HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Please, I need help with my betta, Mick, who on Thanksgiving became very bloated-like, behind his head his body was all puffed out. I've heard this was called dropsy, but I'm not sure how to treat it. I have medicine that cures dropsy, but the directions say to add a certain amount per gallon, and Mick is only in one of the kritter keepers, which isn't a gallon at all. How should I go about this? He has gotten worse since Thanksgiving, at first it looked like it would go away but it has gotten very bad lately. His scales are all stuck out too, I tried to get a picture of that as well. I apologize for the picture quality, I was kinda in a rush to get them and post them here. Can someone please help me, or at least offer some advice?

If you can, figure out what fraction of a gallon his tank is, then divide the amount of medicine to add to the proper proportion. It is essential that you treat him as soon as possible, as this disease WILL kill him if left untreated. If you can't figure with any accuracy how much water is in his tank, then add about 1/3 of the recommended dosage, as most kritter keepers are between 1/4 and 1/2 gallon capacity.

Boy, that sure didn't make my day any better...I just put him in a bigger KK that I didn't know I had, and it held more then one gallon, so what I did was just put a small amount of the medicine in there, and after it dissolved put him in there. So hopefully he'll make a big comeback and I can brag to you all how my fish made it through Thanks for your help and kind words, I do appreciate it

The bloating seems to be going down some, but its probably just my imagination showing me what I want to see. His scales are still out though. And now he's developed a spot behind his right fin thats a yellowish color...not sure what thats all about. He gets another dose of medication tomorrow, I really hope he makes it through this!

Hey Bubu, how's your fish and new crabby doing today?

The fish, not bad as far as I can tell, he's moving and everything, not acting as his usual self but at least he's alive! The crab, I'm not exactly sure, she also is not eating anything I give her. Which I bought some fiddler crab food that I used to give to my hermies and they never liked it so I quit. So now I've got a full thing of food that no one wants lol. I hope I'm not killing her, I'm doing everything I'm supposed to, to the best of my knowledge anyway. She just won't eat And she never comes up from behind this little plant thing I've got in there, she just hides out underneath it.

Do you have a graded a slope in her tank so she can come up out the water when she wants to?

I'm sorry to hear about your betta... I've lost a few to dropsy and right now I don't have any bettas... it is very hard to treat, but it sounds like you're doing all the right things and that's all you can do... good luck and I hope he pulls through... I miss my bettas!

could someone tell me more about dropsy and how bettas get it? I keep bettas on and off - my first one ever died right away but another one that we got at the same time lived for three years. I am thinking it died of some kind of disease - unless bettas can have pps!

Abby, yes I do have a slope for her. Dropsy I believe just happens, like there's no real cause to it. However some do think its contagious. My betta's are never around any other animals including fish so Mick's dropsy just happened on its own. My betta's came from horrid conditions, and they became very healthy and happy within only a few weeks, so I don't think they have PPS, but its possible I'm sure. Oh and about dropsy, what it does is it bloats the fish up, right around its abdomen area behind its head. It causes the organs to become larger, and if not treated quickly then the organs will most likely fail and the fish will die. The scales begin to pop up and the fish sort of takes on a "pinecone" appearance, as you can kinda see in my picture above. I was told that when the scales pop up that its a very bad sign and that the fish will most likely die soon. So far Mick is still bloated, but its gone down, and now he has this spot on his side thats a sort of yellowish color and it looks like a scab of some sort. I'm not sure what it is, but its not getting any better. He had his second dose of medicine yesterday, and today when I fed him I walked away for a bit but when I came back I couldn't see the food anywhere, so thankfully I believe he ate it. The first food he's ate since this happened, and it was on Thanksgiving that it did. So maybe he's getting better!!

Dropsy can be caused by bad water quality or other improper tank conditions. It can also be caused by cancer or organ failure. Usually if it's caused by bad water, it will come on suddenly, and if it's cancer, it will develop slowly. Make sure his water is kept clean, if you don't have a filter, you should probably change his water every other day. I personally believe that bettas should be kept in a filtered tank, at least 1 gallon, with a heater. They prefer for temps to be about 78 degrees, most people don't keep their house temps that high. Hope he pulls through!

Thanks Willow!He's in a large KK, it holds more then one gallon, which surprised me. I change his water every two days now, and he gets medicine every 4 days. He's on top of a hermit heater, which the hermits don't like because they got kicked out of their 10 gallon tank and are now in the 5 gallon. My betta's KK wouldn't fit in the 5 gallon, it was too big so thats why he's in the 10 gallon. The temperature at night gets down to about 75-ish, during the day its about 80, so he's always right in that range. Update: His bloating has gone down, if not totally gone now. The only problem, and I mentioned this above, is that he has what looks like an open flesh would on his side, its getting bigger and just looks like someone took a big chunk out of his. It's very odd, I'll get a picture later if he lets me. It's like his skin is coming off, and that just scares the heck outta me because now I don't know what to do. The medicine he has treats fungus as well, so I figured that would take care of it, but it's getting bigger. Any idea's on what I can do now?

Hey Ringo,Here's an info page on Dropsy that contains a hyperlink for "Ask an expert". Clicking on the second "ask an expert" hyperlink brings up a Q&A. If you don't see any reference to the wound your betta has, why don't you drop them a line and inquire if there's something you can do to treat it.http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/ ... hdeals.com

Thanks, I emailed them about it. It's getting worse now, its bigger and turning a whiteish color. His bloating has gone down, if not all away now, so he looks pretty normal except the spot and the fact that he's very stable, he doesn't swim around anymore. I mean he does, but not for long and not very well. He kinda swims with his head pointing down, so his backside is up, and he just sort of wiggles his way across the tank.

Bubu-Check out http://www.bettatalk.com. It's sort of the ultimate betta site. There is a great break down of different diseases and treatments. Good luck.