katrina.hughes Posted July 13, 2010 Report Share Posted July 13, 2010 Hi everyone, had a case of dropsy in one of my female guppies about a week ago - she died. Water quality is all fine, pH a little high but I do have cardinals. 90 litre tank, temp 27 degrees. Now I have just noticed another one of my female guppies has come down with dropsy. Have no idea what is causing it, I do regular water changes so I don't think water quality is the issue. Haven't found any info that tells me whether it is contagious or not... Would like to know what is causing dropsy and how to prevent it in the future. Any help would be much appreciated! Just going now to put guppy out of her misery :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakaway Posted July 13, 2010 Report Share Posted July 13, 2010 This sort of stuff is almost always contagious. I would isolate the sick fish immediately. That way when you medicate, you don't hit your plants and/or other fish with the medicine that they might not have any need for. I'm currently dealing with a sick puffer (fin rot) myself. I've got him isolated in a 10L tank so metering medicines is easy (the tank just has him and 2 guppy fry, no plants or gravel). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted July 13, 2010 Report Share Posted July 13, 2010 Dropsy is the signs of water retention, usually from kydney failure from any number of causes--usually infectious and usually incurable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikBok Posted July 13, 2010 Report Share Posted July 13, 2010 you can but try though! Epsom salts will help with the retained fluids but will not cure the cause. From what I understand about dropsy, the condition itself is not infectious but the causes can be , if that makes sense. i.e Dropsy can't be caught.. but a bacterial infection that caused dropsy can be. So it comes back to cause. I would isolate the sick fish, treat with Epsom salts and a systematic antibiotic like furna2. (weigh up the medicine cost vs the cost of guppy and likelihood of success which could be quite low) You may be too late to save this one but keep a close eye on others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted July 14, 2010 Report Share Posted July 14, 2010 Dropsy is caused by organ failure as already said. What causes that is unknown but if it is bacteria then this is most likely the contagious part (as already said as well). My suggestion would be to increase your water changes to daily for a week - ten days which will help keep the tank pristine. The best thing you can do is isolate any fish you suspect of having dropsy over the next week or so - you can float an icecream container in the top of your tank if you have no other way. This way if the fish does have it and dies it is less likely to infect the others. I have found it goes in patches with my fish but I have linked it to a certain food which I feed from time to time. While it is not proven I find if I don't feed it I don't get dropsy which is good enough for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikBok Posted July 14, 2010 Report Share Posted July 14, 2010 I have found it goes in patches with my fish but I have linked it to a certain food which I feed from time to time. While it is not proven I find if I don't feed it I don't get dropsy which is good enough for me. Are you talking about bloodworms? Remember that fighter pic I posted a while ago that had dropsy.. his condition developed shortly after I started feeding him brineshrimp flakes ... do you think it was too much protein? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted July 14, 2010 Report Share Posted July 14, 2010 yes I am talking bloodworms - there is no proven evidence but what I have seen is enough for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katrina.hughes Posted July 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2010 Thanks guys for all you help, guppy was too far gone for treatment... scary thing is it all happened so fast! I'll treat for bacterial infections because I think my last female guppy maybe starting to get it too... weird how its only affecting my female gupppies. Will do regular water changes in the main tank as well - just to doubly make sure. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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