Could it be anything other than dropsy?

[farmchick]

Hi all

My sister has a Jewel cichlid (?) that appears to have dropsy. Is there anything else that could be wrong with it other than dropsy?

It is still quite happily swimming around and all the water parameters are fine but it is bloated with sticking out scales but could it just be the bloated effect that is causing the scales to stick out?

We have him in a small hospital tank at the moment. He got a salt bath last nite and was offered peas but didnt eat them.

What would be the best medication attempt? She is a vet nurse so may be able to get hold of some antibiotics that arent available in LFS.

Any help gratefully appreciated.

[SpidersWeb]

I can't give an official answer because I've still been trying to work this out myself. From what I gather there are two causes, internal bacterial infection, or kidney failure.

I had a male betta who got it a while ago, so we were treating with Erythromycin (500mg tablets). Doseage rate was 1 tablet per 200L of water, but we were dosing much higher. Anyway his bloating went right down, but his scales stayed pointed outwards, and eventually he just became lethargic and didn't look very good. We then used clove oil to put him to sleep.

Also we found epsom salts (Mg Sulphate) helped reduce swelling on a previous dwarf gourami, however we didn't have any anti-biotics available, and were slowly losing the war, so once again, clove oil.

If anti-biotics don't work, as far as I know it's curtains for the fish.

You'll need a vet medication. Erythromycin is commonly given out because it only costs you $7 (cheap) and it can be dissolved in water although probably better if he ate a tiny bit. If the Jewel is big enough, the vet can give him an injection in the spine of anti-biotics.

We've no longer had any dropsy problems since we've stopped feeding frozen bloodworms.

[farmchick]

You'll need a vet medication. Erythromycin is commonly given out because it only costs you $7 (cheap) and it can be dissolved in water although probably better if he ate a tiny bit. If the Jewel is big enough, the vet can give him an injection in the spine of anti-biotics.

Thanks SpidersWeb. I will let her know. The vet she works for is a horse specialist so I dont know that she would have needles small enough.

[Adrienne]

Hi, I agree with everything Spidersweb said including stopping bloodworms. Since I have nearly completely stopped feeding them I have had no more dropsy in my fighters either. I also have never had a fish survive dropsy.

[jolliolli]

Hi, I agree with everything Spidersweb said including stopping bloodworms. Since I have nearly completely stopped feeding them I have had no more dropsy in my fighters either. I also have never had a fish survive dropsy.

I've read of a few accounts of people stopping feeding bloodworms due to the possible link with dropsy. Just wondering what you and Spidersweb feed as an alternative. At the moment i'm feeding bloodworms to my fish twice a week but if there is something else you guys would recommend instead i'd be keen to know

[alanmin4304]

I have been feeding blood worms for years and have never had a problem. Dropsy is a sign of water retention normally caused by kidney failure which can in turn have many causes. Usually any treatment will only relieve the symptoms temporarily and will not undo the damage done. In my experience by the time they are swelling up with water retention it is too late. Erethromycen will kill bacteria (if it is bacteria causing the problem) but also cannot undo the damage done.

[Adrienne]

I feed flakes and bits, live bbs, frozen daphnia and brine shrimp and they also nibble on the plec tabs I drop into the tank. I still feed blood worms but never more than once a week and try not to let the fish have more than 4 at one time. As Alanmin says you can't repair internal organ damage, we don't donor lists for fish yet! :-?

[farmchick]

thanks all. None of the fish actually get bloodworms so Im not sure why this poor little bugger has got it.

He is still in the hospital tank and it looks like the bloating has reduced a little bit. We are going to try some amoxycillian (sp?) on the recomendation of a vet.