My Tropical fish had Dropsy.How long before she dies?
May 8, 2009 by admin
Filed under Questions and Answers
Em L asked:
Hi there,
Hi there,
I’m realatiely new to fish keeping. Only for about 9 months, I now have a Plattie with Dropsy, well I think thats what it is. She’s all swollen up and her scales are poking out and her eyes are poking out. I don’t have another tank I can put her in and I don’t have a car to get anywhere to get one.
I’ve treated the water with anti bacterial medicine and salt from the pet shop.
I have read this is fatal but how much longewr is she going to suffer? She has had itr about a week. Everyone has told me to put her out of her misery but I just don’t have the stomach for that.
Do you really think its the only option?
Amy F on Sat, 9th May 2009 7:57 am
She won’t necessarily die. Try using melafix from pets at home which is what we used and it worked a treat!
Katie on Sat, 9th May 2009 3:46 pm
Melafix is hardly good for anything.
You need to get Maracyn2 at the pet store. It has cured 3 of my fish at different times that had dropsy. It’s the only thing I’ve found that actually says dropsy on the package. Walmart doesn’t have it. Petco and Petsmart do. It’s around $5.99 for an 8-packet box, and 15.99 for a 24-packet box. It really works. The key to cu ring a fish of dropsy is to treat is as soon as you recognize that’s what it is, and that’s definitely what it sounds like. If you want to give it any chance at all, medicate it with maracyn2. It won’t hurt the other fish in the tank. But if you leave it with other fish, you’ll have to watch them and make sure they don’t try to start eating it.
danielle Z on Tue, 12th May 2009 4:13 am
Not all cases of dropsy are deadly especially if you catch it early. Dropsy isn’t a disease but a symptom from something else. Salt is just going to add to the problem with dropsy here. KEEP it out of the tank. What is happening to your fish is the fluids are building up on his inside. Salt like in humans makes the fish hold MORE fluid adding to the problem. If you are going to add salt only EPSOM salt should be used. Do a water change and keep the salt other than epsom salt out of the tank.
If you used anti bacterial meds (Keeping the carbon filter out the entire time of treatment) you can either treat again or your fish could have dropsy due to internal parasites. Cancer also could be a cause but is rare.
Do a larger water change around 40% to rid the tank of any excess salt. Try treating again with anti bacterial medicine. If you see no change in the next three days, you can try an anti prasidic treatment. This can be in their food or the entire tank remember you need to remove the carbon on the filter. Hopefully your fish will pull out of it. SOmetimes just by keeping the water quality high (no ammonia or nitrites) and low nitrates your fish will pull thru on their own.
raiden on Thu, 14th May 2009 11:07 am
you need to get that fish out of the tank dropsy is infectious and will spread to your other fish
17 years experience with fish
hollindalek on Tue, 19th May 2009 1:26 pm
Hi EM , The fish might not die one of my own fish had dropsy , so i quarentined her and added some aquarium salt to the water (read the label) and hey bingo she’s fine ever since . and yes its ok to put the right amount of aquarium salt to a fresh water fish. hope that helps..