Oranda w/ beginning dropsy

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pezzy

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Jun 19, 2008
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Hotlanta
should i start her on antibiotic food?
 

Lupin

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We need more details please, Pezzy. Pics should always be included.

1. What is the size of your tank?

2. What are your water parameters? State the brand of test kit used.

3. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or brackish water?

4. How long the aquarium has been set up?

5. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them?

6. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)?

7. What temperature is the tank water currently?

8. Are there live plants in the aquarium?

9. What filter are you using? State brand, maintenance routine and power capacity.

10. Any other equipment used (aside from heater and filter which are two very important components of the tank)?

11. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? What is your lighting schedule (assuming you do not rely on sunlight for our viewing pleasure)?

12. When did you perform your last water change and how much water was changed? How often do you change your water? Do you vacuum the substrate?

13. What foods do you provide your fish? What is the feeding schedule?

14. What unusual signs have you observed in your fish?
 

pezzy

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Jun 19, 2008
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Hotlanta
1. size = 30 gallon long

2. api test kit paranters: ammonia - 0, ph - 6.8 (working on getting it higher), nitrite - 0, nitrate - 5

3. freshwater

4. setup almost 2 years

5. 3 fish / 2 orandas (both have swimbladder issues) 1 pictus catfish. orands ive had for the 2 years. pictus added i think a year ago

6. quarantine? this tank was bought for them

7. temp is 78

8. no live plants (other than some hair algae :( that drives me insane)

9. marineland penguin 200

10. i have a heater and filter and bunch of air stones

11. it recieves some natural sunlight. I dont put on any light until about 8pm

12. I did a water change yesterday of about 60%. I change about 30% or so every week and yes i vaccuum substrate. I also use Prime after

13. I feed them now (used to feed pellets) frozen brine shrimp, frozen freshwater packs, peas, cocktail shrimp, grapes etc.... not anymore processed stuff really. althought the pictus does get its own stuff that i put in for it. They get fed once a day

14. well my orandas are both upside down floating at top but they have been that way for awhile. im guessing it was the processed stuff they used to eat :(

My oranda angel who ive posted about here before has now developed some pineconing but im thinking it might be just from her excess bloating because of her swimbladder so i dont really know how and if i can fix this :(
 

pezzy

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Jun 19, 2008
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Hotlanta


 

Flaringshutter

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Oct 17, 2006
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pezzy, unfortunately pineconing is never from anything other than illness. since the causes of dropsy are so varied it's extremely difficult to diagnose and once you see pineconing, there's a small chance they will survive. pineconing is caused by the buildup of fluid in the body, often from organ failure such as kidney or liver.

the most common trigger for illnesses resulting in dropsy is poor water quality. i'm curious what you are doing to raise your pH? if you are using chemicals that may be the culprit.

if they are still eating the best you can do right now is to feed a quality antibacterial food (i recommend Jungle Labs) and give them clean water. a 50% water change will do them a world of good. you might also try a maracyn/maracyn II regimen - a broad spectrum antibacterial medication - which may help clear up any internal bacterial infection, along with the medicated food.

best of luck to you. i hope they pull through.
 

mel_20_20

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Sep 1, 2008
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I'm so sorry, Pezzy, that your fish are sick. Flaringshutter is spot on with this. I'd try the meds and pristine water. My Brochis just recovered from septicemia on a treatment protocol of Maracyn and Maracyn II. He was terribly sick, but fortunately hadn't developed signs of dropsy when I discovered that he was septic.

I dosed the hospital tank he was in each day, right after doing an 80-90% water change, and I did that for two weeks every day. He started feeling better after a little more than 24 hours, but I wanted to make sure the infection was eradicated. I tried the medicated food but he wouldn't eat the commercially prepared stuff.

I'm afraid that dropsy is extremely serious and not often do fish recover once this appears, though I have read some accounts of full recovery with antibiotic treatment and clean clean water. I wish you the best in your efforts.
 

pezzy

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Jun 19, 2008
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Hotlanta
pezzy, unfortunately pineconing is never from anything other than illness. since the causes of dropsy are so varied it's extremely difficult to diagnose and once you see pineconing, there's a small chance they will survive. pineconing is caused by the buildup of fluid in the body, often from organ failure such as kidney or liver.

the most common trigger for illnesses resulting in dropsy is poor water quality. i'm curious what you are doing to raise your pH? if you are using chemicals that may be the culprit.

if they are still eating the best you can do right now is to feed a quality antibacterial food (i recommend Jungle Labs) and give them clean water. a 50% water change will do them a world of good. you might also try a maracyn/maracyn II regimen - a broad spectrum antibacterial medication - which may help clear up any internal bacterial infection, along with the medicated food.

best of luck to you. i hope they pull through.

ok so there is no way it could be from her being extremely bloated? Im using api's ph up and water changes to raise the ph but ive used that stuff for years..nothing new. I also dont even use as much as they say to. I hate using chemicals to fix the parameters. She was fine other than being upside down. I think Ill be feeding both my oranads the antibiotic food as my other one had poop that looked like a piece of long white thread.

shes pulled through once before....http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162106

all i can do is try my hardest. My mom was able to beat dropsy once with her oranda but it came back 3 or so months later and killed him anyway :(
 

pezzy

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Jun 19, 2008
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Hotlanta
ok ive started her and her bro on jungle lab antibiotic food
 

pezzy

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Jun 19, 2008
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Hotlanta
ok its been 5 days but i think ill continue them on it for the full 10 days as my angel seems better. she isnt pineconing on one side anymore and the redness has gone away. plus she pooped which i havent seen in awhile!!! :)
 

mel_20_20

AC Members
Sep 1, 2008
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Deep in the heart of texas
How's she doing? You say the pineconing has gone down on one side? Could you get us another picture. I would continue the meds and the water changes, keeping conditions pristine for her. Are you trying to get her to eat some nuked, peeled english pea, too.

I think others have advised this, but I want to encourage you again to not use chemicals to adjust your ph.

Even if you've used these with success in the past, their use may eventually be taking a toll. There are more natural ways to adjust ph, and there are many many threads on AC that discuss the fact that fish are not troubled by a wide range of ph.
 
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