HELP!!! Guppy with DROPSY what to do???

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Emaleth

AC Members
Jun 4, 2006
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Hello everyone!!! I need some help, and fast if possible. I just found one of my guppies that looks like she has dropsy. She is slightly swollen, and some of her scales on her belly are protruding. I do have a qt, but I have 2 fish already in there getting treated for fungus (have been there only 3 days). What should I do??? Do I remove the two fish I have been medicating for fungus and put them back into the community, and put the dropsy guppy in the qt? Or leave them be? I know that most posters think dropsy is incurable. I'm really new to this and not sure at this point what to do.

20 gallon tank
nitrate 0
nitrite 0
ammonia is high due to cycling tank
ph 7.4

4 neon tetras
4 mollies
4 guppies
1 pl*co
ghost shrimp
3 rasboras

My tank is only a week old.

Any help would be greatly appreciated...thanks!
 
Dropsy is highly contageous. If it is in the advanced stages where your fish looks like a pine cone then there is nothing you can do to save the fish. Might want to put it out of it's misery.
 
I hear cycling 20 gallons with 15 fish is a GREAT idea. Unless you are doing a plant cycle (in which case your ammonia will be low), you need to use a few fish to develop your bio-filter, not a fully stocked tank. With the wealth of knowledge available on the net in general, and here in particular, correct me if I'm wrong, but doing what you have done is just plain ignorance however you slice it.
 
the first thing you want to do is understand why your fish are getting sick to begin with. the answer lies in the fact that you have far too many fish to 'cycle' a tank with ... the toxic levels of ammonia and nitrite that the cycle will generate are a recipe for death and disease.

there's little to be done for a fish with Dropsy but euthanize it.

see if the LFS will take back some of your fish .. these are particularly NOT hardy to nitrite and you will likely lose them before your tank is cycled.

4 neon tetras
4 mollies
3 rasboras
 
To everyone who had something positive and some corrective criticism for me, thank you. Since I have found this site and forum I am day by day increasing my knowledge to hopefully have a healthy, happy and successful community tank. I will contact my LFS and see if I can return some of my fish. I have done several water changes which have seemed to make a difference in water levels. However to you Goatman...yes I was ignorant when I purchased so many fish. But like so many newbie tank owners, I followed the 1 inch of fish per gallon of tank. It was my fault for not researching more on the net to find out how many fish to cycle a tank. In my own "ignorance" I had no idea what cycling a tank even was. So I am sooooooooo happy that you have pointed out to me my HUUUUGGGGEEE ignorant mistake. I'm sure that with your positive attitude you have helped and encouraged MANY newbies here, and for that I THANK you.
 
Don't let Goatman get you down, everyone (including me) have made mistakes along the way. Just keep reading and posting on the forum because there are people out there that will help you without making you feel like scum..... I am sure that once you get more educated with cycling everything will turn out for the better. I to am new to all of this and I am fixing to start up my tank and turn it into FW (I just got out of SW due to the expence) and I know I will probably make mistakes along the way to. You just have to ignore the people who think that you should know better. It would not be called the "Newbie Forum" if you were expected to know everything. There are a lot of people with good advice you just have to look over the people that want to post snotty comments.
 
Try a medication called Maracyn -Two. It's recommended for dropsy.

Beware of it's affects on your bio-filter though--you may have to start your cycle again from scratch because meds tend to destroy the good bacteria in the tank and filter. I don't recommend medicating an entire tank of otherwise healthy fish--if you can, get your hands on a cheap 3 or 5 gallon ASAP as a quarantine tank, and you won't risk your fish or your filter.
 
Ms. Bubbles...I do have a 5 gal qt, but I currently have 2 other fish in it being treated for fungus, with maracyn. Do you think I should return them back into the community tank, or add the fish that has dropsy to it? They have been medicated 3 times so far. Thanks for your advice!
 
I actually just started posting here, but I've worked in pet shops for years and played with aquaria since I was 3. If you didn't know what cycling a tank was, then you had no business setting it up in the first place. If you had explained to the pet shop what you were doing, I have few doubts they would attempt to disuade you temporarily from fully stocking your tank on day 1. My apologies for my negativity, but it seems new tank owners are ill-equipped to attend to the needs of their tank on day 1, almost strictly on the basis of lack of ambition towards research BEFORE the buy, as opposed to research AFTER the buy when your fish are ill. Just curious, were the fungal fish from the same tank?
 
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