Ammonia and Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate level: 10 ppm (was 40 ppm)
Ph Level: 7
Ph Level out of the Tap: 7.6
Tank info: 45 gals, running for 3 years
Filter: AquaClear 300 (250 gph HOB)
Water changes: every 2-3 weeks, 60%
Fish: 3; one small calico fantail telescope, two medium orandas (one redcap, one orange)
Additives: Prime, baking soda to lower/buffer Ph
Feed: Homemade gel food, salmon flakes, crisps, peas
Added any new fish to the tank: the small telescope was added 3 weeks ago after 2-week quarantine and is healthy
Problems: bottom sitting, lethargy, red streaking in fins, cloudy white patches on head and eyes, red dots on head
Current medication: salt; Jungle Labs Fungus Clear in hospital tank

A few days ago I noticed that two of my goldies (the redcap and orange oranda) were lethargic and bottom-sitting, but hoped they just had a cold. Then a couple days ago I noticed some red streaking and raggedness in the long white tailfin of the redcap; I tested for nitrAtes, which where at 40ppm, and did a big water change to bring them down to about 10 ppm. The red streaks on the redcap seemed to be better yesderday morning, which made me happy. At this point I thought everything would be fine.

Then, yesterday night, I noticed that the orange oranda had some red streaks and raggedness in her tailfin as well; even more worrying was that her wen, eyes, and entire head area seemed to be covered in a patchy, opaque, white film. It was very late, so I started salting the tank, got it up to 0.1% and went to bed.

This morning (Saturday), the redcap was looking a bit better, but the orange oranda was much worse. She was bottom sitting. The streaks were slightly darker, the cloudy white covering on her head and eyes was thicker and more even, and she was starting to get many small red dots in the flesh around her cheeks. I set up a hospital tank and quarantined her. I brought the salt up to 0.2% in both tanks, and started feeding both fish some old (1 year +) medigold that I hadn’t opened in ages. I then used Jungle Labs Fungus Clear on the quarantine tank to hopefully start clearing out the bacteria which I think is causing the fin rot, cloud-eye, and red spots. I don’t know if the red streaking and red spots are internal or external, but to be safe I am feeding medigold in case septicemia is involved. (I would use a Maracyn I/II combo but want to feed Medigold as well, and have read that Maracyn and Medigold are not compatible. So for now I am using the Fungus Clear, which has 2 broad anti-biotics as well as an anti-fungal which I hope will be effective. I had success once before using Fungus Clear to fix a white spot on a moor.)

Tonight I noticed the redcap flashing a lot on the sides of the tank; then I saw that his eyes are getting a bit of the same white film on them, and the film may also be starting to form over his wen, too. However his tail looks better still and he is very active; they are both eating (old) medigold, which I hope will help. At this point I don’t know what to do for the redcap- I only have one hospital tank and don’t want to treat the main tank and ruin its biofilter!

I have three main questions that I would be so grateful if people could give their advice on; one: Is 40ppm nitrates really all that high to bring this on? I try to keep them below that, but have let them get around 40 ppm before without any major problems. What on earth could have brought this on so suddenly? Two: should I be salting the tank? I have heard that it helps fish heal bacterial-related diseases like fin rot and flex, but have also read conflicting views that salt isn’t too helpful for bacteria-related sicknesses. Three: What are people’s views on the shelf life of Medigold? The makers of Medi-Koi don’t say their product has a shelf life, and there is nothing on the container, but Rick of goldfishconnection says it is 6 months, which seems ridiculously short to me. Have people had experience with using older (1 year +) medigold?? Anyway, I won’t be able to get any new medicated food for several days at least, so thought feeding them the old stuff was as good as I could do.

Does anyone have any advice on what else I could/should be doing? Thank you so much for your help.

Hi there! I am sorry about your fish.

In answer to your Q about nitrates- while not good at 40 I don't think they are the main issue here but certainly will make conditions less favorable for recovery. Try and keep them as low as you can and especially low with sick fish. Below 10 if you can.

I have highlighted above the 3 other hings that I think need attention. And fast.

First of all that the new fish is not showing any symptoms! This to me is the biggest clue that the new fish has brought something in to your tank that the other fish are not immune to but the new fish has resistance to. This can happen if the new fish is not medicated on arrival to kill any lurking parasites or bacteria that, while not damaging this fish will be a new threat to the other fish. All new fish should be quaranteened for one month and treated for parasites during that time regardless of showing symptoms or not.

Second up- I'm afraid you have the wrong meds in the tank. And need to get the fungus clear out asap. This medication is for fungus. It includes nitrofurazone and furazolidone and potassium dichro. Nitrofurazone is a very powerful irritant and a very strong medication. Fungi are one of the hardest groups of germs to treat due to the fact that the cell structure is very similar to the skin of a fish so meds are very harsh for fungus. While killing the fungus they can also damage the slime coat (and good cells that protect against bacteria ) If it is fungus then of course that is the risk that has to be taken but I wouldn't use fungi meds on a bacterial or parasitic infection/infestation. These meds worked last time- because the white spot you saw last time you used these meds prob. was fungus. It often starts as a white spot.

The good news is you salted. The flashing, the white film on the head and the red spots in conjunction can all be signs of parasites and coupled with the new fish that would seem the most likely here. Truthfully almost all new fish harbor parasites. The incubation period can be quite long and it is often in fact on average about 3 weeks- the exact time lag between introduction of your new fish and appearance of symptoms.

SooooI think you need to do a 100% water change (this will be fine in a well established tank like this) and start salting slowly up to 0.3%. You will also need to get hold of some prazi meds (Goldfish connection) soon as poss - and you will need to do both these- and as for the medicated food- it does not last and is in fact of no effect after max 6 months. Personally I would never use them after 3.

All the fish need treatment so you can dose the tank with the fish in. Prazi and salt dosed correctly should not harm your cycle too much.

Hi Trinket,

Thanks for your coments. It's hard to make these kind of diagnoses, as so many symptoms of goldfish ailments are alike! I had read in many forums that white patches, cloud-eye, and red spots can be signs of bacteria; coupled with the obvious finrot, I thought that I had a sure case of plain old bacterial infection.

Yet you make a persuasive case for parasites; I think that you may be right on, and will try to get some anti-parasite meds soon. Does anyone know where else I could get praziquantel meds apart from goldfishconnection? The $40+ price tag for the overkill 25 grams is a bit excessive for my one tank and stretched grad-student budget. (It is actually quite annoying to me how Rick only sells things in such overly-large quantities!) I wonder if any LFS or speciality aquarium store would have prazi meds...

Thanks again for your help. The orange oranda is still eating, and some white is gone from her head area, but the red dots and spots are getting worse, even starting to appear in her eyes, and her eyes are still a bit cloudy. Obviously if the problem IS parasitic, the (old) medogild and the Fungus Clear (which does work on most bacteria as well as fungus, I think) will be totally useless.

Sigh. If anyone has advice on where/how to get Prazi besides ordering a gallon of it from goldfishconnection, please let me know!!! Thanks.

I'm not sure about the meds, but I did notice that your filter only turns over 250gph. For a 45gal tank, you need at least 450gph turned over for proper filtration. You may want to invest in another hob filter to go along with the one you have. Good luck with your fish!
Also, have you tried bigalsonline.com? They may have some meds cheaper than GF Connection.

yeah, u need a stronger filter and should change water at least once a week

Ciliated protozoan type parasites and trematode parsites may have these symptoms. The slime coat is under attack and bacterial infection sets in. Both go together more often than not. One of the classic symptoms with costia,hexamita and trichodina for example is the slimy patches over gills and head exactly as you describe. Epistylis on the other hand can look like fungus. It isn't always a case of looking at symptoms you have to couple that with the tank set up and history.

Prazi is in several other meds that are cheaper. Jungle does one that contains enough prazi for you-its called parasite clear tank buddies. Dont get the other one by Jungle (parasite gaurd-preventative) which has no prazi in it. If you could afford them new mediacted food also would be good- Jungle also does an anti-parasite food. The prazi covers you for all the parsites the salt does not cover you for.

For now, please do that 100% water change and start salting. many of these parsites do respond still to 0.3% salt for a sustained period of 3 weeks in excellent water.The salt is very important for the bacterial sores too and as the others have said you really need to up your water change regime to weekly and get more filtration. The parasites will quickly multiply in any organic waste.

Hello,

Thanks for the feedback and advice. I have the tank salted to 0.2%, and will raise it all the way up to 0.3% right after I do a 100% water change, which I will set to now. I also have the Jungle Labs paracite clear, complete with prazi, which I will add after the salt!

I think you are right, Trinket- the parasites (there could be all sorts) are probably causing the conditions for a bacterial attack, which is likely causing the finrot and perhaps also the red dots on the orange oranda, which I was thinking might be costia. The symptoms for costia do seem very much like what I am seeing with her. According to Toothless' post in the medications threat, the Jungle Labs parasite clear (along with salt at 0.3%) should be able to get the costia as well as anything else, as long as it isn't a strain that is immune to salt and/or acriflavine. (KNOCK ON WOOD!!)

My beautiful orange oranda looks just terrible... the fungus clear has removed most of the heavy white slime coat, although patches remain on her wen, eyes, and pom-poms. Meanwhile the red dots/discoloration is getting worse, and is all over her poor little head. She looks like a goldfish of the living dead! It is just awful to watch. I can't believe these things set in so fast, whatever they are. My goal now is to get her out of the fungus clear and into a fresh, 100% changed, 0.3%-salted tank treated with parasite clear as soon as possible.

Thanks also for the input about the filter power and the water changes. With the latter, of course more frequency is always better, and I admit that I have been busy lately, and getting a bit slack, which probably helped the parasites/bacteria get a foothold in my orange oranda. As for the former, as the 45 gal. tank only had 2 medium-sized orandas in it for a few years, I really think that 250gph is OK. As this newest fish (who is still 1" long) starts to get bigger, however, I will probably have to invest in another HOB to up capacity. However, for now the tank is still about half-stocked, so I think that 250GPH is fine. (As with water changing, the more the better, I guess, within reason, but that always has to be weighed against practical limitations such as time and budget!)

I really appreciate everyone's feedback, input, and support- it helps during these awful times just to have people to talk with about it. Thanks everyone. I hope all your fish are well!!

Good luck, I know very well what it is like looking after pets on a budget. And everyone is guilty of slipping up with maintanance at times. Costia is a particularly nasty one and can move extremely fast. In fact that is this parasites trade mark. Most cases can be cured with 0.3% salt if you make sure the dosage is precise and doesn't dip (or creep too much) for a sustained period. If things look worse after a few or 3 days I suggest you increase the salt to 0.4%. Some strains of costia do need a higher dose. If you have a heater, you can raise the temp a few degrees it helps with immunity. Get some good varied nutrition into the fish, esp good is krill, brine shrimp etc . Make sure you have extra aeration going- very important for the fish when in medicated water .

Hi Trinket!

Thanks so much for your repeated comments and advice. I really appreciate it!

Yeah, it did move REALLY fast. I have never dealt with parasites before, besides the odd case of ich in a new fish, but nothing like this. The orange oranda is now back with the others in a 100% changed tank, at 0.3% salt, with a full dose of parasite clear, and an extra bubble stone. (THAT only took a few hours... sigh!) It is probably a good idea to raise the temp a bit, especially since I have a lot of aeration. Thanks for that tip! I will also look for signs of improvement, and might increase the salt if it looks like whatever it is isn't clearing up.

Assuming it is costia for the moment, does anyone have an idea as to how long it might take to see improvement, now that the fish is in a fully salted and medicated tank?

It varies so much according to temperature and severity of infection/infestation. Stick to the med instructions accurately. How are the fish doing now in the salt and meds? Hope to hear an update soon.

Hello,

The fish have been in the Jungle Labs parasite clear for 5 days now; this concludes two treatments as per the instructions on the medication box. Soon after taking the orange oranda out of the hospital tank treated with fungus clear and placing her back in the main tank with the parasite clear added, the red dots and spots on her face and cheeks disappeared- hard to tell if it was the result of the anti-bacterial meds in the fungus clear which she was in for a day or whether it was due to being in the parasite clear, but I was happy that they went so fast, whatever caused it! The thick slime coat is slowly dropping off of her head and wen, and is almost gone now, except for some white remaining on one eye.

However, the orange oranda (despite any visible signs of parasites/bacteria) has been acting very oddly- bottom sitting, very lethargic, not eating very much (but still eating a little), a bit swollen. She was constipated (very long, thick poo) so I held off feeding for a day, which helped with the swollen abdomen a bit. Now she is sitting on the bottom of the tank behind her favorite plastic plant, with her dorsal fin up, but not moving very much and breathing very slowly.

The redcap is very active and is eating well. However, on both the orange oranda and the redcap there is still a lot of red streaking in their tailfins, and their fins in general are rather ripped/torn with frayed/choppy edges. There hasn't been any improvement or change in their fins for about 5 days now, but at least it hasn't gotten any worse.

In my opinion the fish likely have a bacterial infection of some sort going on, possibly internal, especially for the orange oranda. This might account for some of the swelling I see in her, as well as for her reddened/darkened eyes, which have still not returned to their original bright gold state. It might also account for the bottom sitting, lethargy, and lack of appetite. I have 24-packs of Maracyn and Maracyn II, and am planning on removing both fish to the hospital tank and doing a 5 or 10-day treatment with both meds to hopefully knock out any lingering internal and external bacterial infections, and *hopefully* help their fins start healing as well as help the orange oranda get over her bottom sitting.

I would really appreciate some feedback about if this course of action makes sense to other people as well. Do you think 5 days (2 courses) of the parasite meds (including prazi) would normally be enough to rid the fish of any parasites? I wanted to treat the (likely but invisible) parasites first, and then move on to the (almost certain) secondary bacterial infection. On the one hand, I don't want to stop treating for parasites too quickly, as I want to make sure that they are all gone (assuming I even had them in the first place and that this whole thing hasn't simply been bacterial all along!); on the other hand, I want to hurry up and treat the bacterial infection ASAP, as I am especially worried about the lasting effects that an untreated internal bacterial infection may have on the orange oranda, if I have in fact diagnbosed her correctly...

Thanks so much for your help and interest, I appreciate it a lot.

Sorry to post again, but I discovered some potentially complicating information which I am not happy about.

I did a Ph test for the main tank, and found out that the parasite clear raised the Ph quite a bit, from 7 to 7.6 or above. This is quite a spike in Ph levels. The medicine box didn't say that it was Ph-neutral, but I wouldn't have thought it could make THAT big of an increase... Now I am thinking that maybe the orange oranda (already in a weakened state) may have been affected mainly by the sudden change in Ph, and that that might explain her lethargy, bottom sitting, lack of apetite, etc.

Absolutely. I think you are right -you have a secondary bacterial issues that now need dealing with. I still think there were prob. parasites but they will have been taken care of with the dosage completed now. (Be very wary of underdosing meds as it makes the same bugs superstrong and when they re-appear it is that much harder to control them.)

You should focus on bacterial salves now. The finrot and red streaks can be treated topically with a neosporin type ointment for relief if you like and the water born meds (Mar one and two) you have should target all the most common gram neg/pos bacterial pathogens. Its quite a strong treatment mixing those two however so I would wait yes to feed medicated food until you have completed the 5 day bath.

pH changes up and down will stress the fish and that can make any kind of finrot and tail streaking a lot worse. Is it possible your cycle has bumped as sudden unstable pH can be a clue to that? Medications can interfere with pH. Its extra important to make sure you have zero ammonia and nitrites here and low nitrates- because it is as the number of stressors increase for the fish that the immunity is weakened and disease escalates.

Hi Trinket,

As always, thanks for your help and advice. I checked, and despite the rise in Ph the biofilter on the large tank is still fine- thanks for the tip!

I have the two orandas in a fresh new hospital tank now that is still at 0.3% salt and has been treated only with Maracyn and Maracyn II (and has a nice big bubbler!).

Unfortunately, I have bad news: after putting the fish in the hospital tank, which is bare-bottom, I was able to get a good close-up view of my orange oranda. The terrible news is that she has the slightest beginnings of pine-coning behind her gills. It is ever so slight, but unmistakable. I had not noticed it before- it could be that it has just started, or that I only got a good look at her once she was in the hospital tank. In any event, I am very upset about this development. She (the orange oranda) has also stopped eating. Her fins are still up, and she is swimming around a bit, though, so I am hopeful that there might be a chance to save her.

The problem- I've already started the Maracyn/Maracyn II 5-day treatment, with 0.3% salt in the tank. I would like to add some epsom (1/8 tsp per 10 gallons, right?) but don't want to do this while the aquarium salt is still in there... But I am not sure if you are supposed to do water changes (to slowly remove the aquarium salt) while in the middle of a Maracyn/Maracyn II treatment...

I have started raising the temperature very slowly- it is up to 75 now, and I will try to get it to 80 by tomorrow. I have some old metromeds (approx. 10 months) but she is not eating anything. And I can't start on the epsom salt as long as the aquarium salt is in there at 0.3%. What should I do???? I hope the Maracyn II has some effect (especially since this is in early stages, I hope) but I am not super confident in it...

I only had to deal with dropsy once, and it wasn't pretty. My black moor pulled through, after months of treatment, but was never the same- he had bad SBD afterwards, and had to be hand fed, and died about 6 months later... So I really am upset about this development. I have been spending about 6 hours a day on the fish the last several days now, and am trying everything I know.

If you have sick goldies in a hospital tank I would be doing 50% water changes daily. Clean water is crucial especially as the hopital tank is not cycled.

You need to do some math and put back the Maracyn that you take out with each water change.

Yes you would need to get out all the aquarium salt before you put in epsom salt. The doses are 1/4 tsp for every 10 gallon. Dissolve in a container of tank water then pour into the tank and repeat every 12 hours for a total of 3 doses. Do not add anymore salt after that. Of course you must replace the salt you take out with the water changes.

9 month old metromed is no good. Unlike sealed tablets like Maracyn which are completely effective for years even after the expiration date, Rick says that his medicated food is only effective for up to 6 month after the jar is opened.

You say your fish is not eating? He won't eat anything or just the metromed? If you can get your hands on a fresh Metromed(nothing is better for early stages of dropsy), I would force feed it to your fish.

You are in great hands with Trinket guiding you. Not only is she a wonderful person she is one of the most knowledgeable person on this board.

Pixiefish thought we should fill in while Trinket is sleeping(Japan is 14 hours ahead of us).

Great help from JoH until Dr Trinket has woken from her beauty sleep!
Jack very successfully saved his fish from dropsy so he has personal experience to benefit from
Hope the fish stabilzes soon.
Pixie

Thanks for the thumbs up guys you troups are awesome too but I am very saddened by this development.

I have had a good long hard think about this one asterisk and I am going to suggest something that I think we may be completely overlooking and is staring us in the face. Just take a step back a minute and listen to what I think is happening here.

Symptoms: some flashing>red spots>grey area over head> very fast progression of disease, finrot and bacterial streaking> mild dropsy.

Unusual and noticeable answers to the Qs in the d&d box --(created for this very purpose): NEW FISH showing no symptoms.

Well all these symptoms are still reading parasites to me & I still think you have a case of costia here.

These are all the exact symptoms. This is the exact speedy progression of the disease. The finrot is very typical too.

This is what I'd do. Go back to the parasite clear and feed fresh metromeds as soon as you can possibly get them. The underdosing of meds has the bugs bounce back. I really think you need to do another course of p/c here. The Maracyns are not going to help. I have checked the Parasite Clear ingredients and consulted with my vet and he says that the ingredients in this medication will also kill anearobes (most common bacterial inner infection). You really cant go wrong with this course of action if we are not too late.

Beginning stage dropsy is a symptom indicating that the fishes kidney is starting to fail and he cannot excrete fluids properly. By the time we notice it the function of the kidneys is already impaired which is why the fish may have balance issues after surviving dropsy.
Can you look behind the gill cover and see his gills. What color are they? If they have become pale, the dropsy is advanced. If they are still bright red and meaty you do still have agood chance with him.

I hope you'll be on again soon!!!

Hello everyone,

First I want to thank you all so much for your help and support- it means a lot to me.

After getting the last few posts, and looking at my fish again, I had a good, long cry. Then I hit the library and did some research too on fish diseases etc. Aided by the advice you have all been giving me and bolstered by my own experience and what I have been reading, despite all the twists and turns of the past 10 days I feel like I have largely been making the right decisions and have been doing everything that I can do to fight this thing. I really do think that it was parasites (costia, or perhaps chilodonella I am thinking now...) and a secondary bacterial infection which has caused the finrot and dropsy symptoms. Balancing treating the parasites versus tackling the infection is tricky, but I think I've been doing the right things thus far.

What has happened: The fin-rot seems to be worsening slightly on both fish, especially the orange oranda. Also, the dropsy in the orange oranda seems to have worsened slightly, and she has also developed a moderate case of pop-eye (nor surprising). The red cap is a bit spookish, but is otherwise looking relatively OK- both fish were sluggish and seemed unhappy when I took them out of the main tank after 5 days with 2 courses of parasite clear.

However, after only one day in the hospital tank (and careful 50% water changes twice daily) both fish seemed to improve a lot. First, the orange oranda started eating again- with a vengeance. She gobbles up the metromeds as fast as you can put them in, and I had to restrain myself from feeding her too much, I was so relieved that she is eating again! Second, her eyes are healing and are losing the red discoloration they have had since about a week ago. Third, both fish seem to have regained their energy and their spirits. Especially the orange oranda- despite everything, I don't think I have seen her this active and energetic since she was one inch old. They are both swimming and zooming all around the hospital tank, and come up to the surface to blow bubbles and make slurping noises whenever I come close, just like they always used to before the nightmare of the last 10 days started. Finally, as of this afternoon it looks like her dropsy may have started to go down slightly. (It is hard to get a close look at her, because she goes into transports of joy every time I get near the hospital tank and starts swimming around like mad.)

Trinket: I got your post a day after I had put the fish in the Maracyn/Maracyn II hospital tank. I really appreciate your thoughts and effort and your sage advice. I have thought very long and hard about it, and, for now, have decided to stick with the current regimen and not to go back to the parasite clear. I think all your reasoning is correct, and I am also doubtful about the effectiveness of Maracyn/Maracyn II. However, the fish seemed to get worse during their previous 2 courses of parasite clear in the main tank. Also, although it contains two good antibiotics, as you rightly point out, including one of the main ingredients in metromeds itself, the parasite clear did NOT seem to help earlier, for some reason, with the fin rot or with the dropsy... Furthermore, because the fish seem to be doing better, I am very reluctant to make any changes. I continue to keep a watchful eye on them, however. I certainly agree with all your reasoning and the points you made- it just seems like the "facts on the ground" seem to be calling me to stick with the current routine.

I have the hospital tank all the way up to 79 now (quite a feat for my heater as the apartment is 60 degrees!) and have been slowly removing the aquarium salt; after I finish this post I will do a 100% water change and start adding in the epsom. Every time I have been doing a 50% water change I have been adding back in the Maracyn and Maracyn II; also, I have been constantly doubling the dosage of the Maracyn II (the instructions say to double-dose on the first day, but it is a mild antibiotic and with large fleshy goldfish I really think doubling it the entire way through will give me my best shot at having it do anything.)

Also, Rick from goldfishconnection just e-mailed me saying that my NEW metromeds were shipped priority mail this afternoon. (Why is it that fish always seem to get sick on Friday nights when you have to wait until Monday for medicated food to be shipped??!) While I wait for them I will continue to feed the older stuff. It may be wishful thinking, but it seems like it MIGHT be working. Fingers crossed. The epsom salts will also really help- so I am going to go put those in now!

Thanks again for all your help and I will keep you updated.

OK. I am just so pleased to hear the fish are doing much better. I appreciate your stopping in and updating with the details and course of progress. Its a learning curve for us all how each case turns out. I also understand how you as their owner seeing minute changes and being familiar with your pets' behavior as well as being conscientious in your researching and checking of facts are the best person to make the final judgement call.

It is possible that the parasites were eliminated in a very short time. The damage that parasites do to fish and their immunity/slime coat is really severe and the bacterial issues obviously escalated very fast. The Maracyns will be good for their healing and the heat and epsom and metros for the draining of fluids will hopefully halt any farther dropsying. Let us know how things go, keep up with 50% changes in the QT and wishing you (all) a speedy and total recovery

Hi to everyone,

Thanks so much Trinket for your kind words and understanding. You have been such a huge help to me through this.

An update: the fish continue to improve. I can now say with certainty that the dropsy symptoms in the orange oranda are receding, and the pop-eye I would say is also about 50% better. In general she looks much, much less swollen and uncomfortable. Yay!

The fin rot also finally seems to be getting better on both fish; the deep red and pink streaking is fading and shrinking.

Also, on several spots on the orange oranda (upper lip, pom-poms, top of the tail fins) there has emerged some faint black coloration- a very thin black outline- which I hope is a sign of tissue that is healing. Perhaps the ultra-clean and highly-medicated anti-bacterial environment is helping after all??

All this while still relying on the old metromeds (the new ones should arrive tomorrow, Wednesday.) Sod's Law, I guess- but if buying a whole new can of metromeds is what it takes to drive the dropsy away, then I would have taken several!! I think that the epsom is also helping- I have given 2 doses of epsom (1/2 teaspoon each time for the 20 gallon hospital tank, the final dose to be administered tonight) and continue to give doses of Maracyn and double doses of Maracyn II.

These fish diseases have ups and downs- it is by no means certain that I have gotten through the worst of this, and am only allowing myself to feel a certain limited amount of joy and optimism. I am still (like Trinket) afraid that there may be some parasites/flagellates lingering around, in the hospital tank (I sure hope not) and especially back in the main tank. To this end, I have been continuing to treat the main tank with parasite clear, and have also raised the salt in the (now empty) main tank to 0.4, and have also raised its temperature to 80 degrees. I read in a German book on fish diseases that 5 days in an empty tank at 85 degrees is usually enough to eradicate most small parasites like costia/chilodonella, so I am hoping that 10 days at 80 degrees with 0.4% salt will also do the trick (my apartment is at 60, so 85 would be a bit of a stretch for my heater...).

In any event, I am trying to attack this from multiple angles, and to do everything I can to prevent a bounce-back of the original parasites. I'm also keeping a watchful eye on the fish, despite the signs of improvement. They continue to eat and swim with gusto, and can look forward tomorrow to eating fresh metromeds! Now to go perform a 50% water change. (I am also hoping that the frequent huge water changes in the hospital tank, in addition to keeping the water quality as good as I can get it without a biofilter, will help to ensure that any lingering parasites or eggs or what have you that may have survived the 2 previous parasite clear rounds and 0.3% salt all get flushed away!)

*adonis,

You are doing an excellent job and we are so happy that your fish is doing better. The weakened metromed is definitely better than nothing while you wait for the fresh stuff to come in to really kick dropsy's butt.

Yeah Trinket is the best isn't she?

Very good work. You have done everything as I would have after making that final medicine decision. Very important to have treated the main tank for parasite eggs to be safe as those can linger quite some time. The 50% water changes daily will be strengthening your fishes immunity as well as the other treatments. I think your fish are going to recover completely- keep us posted.
Jof H above had a fish make a complete turnaround after worse dropsying issues than this. You are not so far off that result - keep going