Gold fish with "dropsy"?

Question

I have a common gold fish that has (what i believe to be) "dropsy" The fish is starting to get as big (and look like) a pinecone. Is there any cure for it? Thanks.

Answer 1

The possibility of a "cure" depends on the cause. Dropsy itself isn't a disease, but a group of symptoms that include the abdominal swelling, pineconing of the scales and inability to to get rid of excess water (which causing the "bloating").

Some possible causes are poor water quality, overuse of tank chemicals, infection, tumor, and kidney disease. What you'll need to do is to "experiment" a little to eliminate potential causes while trying to cure your fish.

The first step would be to do a good cleaning of the tank by doing a 50% water change. Use a gravel vacuum to clean down into the gravel well to remove any buildup of accumulated debris. Make sure you add conditioner to remove chlorine/chloramine (whichever your water company uses) and have the water at about the same temperature as what's already in it's tank (a goldfish produces too much wastes to be kept in a bowl, so you should have the fish in a filtered tank of at least 10 gallons if you don't already - it will need at least a 20 gallon as an adult). Add the new water slowly (over the course of 15-30 minutes) so any change in water chemistry happens gradually. Also add a little Epsom salt (NOT aquarium salt) to the water - about 1/8 teaspoon per 10 gallons of water to help remove the excess water in the fish's system. Add the salt to some water before you add it to your fish's container.

This may be enough to solve the problem. If the fish doesn't show any signs of improvement in two days, you may want to treat as for an internal infection. I've had good luck using Mardel's Maracyn 2 to treat this (if the cause was bacterial). If your store doesn't carry the Mardel products, look for something that contains Minocycline as an ingredient.

Answer 2

Im not sure about Goldfish, but I know alot about bettas and any betta who gets dropsy WILL die. Im assuming goldfish arent too different. It is definatly dropsy if hes bloated and form the top you can see his scales are raised like a pinecone
There is no cure and causes for it are really unknown

Answer 3

There's definitely a cure for it. There's a dissolving fish 'pill' out by Doc Wellfish that works for dropsy and it works pretty good, but you better hope it's not too late to get the stuff for your fish.

Answer 4

the form of the fish's abode does not count, regardless of in case you're no longer meant to place goldfish in small bowls by using fact of that's length. The 'massive glass cyclinder' you talk of isn't probably adequate. it somewhat is extra ideal to have a horizontally long fish tank then a vertically severe fish tank. The fish can't cruise around in a tall fish tank. Any fish tank it somewhat is taller than it somewhat is long, isn't adequate. commerce it in for yet another, longer fish tank. the reason goldfish would be unable to be restricted to a small bowl is as a results of the asserting 'a fish will basically get as massive as that's tank'. it rather is 0.5-genuine yet in an somewhat merciless way. The fish's exterior physique stops transforming into, regardless of if that's organs proceed to grow, inflicting the fish remarkable discomfort till they ultimately die. To effectively shop chuffed, healthful goldfish in an interior tank, you may desire a minimum of 25 gallons (a hundred litres) consistent with fish.

Answer 5

Not that I know of. There may be some medications but most don't work unless the disease is caught in it's beginning stages. I'm sorry.