it's difficult to tell from your pictures, but if i had to guess i'd say it's more a function of instestinal impaction or a swim bladder issue rather than dropsy. swim bladder disease may be caused by many different factors including virus, bacteria or diet:
a virus can attack the epithelium of the swim bladder causing inflammation which makes the tissue too thick for gases to diffuse into the blood system. when this happens the fish exhibits lack of buoyancy because gases have nowhere to go. unfortunately, if this is your problem, it's untreateble.
bacterial infections can cause the same kind of thickening of the swim bladder epithelium as viruses.
anatomy ... globoid-shaped fish like ornamental goldfish are predisposed to problems with the swim bladder because of their anatomy which result in mis-placement of the bladder in the body cavity. this can lead to food impactions, which in turn clog up the pneumocystic duct.
feeding dry foods which tend to take on water like a sponge and expand in the fish can result in food impactions. due to the swelling/expansion of food in the gut.
so how are you going to treat swim bladder disorders? there are two means: prevention and treatment.
1. first and foremost, maintain good water quality. this will enhance your fish's ability to naturally resist viral or bacterial infection.
2. Pre-soak flake or pelleted food. this will allow expansion to occur prior to the fish eating it, and will lessen the chance of impaction.
3. try feeding your fish a couple of peas. peas high fibre content can encourage destruction of any impaction which might be present.
4. fast your fish for a couple of days. withhold all food for three or four days, and sometimes this alone will break up the impaction and return things to normal.
5. a product called Paragon II by Aquatronics® supposedly aids in treatment of swim bladder disease.
6. treat with Mardel's Maracyn-two or other broad-spectrum antiobiotic.
7. last resort - aspiration of the swim bladder. essentially you stick a needle in the swim bladder and suck out some of the air.
if it gets worse and you decide it IS dropsy, know the following:
Dropsy, is actually a "symptom" and not a disease in itself. the standing scales and blown up appearance are the result of swelling within the tissues and organs of the fish due to a build up of fluids in the kidneys and an inability to excrete this fluid in a normal manner. in other words, advanced kidney disfunction.
the problem with treating this disease is that there are a number of "potential" causes: bacterial infection, parasites, cancerous tumors, virus', internal fungal infections or sudden temperature drop of more than 3 degrees.
If the cause is bacterial, the swelling typically comes on pretty rapidly. if swelling is gradual then one or more of the other potential causes are more likely. unfortunately, treatment is most often useless at this point due to the advanced state of the disease process. When the illness, whatever the cause, has progressed far enough to cause internal swelling, the concommitant internal damage is usually too extensive to be repairable.
the latest research has shown that if the disease cause is bacterial and if the disease process is caught early enough, treatment with Romet B, a broad spectrum antibacterial, *may* be effective when used concurrent with an increase in water temperature to 84-86F for 2 weeks minimum.
BE CERTAIN to maintain HIGH OXYGEN LEVELS during such treatment since at these temperatures, water holds significantly less oxygen at these higher water temperatures. one of the suspected bacterial precursers to the disease process -- Aeromonas, is killed at these temperatures.
concurrently add 1/8 teaspoon of EPSOM SALT -- per 5 gallons of water. feeding foods soaked in ERYTHROMYCIN will kill the second suspected bacteria, Mycobacterium. in rare cases popeye has been found to be caused by Edwardsiella etarda. this is found *only* in fish that have been bred in outdoor ponds -- the functional bacteria in this case is carried by frogs. while fair to good results in treatment have been found by feeding Romet B., even better results have been found using injectable chloramphenicol or amakacin. this is best done by your veterinarian.
If parasites are a known cause, treat for them first for 3 days increasing the temperature to 86oF as fast as possible.
EPSOM SALT may help reduce the internal pressure casued by the swelling. extremely good aeration is necessary here due to the use of such high temperatures.
NEVER USE SALT (sodium chloride, a.k.a aquarium salt) for treatment of dropsy. this will KILL your fish in a very short time. the affected fish are already having a difficult time getting rid of salts due to kidney disfunction. this causes the blown up appearance and concurrent scale standing. the osmotic inbalance caused by addition of sodium to your tank water will make this condition far worse.
EPSOM SALT on the other hand, does not pass through the walls of the gut or gills and will extract water OUT of the surrounding tissue into the gut where it *may* be excreted.
