First encounter of a symptom Dropsy

[thatropicalfishguy78]

Yesterday, I put my honey gourami in quarantine because it had a case of bloat. I prepared the small 2.5 bowfront tank, then I put the gourami in. This morning I found its eyes bulging, its bloat a little worse, and of course protruding scales. I tried looking for the cause of why, as to my dismay, it has many a reason why it occurs because its a symptom not a disease. So while I was browsing the internet, something stuck out at me. Dropsy can be caused by a sudden drop in temperature by a few degrees. So of course the problem, how can I treat this as it seems more treatable than when caused by bacteria or a parasite. Or am I sadly mistaken?

 

[Alyxx]

Sadly dropsy is usually a symptom of organ failure and not much can be done at that point. I would try a bath in epsom salts to reduce swelling. 1 or 2 tablespoons per gallon should be dissolved in the water over the course of a few hours, and keep an eye on the fish for signs of stress. If it looks to be stressed from the salts, do a water change to remove some of the salt.

 

[kardash]

Dropsy can be caused by many things, but mainly it's a internal bacteria infection. Dropsy is usually caused by horribly high nitrates. What are your tanks parameters?

I'm sorry to say but once the scales rise, there is a big chance that your fish will not make it. You can try the espom salt baths suggested above and as well as medication like tetracyline, but most likely the fish won't make it.

 

[thatropicalfishguy78]

That sucks because I don't carry epsom salt or any medicine for this. It caught me by complete surprise. If the fish has a high fatality rate even with the medicine....then I'm going to find a way to put him down. Seems like the right thing to do at this point. Let this be a lesson learned the hard way about a beginner's first encounter with Dropsy and you can never be to careful.