Had to put one down.....

[Friendly]

Today I came home from work to find my neon tetra (that I've had for about a year) with a really bad case of dropsy . It seems like it just happened over night. During the week he looked perfectly fine and the baby guppy that's in there with him was fine as well. I really liked that neon The sole survivor of 10. I couldn't stand seeing him all swollen up and swimming funny. I put a cup of water in the freezer and got the water really cold. I put some ice cubes in as well. It was really hard putting him in that cup full of icy water. I felt sick I felt like a murderer. The poor thing thrashed around for bit until he stopped moving which made me feel even more sick. I've never had to do something like this before I just didn't want to see him suffer from dropsy anymore.

After feeling really bad for a while, I went out and bought a blue neon guppy to keep the baby guppy from missing his neon buddy too much So far they seem to really like each other! A bittersweet ending to the day.

 

[Zagz]

So very sorry to hear of your loss. It is very hard when we have to put a fish down. Sometimes it is the most humane thing we can do.

 

[tropicfishman]

true sometimes its better than to have the fish suffer for a long period of time, really sorry that happened to ya

 

[Rondory]

Sorry to hear of your loss, but you did the right thing.

 

[bman]

How di you know he had dropsy? I'm just asking because my wife called me this morning and said my gourami was swollen to the extent that his scales are pointing outward, and he has been struggling to get to the surface to breathe. I just checked him last night and he was fine, and so are the water parameters.

I am trying to research this a little more, but thought anyone here might be able to give the general characteristics of the parasite? or Disease? (Or just point me in the right direction to get more info)