# Is this dropsy? What should I do??



## FredericoAlves (Jan 5, 2013)

Hello everyone, in the past two or so months, I've been upgrading my parents 10 gallon, to a 25 gallon.
Everything was going right, untill now. New new tank was already cycled when I transferred the fish from the 10 gallon (6 cardinal tetras and 1 otocinclus, the others they had in the 10 gal died). So I tranferred the fish to the 25 gal, and they seemed to be doing great for the first two weeks or so, but last week, one of the cardinals died, and my parents told me he was really really fat. I started to do some research on the internet, and came acoross this dropsy disease thing. I found out that it is not an actual disease but the result of an acumulation of fluid on the fishs stomach. I heard it is very hard to treat unless its caught in the inicial stages, and that the best solution is to euthanize the fish. So, I gave another look at the tank, and one more cardinal now seems to have goten fat aswell, and also the oto catfish has now a bit of a big belly (the oto made me think a little bit, because there's virtually no algae in the tank, and my parents only throw an algae wafer in there once a week or so, and he never seems to nible at it, only the cardinals do, so why does he have a big belly, if its not food, it came only be dropsy, I think...). 
Ok, so my main question is: How do I get rid of this disease?? I dont wwant to spent lots of money on medicine, for it to be useless, so I prefer the euthanize method. So, what should I do? Euthanize the oto and the fat cardinal? Euthanize all the fish? Is it contagious? Help me out please guys!!


----------



## L.West (Apr 26, 2013)

Hi, I just recently had a fancy goldfish that came down with dropsey. If it is dropsey you will notice that the scales are raised off the body giving it a pinecone effect.

I would remove the affected fish and put them in a hospital tank. I was told that once they have the raised scales that there isn't much hope but I still tried to isolate and medicate with Maracyn II and salt but I was unsuccessful.

The main thing is to isolate the sick to prevent it from spreading. I can say that my other fish did not come down with the illness after I separated the sick one.

Good Luck with your fish. Maybe someone with more knowledge will also chime in.


----------



## FredericoAlves (Jan 5, 2013)

I don't really see that pinecone effect that everyone talks about, but I think that's because of the type of fish in question, these are cardinal tetras and oto catfish, all small fish that I suspect not to have big enough scales to witness the pinecone effect. apart from that, the other sinctoms I heard about are almost all verified


----------



## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Dropsy almost always has pineconing.You can have dropsy without,but?
Possibly the fish is constipated(try feeding peas) or it could be an internal parasite?


----------



## FredericoAlves (Jan 5, 2013)

How do I feed the peas? Must take the skin off them right? I also plan on adding some indian almond leaves, and alder cones, because I heard they have antibacterial and antifungal properties, and would also look cool on the tank I think


----------



## FredericoAlves (Jan 5, 2013)

Are the peas gonna make the parasites (if they are parasites) die?


----------



## L.West (Apr 26, 2013)

No, the peas are just to clean out the intestinal tract - sort of like a laxative.

Be sure to use peas that were frozen/thawed and then take the skin off - just drop a few pieces into the tank for the fish to consume.

Peas tend to work very well if it turns out to be constipation.


----------



## FredericoAlves (Jan 5, 2013)

Nice! thanks for the advice! I'll try that trick tomorrow then! 1 pea for 3-4 fish, is that right? I've read that somewhere


----------



## FredericoAlves (Jan 5, 2013)

One more thing guys, i've now been reading a bit about constipation in fish, and seems like the main reason, is inapropriate feeding, like a monotonous diet of flakes, flakes , flakes, flakes, flakes... my parents usually feed the fish flakes, thats right, BUT once or twice a week they feed them frozen brineshrimp+spirulina... isn't that good enough to make the fish happy? I think the flakes they feed isn't very high quality, but that frozen food I use in my own aquariums and seems to be awesome. Do you still think the fish are constipated?


----------



## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

The constipation would be more likely from fish eating a high protien diet when they require vegatables or something of that nature.Flakes could be high protien or vegatable matter so just flakes isn't necessarily a bad thing ,but some variety in diet is always good.
Just to repeat dropsy usaully has pineconing,but doesn't have to from my reading.
Boil the pea for a minute or two ,cool it then skin it.


----------



## FredericoAlves (Jan 5, 2013)

Okay, I'll try the peas, if it doesn't work, I'll ask for help here in the forum! Thanks for he replies guys!


----------



## FredericoAlves (Jan 5, 2013)

Hello again guys! I'm here to report that the fish ate the peas with joy, except for one fish... The fat cardinal, and I recently noticed he is not schooling much with the others, I guess thats no good thing, what should I do???


----------



## sharkettelaw (Aug 30, 2011)

having a fat belly doesnt mean its dropsy. Early signs of it would be sitting at the bottom of the tank or sitting near the surface for a couple of days. Then it will start going pale then the scales will raise..your fish may have either eaten too much, be constipated or have internal parasites.


----------



## Arthur7 (Feb 22, 2013)

Sorry! If I read everything I absolutely must say something about it.
If they predominantly live daphnia feed, it would be something not available. Daphnia contain a lot of roughage (the shells). This stimulates intestinal activity. Now get back to the Daphnia time. Go it out to the shore with the net.
Honestly, I also sometimes feed artificially. In winter, when there is nothing better. But then little.
Maybe you will not save the existing fish so but after that they will do better.


----------



## FredericoAlves (Jan 5, 2013)

Hello again, I've tried the peas about 3 times now. Doesn't look like the cardinal is any better... He is just more and more fat! He is the first to eat, and the one that eats the most, out of all these cardinals, and he's not even the bigger one... 2 of the others are longer and much more ''elegant'', should I try anything else? I've switched the flakes for hikari micro pellets as their mais diet btw


----------



## FredericoAlves (Jan 5, 2013)

Should I worry about internal Parasites? How do I get rid of those?


----------



## alhays31808 (Aug 27, 2011)

L.West said:


> Hi, I just recently had a fancy goldfish that came down with dropsey. If it is dropsey you will notice that the scales are raised off the body giving it a pinecone effect.
> 
> I would remove the affected fish and put them in a hospital tank. I was told that once they have the raised scales that there isn't much hope but I still tried to isolate and medicate with Maracyn II and salt but I was unsuccessful.
> 
> ...


Yes... I also believe dropsy is called the "Pinecone Effect" At least that's what I call it. I've never had a case of dropsy before. My fish rarely get sick, and I've had 3 Zebra Danios for almost 3 years now.


----------

