Dropsy?

[Pterois_volitans]

Hi guys,

I woke up this morning, one day after purchasing my first Dwarf Gourami, and I noticed his belly has ballooned out on his left side (see attached pic). The entire belly isn't affected, just his left side. He is behaving fine and eating well other than the physical symptom of bloat. I have never had a fish afflicted with dropsy before, but from what I have seen on the web, this seems like a classic case. Any idea on how to BEST treat him? So far, I added one preliminary dose of what I had on hand in case of emergency...Jungle Labs "Fungus Clear with Tank Buddies" tablet. I don't know if this is a quality treatment, but figured it would help until I could get to the store.

I didn't remove the activated carbon from my Aquaclear since it has been in the tank a while and I'm sure its absorbant capabilities are maxed out by now...so I thought there was little point in messing with the filter process.

Has anyone else used the Fungus Clear tablets? Is there a better med to use? Finally, will medicating the whole tank effect my other fish (1 yoyo loach, 4 cherry barbs, 5 neon tetras, and 1 male guppy, and 2 female guppies)? I'm aware that the tank is probably overstocked to begin with (10g), but before the Gourami the setup had been running fine for several months, so I doubt the bioload caused his illness.

Thanks to anyone who responds!

PERTINENT INFO:

1~Male Dwarf Gourami, likely afflicted with Dropsy
2~Tank parameters: ammonia-0, nitrites-0, nitrates-40, temp-76, pH 6.8/7.0
3~ 10g FW, running with various fish changed for the past 9 months.
4~Aquaclear 20 Filtration System.
5~1 yoyo loach, 4 cherry barbs, 5 neon tetras, and 1 male guppy, and 2 female guppies (all early stage and small)
6~25-30% water change weekly, last done 4 days ago.
7~The Gourami was just added last night. I acclimated him with smal amounts of the current tank water into his pet store bag which was submerged in the tank to acclimate temperature. Water acclimation occurred during a ten minute period.
8~No new chemicals or decorations added prior to his introduction.
9~Diet consists of flake food, frozen brine shrimp, and he was munching on the very tiny bottom-feeder pellet I throw in twice a day for my yoyo loach.

 

[ainsleythurston]

From what i see here it looks like dropsy.. I hear that dropsy is incurable but I would look on the internet or something about dropsy.. I am not a fish expert! I always look on the internet in regards to my betta..

 

[Pterois_volitans]

Thanks for the input, ainsley. Surprisingly, the Jungle Fungus-Clear tablet worked! I was told by a friend a while back (after purchasing them) that they are good for nothing; that the liquid medications work far better. But, here I am 4 days later on the dot and my gourami is doing 100% better. I am considering one more dosage to stave-off a secondary infection, but I am happy to say he is doing just fine. I'm confident the magic was that I caught the dropsy almost immediately after the symptoms manifested, and was able to treat it right away.

 

[Zagz]

From the picture it doesn't look like dropsy to me. But of course it is a picture. Were the scales pineconed out at all from the body?

I am happy he is doing better.

 

[Pterois_volitans]

No, the scales were not pineconed, but if you can imagine that ball looking like a small marble was stuffed into his right side, that's how bad it was (depth of the ball isn't true to form in the pic). Does dropsy always cause pineconed scales? Do you think it was just an intestinal-tract infection?

 

[Zagz]

Yes dropsy always results in pineconing, and is very difficult to treat successfully. I think your fish had an infection and you were successful in treating it due to the fact that you caught it early and were vigilant