminate the tank; treat the whole tank, or was isolation of the infected one good enough?
What can I do to the shrimp to prevent it from infecting the fish when I feed it to them? Do I just stop feeding the frozen brine shrimp altogether?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It's probably isolated to her, hopefully she improves over a bit of time, I haven't fed frozen brine shrimp before, I use flakes and freeze dried blood worms. I would just leave her in the tank where it's heated, you also have to be careful you don't over feed them as I don't think they are fed at the pet shop too much, so they can be too hungry, feed only small amounts. I would only feed the shrimp occasionally and small amounts. A fishes stomach is about the size of their eyeball so they don't need much.

 

[Shellybean02]

I truly hope she's just full

Can I put her back if she goes back to normal after a week? And have you had experience with a female who became egg bound instantly, or is it a long process?
The water levels tested normal. The other fish are okay, but the girls are swimming at the bottom(I hope I'm over thinking all this and that everything will be fine) I'll give updates!