ive been pretty busy lately so i wasnt paying much attention to my goldfish. so yesterday its time for me to do a water change. so i did my usual thing, vacuumed all the crap, rearranged some plants and filled it back up with water.

a few hours after im done, i went to look at the fish tank and check out to fish, always love to see a freshly changed water tank. everything seems brighter. i noticed one of my fish seems...bloated. i looked at it closely and boom, spotted it got signs of dropsy. thinking to myself...not again, i had a fish that died of dropsy.

so what should i do here? i have maracyn 1 and 2 with me. i have 2 tank and the 30 gal one isnt big enough to accommodate 7 goldfish. i have a 5gal bucket i could use.

im leaning towards putting the sick fish in the 5 gal bucket with fresh water and air stone and start the medication. any other ideas or suggestions?

thanks

i've used epsom salts for the bloat. Beyond that you really need to know if it's bacterial or parasites to treat. Hope it gets better

Can you give params,and the rest of the info from above please?

as i said, the fish have dropsy, ive experienced this before, but not successful in saving that fish.

all parms are normal, i have sufficient filtration for my tank. all i want to know is if i should move my other fish in my tank to the other tank and treat that one fish thats infected with dropsy, or would the 5 gal bucket with an airstone enough

There's a reason Sharon asked for answers to the questions above and that's to try and establish why your fish got dropsy. You don't know the cause and with little or no information to go off, neither do we...

It could be water related - which is where some answers would help or it could be from a bacterial infection but what caused bacteria to invade your fish? Again, this is where your answers would help.

So with no information to go off - the only advice I can give is to put him in the bucket and add both maracyns, 1/8 teaspoon of epsom and increase the air. Also, if you have any medicated food, i'd start feeding this asap. The one thing to bear in mind is if this is to work, water must stay perfect for the duration of treatment so massive waterchanges with replacement meds will be needed daily - depending on what your ammonia test results show.

Having said that, wouldn't it be a good idea to see if we can figure out what caused this in the first place? If it's his environment - there may be a few things you could implement to avoid this happening again.

Treating dropsy successfully often depends on understanding the underlying cause ... but it's up to you whether or not you wish to answer all the questions. What we can do is wish you luck, and hope you won't lose this fish...

well to tell you more details, all ammonia and nitrite are 0, nitrate at 20ppm, PH neutral, ph outta tap neutral. size of tank 15gal, 2x10gph hob filter, change water once a week, 33%, living with 2 other oranda, same size...<4inchs, add chlorine remover when changing water. no medication, no new fish, feed hikari oranda and lion head floating and sinking pellets.

started medication in 5 gal bucket with 10ghp filter hanging on the side. cant remember medications name...starts with M theres 2 different kind theres Mxxxxx and Mxxxxx-two. i was told to use both from precious sick fish. feed medicated food. bloating getting more serious. it will sit at bottom but swim like crazy when i walk closer. cant find airstone so i will get one after work.

Sorry to hear you are having issues.
How is the fish now?

Dropsy can be very deadly so isolating him is a good idea, however to do so you need to have a working tub/tank set up with filter, airstone and heater. This fish will be in the hosp. tank for a while. At least a month or so.

Maracyn 2 is the med that it is best to start with, do a full round of that followed by a 24 hour rest/ get rid of that medication day.
Next you need to start a Maracyn 1 treatment, same thing follow it thru and remove after full treatment.
All the while the fish needs to be on a medicated food, the temp at 80F to boost the immune system. And of course plenty of oxygen because the higher temps oxygen is low.

If the fish is swelling you can use epsom salts to draw the fluid off. The dose is 1/8 tsp. per 5 gallons of water. It can't be used with reg. salt so make sure the water doesn't have any.

Good luck and let us know how things are going.

well the fish is in a 5 gal buck right now with a hob filter and air stone. im combining maracyn 1 and 2 medication right now and will try the above method to see if that works. do i keep alternating maracyn 1 and 2 until the fish is better?

hes on medicated food ever since i found out he has dropsy. so far hes doing good, strong swimmer, eats and poops, swelling is still there. i added a tablespoon of aquarium salt before as directed on the package. would that be a good enough replacement for the epsom salt?

looks like i will need to get another bucket for water changes if it takes up to a month to cure.

Just to make sure that we are both on the same page,are you using them together right now(Both Maracyn's),or doing one course of one med and then switching to the other?Not sure what you meant..
Aquarium salt is NOT a good replacement for Epsom salt,so if you don't have the Epsom,I would do a BIG water change and get the regular salt out.
Are you testing his params daily?Very important for the water to be pristene.

i am using both maracyn at the same time. should i follow laurie's advice and switch back and forth between 1 and 2?

where could i get epsom salt? checked my mega pet mart and they dont have anything like that

I use both M1 and 2 at the same time. Had good results. Epsom salt can be found in pharmacies, drug store, even wally world. Check in the area where you would find Icy Hot, ace bandages, things like that.

oh thanks glitter, found some online at CVS so pretty sure they sell it in the stores...

is 1/8 of a teaspoon enough? i desolved the salt in some water before mixing with the bucket with my sick fish and its not salty at all.

are there any other uses for the fish? like add it every single water change or something? i got a 3lb box of the salt and it will take me a million years to finish it

Very small amount like 1/2 of 1/4 teaspoon, I think.

How are things going?

same old, hes not getting any better, but not getting worse.

thing is, he have signs of dropsy, bloating body, perky scales, but he swims and eats and is one 222 of a poop machine.

also, followed the dose of epsom salt to help the bloating, but i havent really see his body reduce in size

how come H E L L turned into 222? i guess swear filters...

its been 3 weeks since i noticed him like that...hope he gets better soon

so checking up on him today...his bloating seem to got worse. he blew up some more. but hes really active.

the bloating isnt uniform. one side bulges more than the other. it looks if he is a SHE. and she have eggs in her. i cant really tell.

are dropsy fish suppose to be really active or do they bottom sit?

CAn you review what you've done lately for the fish? The fact that he was treated with the Epsom salt and it didn't help reduce the swelling is worrisome.When the fish suffers from dropsy and swelling like this,for this long,there's a pretty good chance that she's suffered long term damage on her organs which is irreversible. The fact that the fish is still active and eating is a good sign.And me,well I never give up til it's really over,so I'm always hoping for a miracle cure. Is this fish still living in a bucket?

a recap. 3 weeks ago, notice fish was swelling and protruding scales. quickly noticed its dropsy.

removed fish from tank and put him in a 5gal bucket as thats the only thing big enough. took one of the HOB filter and hung it on the bucket, added air stone

started the medication. Maracyn1 and 2 was used together. monitor water constantly. change water every 2-3 days. feed medicated food everyday. 3-4 pellets a day.

1.5 weeks later, was suggested to use epsom salt 1/8 teaspoon per 5 gal.

fish show no sign of getting better. body still swelling. very active, eats up everything i give him in 2 seconds.

me<------

this is what he looks like

Are you keeping daily watches on the params?I would think with normal eating and being in a bucket,you'd have to change out water almost daily to ensure good params.
Is it possible for you to pick up a Rubbermaid tub? I think I'd go for at least 10 gals.,and restart the meds and the Epsom.If your params are off,it takes away the effect of the meds.

parms for the water are good. no excessive nitrate, no nitrite, no ammonia.

i just got a 55 gal tank so ill be moving my other fish into the big tank, and putting him into the 15 gal tank im gonna use as a hospital tank

Sounds good.That will work out much better with water params,and also the dosingg of meds.What treating if any are you doing right now,just the Epsom?

nono im using epsom salt and Maracyn 1 and 2 with medicated food.

closing on a month...no improvement...should i keep medicating him or stop?

well im not sure if the bigger tank or raising the water temp higher that made the difference, im sure its both, but he seems to be getting better, one side seem to have less swelling. half of his scales are clamped again. hopefully he could fuller recover

is it ok to put him back in with his buddies when hes fully recovers?

i would say 75% of his body returned to normal only around 25% still have the pine cone affect...near the gills. they dont seem to be dying down..or getting worse. should i keep adding the medicine or stop and let it heal itself?