Betta Illness

Question
Since my last water change I believe my betta has become ill. He lays on the bottom of the tank ocassionally coming to the surface for air. His front fins are not moving in the fast way as usual and he appears generally bloated. I think his scales are raised from the body. I live in the tropics so his water temp. should be fine. I only have rocks in the tank; no vegetation, and he has always seemed happy with this. I feed him betta food, as directed on the pack. I fill his tank with water that has been 'sitting' to diffuse any chemicals, change it 4-7 days, put in the required amount of Armour Coat to protect him, and have currently added some fungus & fin rot medication. What could be wrong with him & how can I save him?
Sue

Answer
Sue,

 Sorry to hear your fish is sick. From the description that you gave me it sounds like Dropsy. If you look down on him from the top of the tank does he look like a pine cone? Where there is not a cure for Dropsy, there is a prevention. The main cause is bacterial infection due to bad water quality. Most cases of Dropsy are fatal. This is because by the time the fish shows physical signs of Dropsy such as the scales popping out, the internal organs are beyond repair. The number one way to help prevent Dropsy is good water quality. I only use a water conditioner that is made for Betta's. We can try to get the bloating down by add some Epson Salts to his water at a rate of 1/8 teaspoon per 5 gallons of water. This will draw the fluid out of his body. Make sure you dissolve the salt before you add it to his tank. DO NOT use aquarium salts as this will cause more trouble. As far as living in the tropics, you still need to have a heater in his tank. Heaters only kick on when the temp of the water drops below the temp the heater is set to. While it might be very warm outside chances are it isn't in the room he is in. He is tropical and his water needs to be 82 degrees at all times. When the temp fluctuates up and down, this causes stress to the fish and then disease sets in. Since you are adding a water conditioner to his water, you do not need to have his water sitting out. What you do need to do however, is make sure the new water going into his tank is the same temp as the water in his main tank. 2 degrees up or down can shock him. If your fish does not show physical signs of fin rot or fungus, do not treat him for that. Only add medication if you know exactly what he has. This can add stress to the fish and chemicals to the water that do not needs to be added. ALWAYS test his water weekly to make sure his ammonia and nitrites are at 0ppm and nitrates are below 20ppm.

Like I mentioned earlier, Dropsy is almost fatal but I do know that sometimes this helps. Heat also helps. If he had a heater set at 80 degrees, you can actually make it a little warmer. You can set it to 84 degrees. Let me know how he is doing in a day or so. Good luck