Is my fish beyond help?

[Devilishturtles]

I have a white fantail goldfish in my 55 gal tank that has dropsy, for the second time. I don't know why, but it got it, then I thought I cured it( all signs were gone and I kept medicating for the sugested time), then about 3 weeks later, it has it again. I gravel siphon my tank and do a 30-40% water change every 2 weeks. My water parameters are perfectly normal. My problem is that the fish's body looks sort of distended. He seems to have dark spots on/in him and a sore that wont go away. So I guess my question is, how long is too long for a fish to have dropsy? It seems to get better one day and then a day later looks worse, and the cycle keeps going. I moved it to a 10 gal quarantine tank and treated with maracyn-2, however I don't think it is working too well. Is my fish beyond help?

 

[Allivymar]

Hiya Devilishturtles; sorry this took so long to answer - was away over the weekend.

Coupla questions first. You cay your parameters are normal, but what exactly are they? Goldfish are messy fish, and I see you are doing nice size water changes, but every 2 weeks. I wonder if upping the water changes might help.

How long have you been treating with the Maracyn2? You might want to try Kanacyn; it appears to be a better broad spectrum antibiotic. Did you use Maracyn2 last time when it was successful? I wonder if the fish actually needed a longer then expected treatment time, and stopping before the infection was completely gone left the antibiotic resistant bacteria...again, I'd try a different med if Maracyn2 was what you used before. Are the scales poking out (does the fish kinda look like a pine cone)?

Thumbs up on the QT tank! Glad to hear you have and are using one

 

[Capt.Gorilla]

How long did you origionally treat the goldie for?
Some people say that 3 weeks is the recomended treatment time but you should really treat for 6 weeks or more according to the goldfish "guru" at pure gold.

 

[Devilishturtles]

allivymar, my parameters are all "normal": nitrates 0, nitrites 0, ph bout 7.6. I know goldfish are messy, but I only have 2 in with some tropical fish. I will try upping the water changes. Right now, my fish looks like he is coming back to normal, but then later it seems as if he is getting worse, then better, etc. yes his scales are sticking out and all but not "really" bad, He has sort of this "bulge" I would say by his bottom fin and these dark spots that seem to be on it's insides but that you can see through the white skin. I treated with the Maracyn2 for 7 days which is what it suggested on the box.
Kanacyn...I will try that and buy extra. Last time I actually used jungle's fungus clear tablets from wal-mart as an emergency thing before I left on a trip for a week and they worked great, but I can't find them anywhere now... Thank you guys so much for your help!

 

[Devilishturtles]

allivymar, my parameters are all "normal": nitrates 0, nitrites 0, ph bout 7.6. I know goldfish are messy, but I only have 2 in with some tropical fish. I will try upping the water changes. Right now, my fish looks like he is coming back to normal, but then later it seems as if he is getting worse, then better, etc. yes his scales are sticking out and all but not "really" bad, He has sort of this "bulge" I would say by his bottom fin and these dark spots that seem to be on it's insides but that you can see through the white skin. I treated with the Maracyn2 for 7 days which is what it suggested on the box.
Kanacyn...I will try that and buy extra. Last time I actually used jungle's fungus clear tablets from wal-mart as an emergency thing before I left on a trip for a week and they worked great, but I can't find them anywhere now... Thank you guys so much for your help!

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

Do you have any idea what's causing the dropsy (since as I'm sure you know, dropsy is a symptom of several conditions that can afflict fish)?

What are you feeding, and how often (and what are you feeding the other fish in the tank)?

Have you tried using Epsom salts?

It's hard (at least for me) to recommend using an antibiotic or an anti-fungal when we don't really know what's causing the problem, if that makes sense.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I don't know what is causing it... I have had the fish for about 1 1/2 years and it has never been sick. I feed twice a day, in the morning at like 6 am and at night at like 11 pm. I feed regular tetramin flakes and some algae wafers every other day for the bottom feeders. I am lost as to why it happens but I have done a 50% water change hoping that it, plus the fungus clear medicine(that I was finally able to find!), will cure it for good, but I hope it just doesnt come back again... I haven't tried epsom salts, all I have tried is the anti-fungal. Is there something obvious that I am missing... could it be that it eats tropical food and not goldfish food? I really don't know anything sounds good to me now!

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

Goldfish digestive systems can be very finnicky. They should only be fed goldfish food, if at all possible, along with plenty of vegetable matter (lettuce, cucumber, zucchini and other squashes, peas). It could very well be that your goldfish's diet is what's causing this bloat.

While he's in quarantine, I would stop feeding him any flakes or pellets. You can try feeding him a cooled, cooked, smushed up pea, which will act as a gentle laxative (I'm guessing this is why you may have had success with medications...they tend to clear out the fish's digestive tract...kinda the same way people meds do). I'd do maybe a day or 2 of fasting, then 1 or 2 peas, then a few more days of fasting. Trust me, a couple days without food won't hurt 'em. If he seems to be improving, it might be that his diet is giving him one wicked case of constipation + bloat....and we can then talk about some possible solutions. If he doesn't seem to be improving at all...then we can try treating in some other ways.

Good Luck, and keep us posted!