How to prevent dropsy

[DeirdreHoyle]

Hi guys,
I just lost a neon tetra to dropsy and none of the other fish in the tank have any symptoms, but I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to prevent more loss. My water is great, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and pH at 7.6. Not sure what could be causing it. I did a 50% water change after I found the sick fish but is there any preventative medicine I can buy?

 

[pip walters]

Dropsy is normally a secondary infection caused by some other affliction. It is probable your neon had an internal problem that caused this. Internal.bacteria, kidney failure etc can cause the familiar swollen body as fluids build in the visceral cavity. Diets high in lipids (oils and fats) can be the cause if organ failure. I have dissected goldfish that developed dropsy and that had been fed on trout pellets with high oil.content and found their liver and often kidneys, to be basically a blob of fatty mush.

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

Yeah after reading about it I think I might not have very good quality food because I also recently lost my pleco to a swim bladder issue and again, no water problems, so I'm pretty sure it's the food. I just went out and bought some good quality flakes and blood worms so hopefully I can jump start my fish immune systems!

 

[pip walters]

Another thing with fish food is correct storage. If it gets damp, it can harbour aflotoxins.

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

Good to know. I don't think my flakes got wet but reading the ingredients, there were a lot of fillers and dyes. Glad I got new stuff

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

So to confirm, if dropsy was caused by an internal issue or a bad food issue, is it still contagious? I removed the sick fish but I want to make sure the rest of the fish are safe

 

[Sharky7]

Dropsy..

From all I have read and experimented with in my many years of aquatics, there really is NO known cure for dropsy, especially not once it's in an advanced stage, it's typically brought on by a swim bladder or kidney infection, which is brought on by either an internal infection or parasite... The only thing I have found that can sorta help, if you catch it in it's early stage, is by taking a regular good old green Pea or two, canned or frozen, boil for about a minute or so to soften, peel the skin off and feed the inner "mush" to your fish. Peas are a fiber and natural laxative for fish. My fish love the pea mush, but they only get a little bit once per month since fibers can be rough on fishes intestines over long periods... You have also discovered the importance of good, fresh, clean, dry food. Never buy cheap no name brand foods... It's also good to mix up the foods your feeding so your fish wont get "tired" of the same old stuff and will get all the protein, vitamins and nutrients they really need. I've developed this feeding and food schedule and it works great for my tanks. You can use it too. I feed all my tanks at 8am and 8pm each day like clockwork, 8am's are always Tetramin or TetraColor brand flakes, but each 8pm feeding is different each day. Frozen Beefheart on Sundays, Omega One brand Freeze dried Tubiflex worms on Mondays, Hikari brand Algae Wafers on Tuesdays, Omega One brand Freeze dried Bloodworms on Wednesdays, Hikari brand Pellets on Thursdays, Live Brine Shrimp on Fridays, Tetramin or TetraColor brand Flakes on Saturday... I always try to give portions that will get eaten up within 2 to 3 minutes, but any and all uneaten foods get netted out after an hour or so, and all frozen foods are naturally kept in the freezer, all dry foods I keep in the kitchen spice cabinet since there's room in there for it all, it's nice and dry, dark and never gets too hot or cold so the food wont get stale, wet or spoiled. All my fish are very healthy, very active, and have awesome color and markings. Hope that helps! Good Luck!

 

[Sharky7]

p.s. ... Dropsy itself is not contagious, but the infection that caused it usually is. Often times if one fish gets it than it's most likely that more than one will get it too, But I've seen and had it were only one in a tank got it and nobody else did. Just this past December in fact, I had 3 Mollies all get Ich (ick) when I didn't notice my old heater quit on me and the temp dropped way too low, my Platy's and Cory's also got the Ich but not dropsy. The Ich cleared up in just 3 or 4 days with some API super ick cure and lots of heat from my new heater, than a water change, but the Mollies all got dropsy within a day or two after that, unfortunately both females died, but surprisingly and amazingly my looney male survived and lives on! I say he's looney because he thinks he's a Piranha or something and bites ANY fingers, hands, and even arms that invade "his" house! He's even gotten ME three times and drew blood twice! Who knew they bite? LOL

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

Wow you have some lucky fish! That's an impressive feeding schedule. That is funny about your molly that bites...I have never heard of that! Especially being able to draw blood! My pleco survived Ich and he was awesome; he actually just recently died from a swim bladder issue. I'm pretty sure the pleco's problem was food related too because he had just figured out how to swim upside down to get flake food from the top of the water :/

 

[Sharky7]

LOL Thanks..

Thanks, I do try to keep them all on a very mixed up diet to get them all the nutrients, vitamins and minerals they need to stay strong, healthy, happy and also so they wont tire of the same flavors or food. It really works great for some species as some I have will eat anything you drop in, but some only like 1 or 2 types of food, like my male Siamese (Betta) "Moppy", for an example, who will eat a lot of the foods he likes, but he only likes his pellets and some live or frozen brine shrimp, and an occasional portion of Pea mush now, he will no longer touch the algae wafers, bloodworms, tubiflex worms, flakes or anything else anymore.. I also try and keep their diet affordable by buying who sells exactly what I want or need at the lowest prices, as some foods can get a bit costly, even for just a small portion, and prices can also vary drastically from store to store. My local Petsmart has the frozen brine shrimp I use for $7.99, meanwhile the Petland Discount, which is right across the street from them, and it's also a shop I once worked in, have the very same brand and size for only $2.99, (They're also the only shop around that sells Live Brine Shrimp and at only @.99c per portion which lasts me two to three days). I'm all for saving $5 on one food, that means $5 for other foods, new filter media or even a new fish! LOL ... And yeah, it was real hilarious, I wish I had taken some snap shots of my hand and finger after that insane male Molly bit me because I kept saying "Honey, nobody's ever gunna believe that I got bit, by of all things, a lousy MOLLY!!" LOL. My Mrs. and I were laughing so hard about it, and it still cracks us up, in all the years I've been at it with both home and work tanks, and with all the various aggressive and semi-aggressive species I've had, none of them ever bit me, or were fast or lucky enough I suppose, yet the fist tank I've ever had with lil' 'ol Mollies in it and BAM! I get nipped, and more than once! LOL... I also get the impression that us people in the house are a more entertaining "reality" show to him than even he is to us, he loves to stay right at the front glass all day long watching us all the time, it's almost creepy! lol. The closer you get to the front, the closer he comes, if you move your face left or right, or up or down, he swims to stay right in front of you. LOL He really has lost any fear of humans or hands in his "house". lol.... That is real nice that your Pleco survived the Ich, but I'm real sorry to hear he passed away on you. Most times, in MY experience, it's actually the Ich cures that can kill them before and/or even after the Ich symptoms ever do. Most species of scaleless fish, catfish, corals and invertebrate's cant seem to survive some/most Ich cure products, while some will work just fine when used at maybe half the dosage. Which is just one other reason why I totally gave up trying to keep or raise Iridescent sharks, I thought they looked so cool when I was a kid and would try and try with very little luck or success, I mean you can just look at one of those the wrong way and it will break out with Ich for no good reason, most times they would survive the Ich, but other species of tank mates wouldn't or would die from the cures. Iridescent's also easily spazz out often and lose all their body color for no reason and it often takes months for their color to return, or they stroke out and drop to the bottom upside down dead just because you walked past your tank. LOL. Way back when I used to work and co-manage a local aquatic shop that was owned by a friend, we sat around discussing species we've tried to keep but had the worst luck with, we both agreed Iridescent sharks were at the top of the list, they were also terrible sellers in the shop, like nobody ever wanted the poor things, we would order say 15 and two weeks later would probably still have 10 or 11. We would jokingly call those the "Super Unwanted Sissy Cat Fish" LOL since technically speaking, they're actually a species of catfish and not a species of shark at all anyway. I'm going to try to upload a shot of my crazy "Moe" the Molly. LOL