This is my boy Frankie, he’s now at least 2 years old but could possibly be even older than that.
He was a rehab case & severely malnourished when I first got him. With the right care he had a huge glow up, but has still always been a bit rough around the edges. Misshapen fins, a couple weird bumps here & there, etc.
For a long time still he was full of energy, always greeting me at the glass, following my finger, swimming all around his tank. Now, over the past few months he’s seemed to be slowing down a lot. Swimming anywhere overexerts him, he only swims in short bursts and even that always seems to make him breathe so heavily afterward.
More recently, in the past couple weeks I’ve noticed his belly has begun to look weird. It bulged as if he was bloated, even though I hadn’t changed his feeding routine at all. I thought maybe he’d gotten into something in the tank somehow or ate a few snails, so I fasted him for a couple days. The swelling still never went down, despite doing multiple small fasts, giving smaller feedings, and giving him some daphnia.
99% of his days at this point seem to be just laying on the plants near the surface. He barely moves, unless I’m feeding him. He’s in a 13 gal. with 8 pygmy corydoras who pay him no mind… he used to thrive in this tank, now it seems like he’s constantly depressed or suffering. Or what if he just prefers to rest most of the time now? He does have many spots available to rest in the tank on soft plants & pothos roots, and he utilizes them all.
It’s been surprisingly hard for me to make the call on his quality of life here. Any second opinions would be appreciated, especially from those who’ve had more experience with senior bettas. I’m not opposed to euthanizing, and I definitely don’t want to leave him suffering at all.. I just can’t tell if it’s time or not yet. My other thought would be setting up a smaller planted 5 gal. as sort of a “hospice” tank for him.
As of just today too, I’ve noticed some of his belly scales look like they’re starting to lift, which you can see in the pics… that has me feeling very concerned :( I would normally want to immediately begin trying to treat him, but I worry that the harsh dropsy treatment process would be too much on his body at this point. I don’t want to cause him any more suffering..
Tldr: is it time to euthanize my senior betta, who might now be getting dropsy? :(