is this fish ill?

[Donna]

hi all,
some of you may know, i lost two of my precious babies a few weeks ago. and now i'm paranoid about my other three. the two died from dropsy-like symptoms of swelling up, (one with the pine-comb effect scales) but te other just got fat and started sitting around on the bottom until she died.

now Star is looking a bit on the chubby side and i'm wondering if he's meant to be this large in the rear end. i fasted him for a day a while back, followed by peas for a couple of days to get him pooping, which seemed to work to get rid of the white thread-like poops for a few days, but he didn't get any slimmer.

David slipped them a cube of daphnia yesterday before i could object but today they are being fasted again, and possibly tomorrow too (Schnitzel is looking at me quite murderously coz he's actually pretty slim!)

they're already looking at me psychotically and i'm wonding if i'm worrying over nothing. He seems to be getting on fine, still nuts as usual. let me know what you think. I took this video just now, had to get on the floor for an underside view. it's the gold one i'm worried about.
YouTube - fat fish.AVI

 

[maxima423]

obesity?

 

[logansmomma1228]

That fish does look weird to me, but my first thought would have been constipation. If he was pooping white stringy stuff it sounds like an internal parasite. Do you still have that link I gave you about Goldfish diseases?


Here is another link I found, and it sounds like this is Dropsy as well. http://www.ponddoc.com/Store/FishHealthProducts/Diagnosis.htm

Have you treated your tank with anything? Is he in the same tank the other two were in? I'm guessing so... I don't know if Dropsy is anything like ich but if it is then all your fish will have it if you don't get it cleared up good.

 

[jsoong]

That fish looks more swollen on the right side than the left. Also, the swimming is not smooth like it should (although the video is rather short to say for sure.)

Asymmetric swelling of the belly is not normal. Certainly is worrisome. I would try the fasting & peas first. Hope that it is just constipation.

Can't tell for sure, but there appears to be white spots on the tail fin ... that true??

 

[Donna]

hi jsoong: no i don't think there's white spots on him, but'i'll have a closer look. (update: had a look, he has white and gold pattern on his tail but no white spots.)
how long can i fast him for as i tried one day and then my husband couldn't take the filthy looks from him any more and snuck them some food despite me saying not to! (i nearly killed him!)
Star acts quite weird when the camera's on, he seems to know i want to record him and then messes around (really pesky when you need certain shots!)

Oh gosh, i hope it isn't dropsy again, but i was told that wasn't contageous!
really worrying again now....

(update: just done a water test and the results considdering the daily changes are rather shocking, i figured they'd be totally out. the last time i did a check after a clean out, the params were sky high!
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0.00
Nitrate: 0.00
PH: 7.6 (we have a very high PH level around here, but I'm told is perfect for goldies)

 

[jsoong]

The presence of ammonia is worrisome, even at low levels. I would repeat the test after 12-24 hrs to see if it is going up or down.

Dropsy may be contagious if it is due to an infection. Other causes of dropsy - eg old age, tumors - are not. So I guess it is 50:50 ....