Abnormal betta

Question
About 2 to 4 weeks ago I noticed that my Beta (male) was starting to look like he was getting fat (a large belly)  I began feeding less and he continued to get bigger and become lazy except when the lid opened and I put food in the water.  I took him in to a local pet store that sells fish (petsmart) and they said they had never seen anything like it.  When you hold him up to light you can almost see through his "bubble" like it is full of air or water.  I have taken him out of the main fish tank and put him in a fish bowl to protect the other fish incase he explodes.  what can I do for him or what caused this?

Answer
Hello James-

I'm very sorry to have to say this, but your betta may have a case of Dropsy. Hopefully it's something else, but you need to know that once a fish develops Dropsy, it's almost always fatal. I'll do everything I can to help you help him, and after that all we can do is hope for the best.

Here are some pictures of Dropsy-fish:
http://www.flippersandfins.net/Images/DropsySide.jpg
http://www.flippersandfins.net/Images/dropsy2.JPG

Here are some steps you can take:

1. Buy a 1 gallon heater for his tank. Set it at 80 F (you can use a small $1 stick-on thermometer to measure this.)

2. Check the levels of ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites in his water (before you do a water change.) Ideally, these should be 0 - PETsMART will check a water sample for free and will offer further advice based on your results.

3. Add just a tiny pinch of Epsom salt to the water.

4. Add a dose of Melafix to the tank to help keep him calm.

5. Wrap the tank in a blanket to shield his from loud noise and light.

6. (optional and possibly expensive) Purchase an antibiotic, like kanamycin (KanaPlex) or minocycline (Maracyn-Two) - A cheaper alternative is QuickCure, but it's not as helpful in curing Dropsy as the other two antibiotics.

This is all I can think of - This treatment should bring your betta back to normal if he doesn't have Dropsy, and may save him if he does.

-Amber Worman