Serious betta problem/question?

Question

I had a slightly over 2 year old betta die about a month ago from dropsy. I cleaned out his tank, and let everything sit & dry. About a week after he died, I got a new betta. I used all new everything except for the filter & heater. The betta was doing great, and after about a week I bought him a live plant that had snails on it. A couple weeks after that, my new betta gets dropsy. He's had it for a few days now, and hasn't died. I've treated his water, but I'm scared that doing that is making him live longer, but not ultimately get better. I don't know what to do. I feel horrible because I've sentenced him to death, either by not properly cleaning the filter & heater, or by introducing something from the plant or snails. My questions are: should I ease my betta's suffering, and take him out of the water & let him suffocate? Is there a better way to euthanise him? Could he have gotten the dropsy from my previous betta? Or could the plant and/or snails brought in something that caused him to get dropsy? Thanks.

Answer 1

It would depend where you got the snails, if they are wild, that is most likely the problem. Medicine heals the pain for him, so don't suffocate him, that's like being cut and bleeding to death. Follow the directions on the medication and hope for the best.

Answer 2

Baby Bear is right about tank cleaning, I don't know anything about Petco. The concept of a hospital tank is a small tank with nothing in it but water and medicine to treat ANYTHING you intend to put into your aquarium. Put your Betta in one now. We use AquariSol for plants and fish. But don't use it on snails.

Answer 3

alright well dont listen to the guy/girl above me....

petco sucks, they dont take care of there animals, adn they dont care about there health or there quality of living.  now back to the subject...

now this is where you went wrong you didnt properly clean out your apuarium.    the best thing to do is buy a new filter....it could still have it in the old filter and when you start up the filter again the water goes right threw it again, making the tank infected again...

so clean everything all over again

normaly i wouldt sugest to boil the rocks, but if you have algea on the rocks it could be stuck in there.   so clean and boil your rocks.  

next take a clean tooth brush adn scrub everywhere filter and everything, even your heater.    everwhere...

then let the tank dry and wait for a few days, then fill up your tank and turn the temp as high as you can and let it sit there for a while and then cool down your tank until the right temp, and add you fish.  it shoudlnt happen again if it is correctly cleaned.

good luck~

Answer 4

Your betta will be fine in a small bowl. I would remove him and thoroughly clean out his tank again - this time being sure you get EVERYTHING!! Clean it all out with some very deluded bleach water and dawn - Let it soak in plain clean water over night and then rinse and finally let it air dry.

I wouldn't do anything quite yet to the betta. If he does seem to get worse and you just can't take it you can put him in a bowl and add baking soda to the water. But ONLY if he seems like he is not going to make it. This is another way of euthanizing it.

Also I would get rid of the plant with sails - if you an take them back and get a plant that is ot contaminated with snails. Snail are A-sexual which means they can reproduce on their own, so not only do you have to worry about the snail bringing something but about them multiplying out of control.

Answer 5

Don't take him out of water and let him suffocate. He'll die of dehydration/just plain drying out before he suffocates since bettas can breathe atmospheric air.

Okay, I am speaking from experience since I am dealing with treating a betta for dropsy right now. Here is what I'm trying:

1 tsp of EPSOM (you can use aquarium salt if you have it) salt per 5 gallons, daily water changes, and a dose of Tetracycline ( Kamacyn is better if you can find it) used as instructed on the package.

My betta has only had dropsy for three days now but if after a week of treatment he doesn't improve I will euthanize him. Everyone has a different way of doing it, some people freeze them in a cup of their aquarium water. Some people use a few drops of Clove oil if you can find it, it is basically an overdose of a sedative. If you have the stomach for it, people euthanize bigger fish by blunt force to the head or by severing their heads. I could never do it.

I personally freeze mine if there's nothing else I can do for them.

Please never EVER flush a live fish. Its a very slow death.