need help ASAP

Question
I have a beautiful siamese fighter (betta fish) who has very bad dropsy. We have been trying to treat it for a few months but i think its more than just dropsy. His extreamly swallown, scales sticking out and gills are swallown also. His has very little water in his tank so that its not a struggle for air. His been sitting verticly in the tank the last few days. (head up towards water) but if you approach him he swims over so its obviously more of a comfort thing. I feel his in pain and he looks very ill. Is there anything i can do to help him untill its his time is over or should i try to help this along (eg. am i just keeping him alive by keeping water low) I dont want to him to be in pain and i hate seeing him like this. please help..

Answer
Erin,
I'm so sorry to hear about your betta. I feel like he has too far gone with the body-swelling for anything to help him. Dropsy is almost always impossible to treat. Even well-known betta breeders often cannot cure a dropsy case once its started. Most people would advise you to put the poor little guy out of his misery. The most humane way to do this would be to use the Clove Oil method. Clove Oil is used frequently as a fish anesthesia and when fish must be put to sleep, it can be overdosed to put the fish to sleep. Much in the same way dogs and cats are humanely put to sleep with an overdose of anesthesia. You can read an "how-to" here:

http://www.fishjunkies.com/euthanization.php

Its up to you whether you think the little betta should be euthanized, you are the best judge at that. But I feel he probably is suffering far too much.

I'm really sorry, I wish you the best...
Karen~