Francis has Dropsy

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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Read this before posting!!

Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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Francis has Dropsy

Post by Pufferpunk »

I'm so sad... I've done everything I can. He's been this way for a week & getting worse. I feel so sorry for him--he looks so uncomfortable... even his face is swollen. As long as he's still eating the medicated food, I won't put him down.

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You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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Re: Francis has Dropsy

Post by bertie 83 »

I am so sorry to hear this pp.
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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Re: Francis has Dropsy

Post by suvattii2012 »

Oh thats not good is it contagious?
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Re: Francis has Dropsy

Post by Pufferpunk »

Everyone is getting the medicated food. I have nowhere to move Fiona. She looks fine. Supposedly this is caused by kidney failure.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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Re: Francis has Dropsy

Post by bertie 83 »

That's so bad you not had him long either. I know it's kinda a mute point but I would ask for credit from where I got him from.
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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Re: Francis has Dropsy

Post by Pufferpunk »

Only guarantee live delivery from online stores.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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Re: Francis has Dropsy

Post by sgtmyers88 »

So this is like AIDS or Cancer for fish!? I am so sorry! :(

Could'nt you get a 29 gallon real cheap on Craigslist and evacuate him to it?
Last edited by sgtmyers88 on Wed Apr 18, 2012 4:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Francis has Dropsy

Post by jus85411 »

sorry to hear PP, especially with how well they took to each other. you must be sad :(
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Re: Francis has Dropsy

Post by El Scorpio »

Yes, dropsy is caused by kidney failure. Once the kidneys stop functioning, they generally never restart, although I have successfully treated betas with dropsy with Kanamycin.
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Re: Francis has Dropsy

Post by sgtmyers88 »

I heard boiling and feeding goldfish crushed peas can help overcome this along with swim bladder disease.

These articles say place the affected fish in a quarantine tank and place a high dosage of salt in the water (salt bath) which will help evacuate fluid buildup in the fishes body and of course feed lots of medicated food.

http://www.ponddoc.com/koihospital/Diag ... Dropsy.htm
http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/dropsy/
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Re: Francis has Dropsy

Post by bertie 83 »

Give them some stick. I will for you if you want, there is always a way, like I say it's bad but they should replace a sickly fish
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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Re: Francis has Dropsy

Post by FADE2BLACK_1973 »

Oh soooo sorry about Francis, PP :( . I sure hope he pulls through though.
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Re: Francis has Dropsy

Post by Pufferpunk »

Huh... caused by poor water quality??? I do weekly 90% WC on there!
I've been treating his food with Tetracycline (as per Dad) but I think I'm going for something stronger tomorrow.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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Re: Francis has Dropsy

Post by J-P »

API Erythromycin

API Furan-2

Hikari BiFuran+

Mardel Maracyn-Two

Seachem Focus

Seachem KanaPlex

One of those may help
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Re: Francis has Dropsy

Post by RTR »

Dropsy is not a disease, it is a symptom. Dropsy is inability to handle water management within the body. It is edema secondary to some other issue, frequently from either or kidney or liver failure or both. FW fish do not drink water, they absorb it continuously from their surrondings through their skin and guts and gills. Any internal toxicity can result in edema. If it is secondary to either kidney or liver failure, it is fatal. If it is secondary to a transient systemic problem (such as the death of internal parasites in the body, not the gut) recovery is possible but not certain. Supportive therapy is all that we can do as we cannot correct kidney or liver failure any more than we can in humans without knowing the underlying cause. The symptom does not tell us what the underlying issue is or if we can fix it.

There is an awful lot of mythology about edema. Don't believe everything you see on the web.
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