Name of disease: Dropsy.

Other names::None.

Type of disease: Bacterial or viral

Occurrence:Fairly common, affects all types of freshwater fish.

Symptoms include:Markedly swollen body, scales sticking up (giving a 'pine-cone' appearance), reddening at the vent or base of gills, ulcers on body, long pale faeces, fish stops eating, paler gills, markedly protruding eyes.



Caused by:

1. Fish being stressed or in poor condition for some reason, e.g. rough handling, fighting, overcrowding, poor water quality, incorrect water quality, fluctuating temperatures.

2. Fish in a healthy environment may occasionally be affected due to unknown source of bacterial / viral infection.

Treatment:Remove affected fish to hospital tank and maintain perfect water quality. Use a broad-spectrum antibiotic medication (e.g. Maracyn 2 or Medigold in US, Myxazin in UK). A low level (.1 - .3%) salt solution may help (Epsom Salts can also be used). Keep temperature of the tank consistently at 78 -80F. Feed highly nutritious and good quality food, such as krill. Also Medicated foods such as Metro-Med and Medi-Gold are need to help the fish killing it from the inside.

Precautions:Antibiotic medications affect the cycle so monitoring water quality during treatment is essential. Dropsy is notoriously hard to treat; the mortality rate for fish with dropsy is high. If fish recover, maintain their tank temperature in the high 70's consistently afterwards as dropping temperatures may trigger dropsy again.




Medications: Tetracycline, Metro-Med, Medi-Gold, Maracyn Two, and Nitrofura-G