I've noticed that with my new(ish) orange oranda, Sawyer, he keeps getting dropsy like symptoms when my tank is salted higher than .02%. The first time I thought he had dropsy so I drained all the salty water, replaced it with fresh clean water and treated him with the Maracyn meds. The pineconing went away and all was fine. Well I have since add 2 other fish to the QT and salted back up to .03% for parasites. Well, to my surprise Sawyer is pineconing again!! I moved him to a bucket for now.

I also had a blue oranda, Chubsey, that did the same thing.

I am just wondering, are some golds just sensitive to the high salt or could something be wrong with him?

Thanks guys.

Oh yeah, the little celestial I lost to bacteria reacted terribly in salt. I thought I'd add 0.1% to her tank and an hour later, she was as red as a lobster. So I removed her to a tub of fresh water while I did waterchanges and by the time I finished to place her back in, she was almost back to her orange colour Some fish are very sensitive to it unfortunately...

Interesting Erin. I've a theory about pearlscales. That they are supersensitive to salt . Something awrieger said rang true..the pearl bubble has air in which might make the salt more easily 'absorped'. I dont know but what I am learning is that there are always exceptions to the rule in the world of fish (and people and animals )

I read something the other day that Sandy said about salted tanks being really hard on the the kidneys of very small fish. I wonder if it badly affects kidney function in some fish, retaining fluid, hence swelling and dropsy-type symptoms? I don't know too much about how the kidneys work in fish, but it sounds reasonable How big was this fish Erin? I suppose it is a reminder to us all that we should use salt and any meds with caution

I hope Sawyer gets better soon Erin

Thanks guys.

Sawyer is about 5" including tail so hes not really small. He is still in the bucket, I just cleaned 100% of the water. His scales are still out a little so Im keeping a close eye on him.

Hi,

I am wondering if this isn't what had caused my Oranda-Pearlscale, named Op, to seem a like lethargic.

Since she has been in the smaller tank there have been enough water changes for the water to have returned to "normal," and she is more active and engaging now.