so one of my goldies has had dropsy for almost two weeks now, at least the puffed up stage with scales sticking out. this is confusing me, becuase i think he shuold be dead by now, or at least floating upside down. but he's not. still swimming around relatively fine, pooping normally, and eating a bit here and there. the other 5 i have in the tank are perfectly fine have no signs of anything bad happening to them. i've putting off sticking the sick one in the deep freeze, becuase i think he may get better. i'm not giving him any meds, he was only a 20 cent goldie anyways, but i've had him for two years. any suggestions as to if you think he will get better at all, and what would be the best way to take him down? i was gonna wrap him in a wet paper towel and pop him in the freezer, but, pretty tough to do. any suggestions would be fantastic! thanks!

Cant realy help you. I am trying not to state the obvious,but if you
care about your goldfish then TREAT IT!!!


No matter what dont kill it!!



ITS CRULE TO KILL YOUR FISH IF IT HAS ANY CHANCE OF SURVIVING!

I am sorry to hear about your fish. Dropsy is very hard to treat but it is possible. There is a pinned topic on how in the diag section...Popeye/Dropsy thread, if you want to treat her that can help you.

And it is NOT cruel to euthanize your fish if you think it is suffering. Only you know what is best not us, if you think it would be best then it is. I am sorry for the harsh words above people have very strong feelings about euths, but as a vet tech it is a nesassary tool that we sometimes have to think about and do. It doesn't mean that you don't care for your fish, actually the opposite. It takes a very strong love to let a pet go.

If you need help further please let us know, and best wishes to you.
I will move this to the disease/diag forum so it can be looked at there.

thanks laurie. rose, that answer was definatley weak sauce. i don't mean to imply in any way that i WANT to kill my fish, becuase i really don't. otherwise iw ould have by now. and at the same time, spending an inordinate amount of money, that i at present don't have, to try to treat something that was a 20 cent investment is a bit much. i'm jsut curious what people have to say about what i described above. does it seem strange to anyone that the fish is still living and becuase it is, do you think it will get better? i've read the euth section and found it quite informative, so i am set there, but i'm still curious what others think about the fishes' present condition. thanks

Ok with all that said, I would think with full blown Dropsy she would be gone by now. The 2 that I have lost to dropsy went very quick, once their scales start pineconing it is but 3-4 days at the most.

If she is hanging on with a severe SBD then it would take longer, but the scales don't usually stick out with that.

Have you tried fasting her for constipation? Maybe followed with peas for a few days. Clean her out so to speak. That doesn't cost alot (i know it stinks to be on a limited budget).
You could also just raise the temp on her tank (is she in one by herself) to around 80 degrees put in the epsom salt and see if that helps her any.

her scales are definatley sticking out, though i'm not sure if it's a result of her just being so enlarged... i had them on an automatic feeder for about a month, and the way it is, the fish barely gets much food.. and i have peas in my fridge with i have yet to feed it....so.. it's really quite confusing... the fish is in with 5 others in a 55 gallon...change 10 gallons out every week... i mean i want the fish to live, but i just don't know how it's still holding on, and seeming to not really feel sick (no floating, no clamped fins, it's still social...). it's like the fish is just really bloated, but other than that, it's fine???? very strange considering the rest of the fish are perfect. thanks for the reply laurie

What are the params of the tank? Could you post them, we may see something there.

I am thinking with a 55 gal you are slightly overstocked and with the bio load it is carrying I would tend to think changing only 10% is not enough. I can help you if you answer all of the questions above maybe we can figure out what could be causing this.

Often when there is a water quality issue only 1 fish will show symptoms first.

Also I would fast her 2 days and then give her the peas. It wouldn't hurt the others to do that as well.

use S1... it cured my goldfish which had dropsy :krazy: