Who Gives A Fish Forums

Hello everyone.

I'm new here, but I'm hoping you can help me out with a bit of a crisis. I've recently gotten into beta fish, and I'm really passionate about them, but one of my fish is struggling with a mystery illness.

I've got two betas, Reno and Oakley, in a 2.5 gallon tank that's divided in half - I know, it's too small. Anyway, Reno's the one who's sick, and he's been living on the right side of the tank. Over the summer, I got a bit lazy with feeding them - they were both overweight, so I figured every other day was fine. But I've noticed that Reno hasn't been eating, and he's just not himself anymore.

It wasn't until today that I realized how bad things have gotten. He's just lying on the bottom of the tank, and when he does swim up for air, it's only sideways. His color's gone from this beautiful purple to a weird pink and white, and the worst part is the scale loss. There are patches on either side of his body where the scales are just gone, and the wounds are really deep - you can even see through them if you hold him up to the light.

I've included some photos, but they're not great - I'm working with what I've got for now. I'll try to update them when I find my better camera. My question is, is there anything I can do to help Reno, or is it time to consider euthanasia?

Oakley, my other fish, was living in the same tank as Reno, but on the other side with the filter. I've separated them now, and they're in clean water in different jars. Should I be doing anything else to help Oakley, or just keeping a close eye on him?

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for reading.

Edit: I think I've figured it out - it's dropsy. All the symptoms match.

I'm inclined to think that both of your fish have contracted the same issue. Given the symptoms you've described, I'd recommend treating them with a combination of Kanaplex and Furan-2 for a week. However, please note that jars just won't cut it - you'll need to get larger quarantine tanks, at least 5 gallons each. The stress caused by being confined in such small tanks has clearly taken its toll on them.

Thanks for the advice. I actually only posted pictures of Reno, so there's a chance Oakley isn't infected - I should've clarified that earlier. I've attached a picture of Oakley to this post, and he'll be getting moved to a 5 gallon tank by tomorrow or the next day. I'll keep a closer eye on him from now on and try to get my hands on Kanaplex and Furan-2, just in case.

Hi and welcome to the forum. I'm glad to see you're trying to help me out with my sick beta fish, Reno.

I've been doing water changes about every week, and I usually change around 25% of the water. I do gravel clean the substrate when I do a water change, but I'm not sure if I'm doing it enough. I also dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank.

The tank does have a filter, but it's only on one side, which is Oakley's side. I clean the filter about every two weeks, and I just use a gentle filter cleaning solution to get rid of any debris.

There aren't any live plants in the tank, but I've heard of Water Sprite before. I might look into getting some of those for my new 5-gallon tank that Oakley will be moving into. If not, I can definitely get some plastic plants with smooth soft leaves.

I've been trying to feed them a varied diet, but I'm not sure if it's enough. I've been giving them dry food, and sometimes I'll give them frozen or live foods as a treat. I'll make sure to mix it up more often.

I never thought about the fact that they might be stressing each other out by being able to see each other all the time. That makes sense, since they are naturally solitary animals. I'll definitely look into getting some dividers or something to block their view of each other. The idea of letting them show off to each other once or twice a week is pretty funny, though.