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Hi everyone,

My little girl Meanie died last night. Im not sure of what and that bothers me. She was always fairly big. I just assumed she was constantly fat with eggs. She didnt have the pineconing of dropsy and usually had no other symptoms. Last night before i went to bed, she was sinking to the bottom and breathing hard. I put her in a breeder net so that she wouldnt have to swim as far for air, but took no other measures, since I didn't know what was wrong with her. I just assumed it would pass. When i checked on her today, she was floating, but was upright. The only way i knew she was dead was the complete lack of movement of gills, and even then, i wasn't sure until she didn't react to the net. I hate to think she may have been hurting and i didn't do anything. Any ideas on what could have gone wrong?

Ohh I'm so sorry for your lost! <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> I don't know that you could have done much more than what you did for her.

My only thoughts on what could have been wrong- though I don't have any true experinece with this- is could she have been egg bound? The little bit I've heard about that is that a female beta litterally will be unable to release them, and that the pressure from the eggs -just like a pregnant woman- will push on her organs. The only measure I've heard that can be taken for this is surgury, but even then the changes of her surviving that are small, and you can't massage the fish's side because you could hurt her. I've been worried about this with my fantail goldfish, she's been holding her eggs for well over 8 months now and I'm tempted to go out and buy a male just so she can relase them.

I'm sorry I cna't think of anything else that could cause this based on what you have described.

Take care.

Fantails and Betas

I never saw her release eggs, so it could be that. I always thought this was relatively rare though. I had just removed a visual barrier between her and the male in the same tank, so maybe she started producing more eggs. *sigh* so I guess it is my fault. *says bad words* thanks for the opinion.

Please don't blame yourself. How are you going to stop or allow a fish to produce eggs? You don't have control over that. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I think being egg bound is a rare occurance. Though having her around the male, if conditions were right, shouldn't that encourage her to lay her eggs?

I really don't think you did anything at all to cause this.

thank you. i really hope i didnt. i moved my 2 adf's in there. the male seemed like he missed his buddy.