Possible dropsy?

Onna Shinigami

Onna Shinigami

AC Members
Oct 3, 2002
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Tennessee
Noticed one of the mollies I picked up around the 4th was having some issues and pulled him out of the tank last night to notice his scales are sticking out. I'm pretty sure he's got dropsy but not entirely sure. Either way I went ahead and pulled all 3 mollies out of the tank, the silver is the one I think has dropsy, a creamsickle has a spot of ich I think and the black one just hadn't been as perky the past few days so all 3 went into a 10 gallon tank to make sure they're healthy enough to go into my bow front tank here in the next few weeks. I think I did the epsom salt right with 1/2 tsp per 5 gallons. Now do I do a water change after 12hrs or just add more salt w/o the water change? Also, all 3 are still actively (piggies) eating still and the swelling has gone down considerably on the male since last night. I've got some melafix that I could put in too but I wasn't sure if it would help or not? Also, it's just about impossible to put a filter on this tank I've tried while testing a few and they're just too tall to hang off the side so I've got an air stone going full blast. Sorry if the pics aren't that great, it's sitting on the carpet infront of my bow front. I just set up the tank in the easiest and only spot this tank would fit at. lol


Onna

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Is the one on top pic same Silver S/F as one below?

One on top clearly dispays sign of Dropsy. If you think what ever you tempted have reduced to bloating, I would continue but again, lots of observations made by owner can tilt toward one's hope that fish is getting better even though it may not be.

Unfortunately I cant help you with observations since i cant see the fish.

Only meds which yielded good results were Oxolinic Acid and Naladixic acid (Nalagram by API. Dont know if still avail) for me when caught and treated in early stages of infection. Monitor the water before, during and after any treaments.
Google for more info on these meds to determine if facts you find are the symtoms displayed by your fish before tempting treatment.

Test the water the moment you discover/noticed any abnormality. At least we can rule out water as culpit. If it is water that is out of line, by correcting water condition, it could be all you need to improve/heal diseased fish but not always.

Hope this helped a bit and Good Luck!
 
Both pictures are of the same fish just different from the top and from the side. I did test the water when I noticed him hiding the other day. The tank they were in was a planted 20 hex that with their help finished cycling after 3 weeks. Nitrates, Nitrites, GH and Kh are round about the range. I really need to buy new test kits but the strips still work atm. Ph 7.5 Am 0 Nitrates 0 Nitrites 0 Gh 40 KH 30
 
Just to be clear- so there is a filter on the tank they came from? I hope so. Nitrates being at 0 is usually a sign that the tank is not cycled or that you have done a whole lot of large water changes.
When you do a water change, you replace the amount of epsom salt you took out. so if you do a 50% water change and you had 6 tsp in there then you put 3 predissolved tsp back in with the new water.
Epsom salt may help drain the fluids, but at this point it is probably too late and the fish is going into organ failure. Sorry.
 
So sorry for your troubles, but truly the fish at top has dropsy. You could continue to try the epsom salts and maybe the meds Cerianthus mentioned, but I'm afraid it's too late and serious organ damage has occurred.

If the swelling increases, the most humane thing would be to euthanise. There's an excellent article written by one of our members in the "Article" section, sub section "Other". AC member ct-death is the member that wrote the article and it is extremely helpful.

Clove oil is a gentle, very humane and stress free method, whereas many other old school methods are not, such as; putting the fish in the freezer, and definitely not flushing.

I'm so sorry your fish is sick. Pristine water, pure clean water is of the utmost importance right now, for this fish and any others in your tank.

Keep us posted.
 
I don't think I'd give up on this just yet. Metronidazole is one thing that may help especially as dropsy is an internal issue. Adding 0.3% concentration of sodium chloride (avoid ones containing ferrous cyanide/yellow prussiate) should help as well. You can use this in conjunction with epsom salt.

Forget Melafix. You may also try to keep the water well aerated.
 
Lupin said:
I don't think I'd give up on this just yet. Metronidazole is one thing that may help especially as dropsy is an internal issue. Adding 0.3% concentration of sodium chloride (avoid ones containing ferrous cyanide/yellow prussiate) should help as well. You can use this in conjunction with epsom salt.

Forget Melafix. You may also try to keep the water well aerated.
Click to expand...

Is the Metronidazole the same thing that is found in the Anti-Parasite food that Jungle Labs have out be the kind you're talking of? Almost wish I had checked the forum before we got out today and picked up something else to see if it would help any. The stuff is the Fungus Clear, though not sure how well it'll work since it is an internal issue. I did do a 50% water change added 1 1/2 tsp of epsom salt and the fungus clear. This is really the first time I've ever had a fish with dropsy.

Onna
 
Could you please run me in the active ingredients of Fungus Clear? I kept forgetting the list. If one of them is nitrofurazone, it's antibacterial but as it already recorded bacterial resistances, it's not one of those stuff I'd use for dropsy cases. You can't use kanamycin or kanaplex either. It's going to only aggravate possible renal damage.

If your fish is still eating, I'd get Metromeds. PondRx.com or Pet Mountain may have them available. I'd order there. You can always buy Flagyl from pharmacies and crush a tablet of 250mg (I think) per 10g.

Epsom salt should be added at 1/4 teaspoon per 10g. What about sodium chloride?
 
The ingredients are nitrofurazone, furazolidone and potassium dichromate for the Fungus clear. For some reason I thought it was 1/2 teaspoon per 10g. Would the Anti Parasite food that Jungle has out not work either? It does have the Metronidazole in it along with raziquantel and levamisole. I did ask at the pharmacy about the Flagyl and there's no way I can get it with out a prescription from a doctor and I don't think there's a vet around here that would prescribe it for fish. lol As for the sodium chloride, I've been adding it as I do water changes along with the epsom salt when doing 50% water changes.


Onna
 
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