Ack! Slimy coating on water and dropsy?!!

[Calcifer10000]

I've been keeping a pretty healthy (or so I thought) 29 gal with 8 guppies, a glass catfish, 2 neons and a cory.

Just yesterday I saw that the water had this clear scummyish bubbly layer on top and the water on the far side of the tank away from the filter wasn't even moving; it was like some clear jello film. I don't have any plants in the tank. I also found one of my guppies with this film all over her, and all her scales were standing up; I recalled a pic I'm seen of dropsy and assumed that's what it was, so I took her out, did a water change and put in Melafix.

The scum is sort of gone now, and all the remaining fish look okay, although some of the guppies seem to lean to one side a little as they swim, though I might just be paraniod now. Is there anything to help me prevent other attacks of scum and/or things I can do to keep my fish safer from other diseases?

If I were to add aquarium salt, would that help? How much should I put in?

Thanks so much! I recently lost almost this entire tank and don't want it to happen again!

 

[Allivymar]

Oh yuck. I hate slime LOL

Before adding anything to the tank, we need to figure out what that was. An oily layer is usually proteins, and can be skimmed off with a paper towel (and really isn't a problem) but this sounds different. Do you use any products which contain aloe vera? That can cause goopy slicks like that. Have you changed foods? Water change habits? Anything new in the tank? Snails? Is it possible someone put something in the tank and didn't tell you?

Melafix won't do a thing for dropsy. Remember. dropsy isn't a disease in and of itself, but a sign of disease. Means the kidneys have stopped functioning and the fish can no longer remove waste water from their system. Dropsy is really hard to treat, especially when there are no other signs of disease (as you don't exactly know what it is you're treating). If the fish is still eating, a medicated food containing oxytetracycline MAY help. You could also try Kanacyn (one of the stronger antibiotics) but since the infection is internal it may not help much (as its added to the water).