Goldfish dropsy help

[FyaNyan]

Hi. Checked my fancy goldfish today and one of them appears to have dropsy.

TANK: 10g quarantine tank with two 3 inch orandas. I was going to move them into their new 40g breeder this weekend, but I noticed sickness. Only one fish has symptoms. I feed a small amount of Omega One goldfish pellets every day to every other day. I went light on food because they were in such small quarters. I change 80%-90% water every week. Tank has been up for a month or so. No heater. Sponge filter.

WATER (TODAY): No ammonia, 40 nitrates. Forgot to check nitrites because I was a bit scared about the fish having dropsy and wasn’t thinking. The tank is cycled so there shouldn’t have been any. I also use Prime at water changes.

SYMPTOMS: one fish’s scales are puckered out like a porcupine. I noticed some black coloring on the fish that I didn’t see before, but it looks just like speckles. Do goldfish change pattern? Also, the fish that is showing no symptoms (Ludwig) was chasing the symptom fish around. Could this have stressed it out?

WHAT I DID: I did a massive water change (as I do every week) and put one packet of Fritz Maracyn in the water. I will be continuing treatment this week.

Any tips on what else to do? 

 

Edited July 9, 2022 by FyaNyan

[Colu]

If your fish is suffering from Dropsy the most effective treatment I have found is a broad spectrum antibiotic treatment such as kanaplex in food to treat any possible internal bacterial infection metroplex to treat the tank as it treats aeromonas a common cause of Dropsy and aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 2 gallons that will help reduce the fluid buildup 

[FyaNyan]

On 7/9/2022 at 8:34 AM, Colu said:

If your fish is suffering from Dropsy the most effective treatment I have found is a broad spectrum antibiotic treatment such as kanaplex in food to treat any possible internal bacterial infection metroplex to treat the tank as it treats aeromonas a common cause of Dropsy and aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 2 gallons that will help reduce the fluid buildup 

Thanks for the info @Colu

My goldfish has gotten worse. I went through a treatment of Maracyn, to no effect. Now I am realizing it was plain Maracyn, not Maracyn two.

The kanaplex I ordered finally came today and I do have aquarium salt, too. I will treat the fish with both.

Sad thing is, it’s turning black everywhere, losing scales, and still bloated. Not a happy fish.

[Colu]

Sorry to hear he's getting worse it might have gone to far at this point to respond for medication to have much of an effect if you think he's suffering you might won't to consider humanely euthanizing him with clove oil that a choice only you can make you will when the time is right based on how he's doing

[FyaNyan]

On 7/17/2022 at 11:03 AM, Colu said:

Sorry to hear he's getting worse it might have gone to far at this point to respond for medication to have much of an effect if you think he's suffering you might won't to consider humanely euthanizing him with clove oil that a choice only you can make you will when the time is right based on how he's doing

Yeah, it may come to that. I’m gonna give him a day or two to see what happens, but it’s not looking good.do you have any resources on how to do clove oil euthanization?

It’s all sort of weird. My other fancy goldfish is doing great, finally in the display tank. I kept them both in QT in the same conditions. So I’m guessing this one was more easily stressed and just a weaker fish in general, or had worse genetics. I got them from my LFS, but I’m not sure what their source was. All I know, is the healthy one was over 2x as expensive. I thought it was because of color, but maybe it was from a better line of genetics. Who knows.

[Colu]

He some  information on clove oil

[FyaNyan]

Good news! Bloating is down, fish is voraciously accepting food. His appetite is back! Still a bit lethargic when not eating, but he’s doing better today. He’s not gasping for air or anything like that. I’ve done one dose of kanaplex so far and the results seem positive. It may just be an upward swing before the final drop, but I’ll take my chances and continue the kanaplex treatment.

[FyaNyan]

If the fish does recover, when do you think it’s safe to introduce him to my display tank? Dropsy is not a contagious condition, am I correct?

[Colu]

Dropsy isn't contagious if you haven't resolved what cause it it's possible it could reoccurre I have heard of fish being put back in the main tank and it coming back that could be link to water parameters or stress

Edited July 20, 2022 by Colu

[FyaNyan]

Ah. I believe the cause was stress from being chased by a dominant goldfish. It wasn’t exactly being bullied per say—no nipping or anything like that—but the dominant goldfish was definitely boss. I didn’t have any decor in the QT tank and it was a fairly small tank (10g), so I’m guessing that was the mistake. Circumstances will be different in the 40b, as there is cover and 4x as much space.

Water conditions seemed stable in the QT tank. No visible ammonia or nitrite—at least not that I saw. There were some nitrates, and I removed those often will regular water changes. I don’t think parameters are what caused the dropsy—especially because the other goldfish was in the same conditions and did not develop. I could be wrong. Just thinking out loud.

Do you think putting them back together will cause the stress again and start the whole thing over?

Edited July 20, 2022 by FyaNyan

[Colu]

It's difficult to no for sure if you have removed some of the stress factor's and they have more space your less likely to have problems in the future but nothing guaranteed

Edited July 20, 2022 by Colu