I have some guppies that I'm pretty sure have dropsy. I only realized this morning because one of my fish is lying on the gravel and the plants and won't swim. Looking at the other ones, I think that 4/5 might have it.
I've been watching them a lot today and noticed that the only one that doesn't have symptoms seems to be bugging the other ones, and especially the one that won't swim, so I think he might be stressing them out which could have caused it. I'm not sure if I should remove the bully or the sick fish. Something I have to consider is that I think you're supposed to add aquarium salt to the tank as part of the treatment but I'm not sure if I should because I have a pleco and tetras which I've heard are sensitive to salt. I have a 10 gallon quarantine tank I could move the sick ones to but right now there are 3 other fish I just got from a neighbor that I think might be sick, so I could move the sick guppies over to that tank but I'm worried that they would all catch whatever the other fish have and then just all have multiple illnesses. Also, if I moved the sick guppies, would the stress harm them more than it would help?
Earliler, I took the two worst cases and put them in an epsom salt bath because I read that you should do that. They were in there for 5-10 minutes but it didn't seem to do much to help them.
So basically I think my two options are to either move the mean guppy in with a tank I have with platys and treat the whole tank with salt, or to move the sick guppies in with the other sick fish and treat them all. What do you guys think? Also, please let me know if there's anything else I need to be doing for them.
I've been watching them a lot today and noticed that the only one that doesn't have symptoms seems to be bugging the other ones, and especially the one that won't swim, so I think he might be stressing them out which could have caused it. I'm not sure if I should remove the bully or the sick fish. Something I have to consider is that I think you're supposed to add aquarium salt to the tank as part of the treatment but I'm not sure if I should because I have a pleco and tetras which I've heard are sensitive to salt. I have a 10 gallon quarantine tank I could move the sick ones to but right now there are 3 other fish I just got from a neighbor that I think might be sick, so I could move the sick guppies over to that tank but I'm worried that they would all catch whatever the other fish have and then just all have multiple illnesses. Also, if I moved the sick guppies, would the stress harm them more than it would help?
Earliler, I took the two worst cases and put them in an epsom salt bath because I read that you should do that. They were in there for 5-10 minutes but it didn't seem to do much to help them.
So basically I think my two options are to either move the mean guppy in with a tank I have with platys and treat the whole tank with salt, or to move the sick guppies in with the other sick fish and treat them all. What do you guys think? Also, please let me know if there's anything else I need to be doing for them.