Swim Bladder disease for fantail

[Phrozian]

Today is Chubby's 4th day on full dose Kanamycin. He is still upside down, and still no appetite. He poops white stringy poops every now and then...
I can tell he has either lost a lot of weight, or his swelling has gone down. However, I am starting to see very slight protrusion in his scales... I'm a little worried about dropsy.

Is there any stronger medication than Kanamycin? Or what would be the next course of action if Kanamycin fails?

 

[jsoong]

kanamycin is about the only antibiotic that would be effective when used in the water. Others are not well absorbed. If he will eat, then an antibiotic containing food is the best choice, otherwise, the only choice would be injectables, which you would need a vet to administer.

If he is getting skinny over just a few days, it is prob from the swelling or bloating getting less. Goldfish can usu go without food for several days without prob. But then Chubby had been sick for quite a while, so this might well be actual weight loss.

You might want to read up a bit on dropsy here:
BY NAME, DISEASES OF GOLDFISH AND KOI
The site isn't pretty, but lots of good info.

 

[Phrozian]

Thanks again Jsoong! I've bookmarked that page... From the looks of it, Chubby seems to have a swollen liver according to the anatomy diagram on that site. This points more towards internal bacterial infection since parasitic would not be systemic.

I'm going to try and up the temperature, and force feed Chubby using a needle-less syringe... He has stopped eating for at least 10 days... I will try and mash up medicated food into a mini syringe to force feed... What do you guys think?

 

[Phrozian]

Hi all,

Just wanted to let you all know that unfortunately Chubby didn't make it... He struggled for a bit before passing. His stomach and entire underside felt mushy, I believe I was too late in starting treatment. Thanks for all your advice and help, it seems that I am very good at killing fishes... I'll re-evaluate my abilities before trying to take care of another fish...

 

[jsoong]

Sorry to hear about Chubby ...

Sometimes fish will not recover from disease no matter what we do, so don't be too hard on yourself.

 

[dkpate]

Sorry about the little guy. But you tried, and that's the important part! You never gave up on the little guy.