The Puffer Forum

I'm on my 5th Danio in 6 months of with what looks like dropsy. Bloated and raised scales. I think it is from old age but of course I don't know for sure. I do water changes every other week on this live planted tank. The first case of dropsy I had been doing WC's weekly. My ammonia and nitrite tested at 0 ph 7.6 nitrate 15. From what I read water quality is the biggest cause. The first Danio I treated in a QT tank to no avail, she died. The other 4 were euthanized. I hate euthanizing. I'm sure everyone does but I'm to the point I feel like I can't do it and close to a nervous breakdown. No one else in family will do it. I have had the danios and 1 neon tetra (neon tetra disease) and 2 cats euthanized (old age) in the last year. I can't take any more of this at this point. My QT has been torn down.

My question is, I know dropsy can be contagious, not highly contagious. If I let the Danio live out it's life in the community tank do you think that it would be a death sentence to the rest of the fish or do you think that if the other fish have good immune systems they will be fine until it's their time? I know I should set up the QT tank again. I'm trying to avoid this due to a huge increased work load on me.

Has anyone else been through something like this and let the ill fish stay until it died in it's tank and did they other fish stay healthy? Any advice? Thanks in advance.

Hi, I can't help you in regards to advice about dropsy, never had any experience with it, but I did want to say I know how you feel about euthanising. I just can't do it either. I know it's the right thing to do, but I hate making that decision that today is the last day of life for the fish. I had a puffer that, for whatever reason, would go and hang onto the filter. I know something wasn't right with it, and it used to weigh on me because I kept thinking I would need to euthanise it, but then I'd see that it wasn't there against the filter, so I would think it was alright. It wasn't skinny and was still eating too. Eventually I found it dead, stuck to the filter, and I was glad it had finally gone on it's own because I just can't bring myself to kill anything, even for it's own good. I had to have 2 of my dogs put down (not at the same time), and it's left me scarred in some ways.

I just wanted to share that with you.

I think we owe it to the fish that we take on, to humanely euthanase them when the time comes - no matter how hard it might be on us. I have seen too many animals "kept going" for purely selfish reasons. It truly is the one, last, thing that we can offer them & should be thought of as a treatment option, not a last resort, or giving up on them.

I'm afraid that I too, do not know a great deal about dropsy - or how the fish will be feeling - or if it is ok to let it live with the others.
Truthfully, only you can make the decision in the end.
Hopefully someone will know about the condition & be able to help. Good luck though.

Not only that, but animals don't understand suffering like we do, that keeping them alive for treatment could result in their getting well. (Not that you should euthanize over popeye or anything, but when it's really, really bad, then yeah.) Animals don't suffer like that in the wild. They are exposed to the elements, eaten, etc.

But if it's too hard for you, don't push yourself. You might wind up regretting it because you could have saved it, etc., and there's always the chance that it'll go wrong and be totally traumatizing for you.

If you don't euthanize, treat with epsom salts to draw out the fluid and make it more comfortable. And do separate it from the rest of the fish. It may not be highly contagious, but it's almost always fatal, and you don't want that happening to your other fish.

Thank you for sharing schismy007.

There are a ton of articles concerning dropsy. I've read them multiple times. I know the drill.

I set up QT with cycled tank water, bought epsom salt, added it. I had furan 2 to treat him with. I'll hope for the best for him. I might as well leave that tank up because I have 4 old (short lived babies, close to 3 yrs old) danios left. The way it's going so far, every single one of my danios is catching dropsy. I have 1 baby danio that should be close to 1 year old. If she doesn't catch it any time soon, I think that will tell me old age has caused them to be susceptible. One of the many cause's for dropsy is organ failure. My 4 white skirts, same age as the danios have been the healthiest fish out of all of them, no illness's. The neons, I lost 6 out of 9 neons during QT and 1 more months later to what looked like neon tetra disease.

Puffers have never been ill, thank goodness...knock on wood.

For what it is worth, I have never successfully treated a fish for dropsy. Nor have I spoken to anybody who has found a treatment that works. I have tried broad spectrum antibiotics like erythromycin and tetracycline and after a full course of treatment if this fish was still alive, the dropsy had usually not improved. I had one case with a molly where the symptoms subsided for a short time but then she puffed back up again days later. Therefore I consider humane euthanasia a responsible option for fish suffering from dropsy.

I have heard of treating it by using a syringe to draw out the fluid. Obviously, this is not the best route for most people.

Yes, I've seen that too Lil. Can't do it. I know what you are saying Pazuzu .

The epsom salt did not relieve the swelling. I feel bad no matter what I do now. The fish suffers if I euthanize or if I treat w/ medications.

I need to get tougher.

The quickest and supposedly least painful way that I have heard of is to take the fish out of the water, apply blunt force to the head, and then decapitate to ensure death. I also imagine that a Finqel overdose would be more peaceful, and definitely way less traumatic for you. You can get it on DrsFosterSmith.com.

I saw that article you posted on euthanizing a while back. I doubt that way is the least painful way to go. Pretty sick to think about doing that to a pet.

Having your brain smashed in .5 seconds can't be that bad. If you can manage to do it underwater, that would probably make it less frightening. Although, then again, we often take fish out of the water, in nets.

That being said, I can't imagine doing that to one of my pets. Given the choice, I'd go with Finqel. I think Nick mentioned a while back that clove oil is thought to possibly cause pain when overdosed... I'd check on that before taking my word for it, though.

There's no way I could smash my fish in the head, or any of my pets! I'd want them to go easy, I think I'd probably overdose them on the Koi Sedate that I have, I imagine that just shuts everything down when it's given in high doses.

Killing a pet is not nice, no matter how you dress it up, but if it's got to be done, I want it to be as kind as possible.

When I had to euth my old GSP, I just overdosed the finquel - all seemed very peaceful.

He is not doing any better . I don't want to make him suffer for weeks on end. This is the part of fish keeping I hate.

I couldn't find clove oil at wal mart. walgreens has it in a dental pack for 6.99.

We need an article that tells exactly how to euthanize with clove oil or finquel. I found only 2 articles online that say a few drops of clove oil in about 2 cups of water. Some ppl posted the fish had not died with those 3 drops.