Sharn,dont even get me started on the above mentioned discus man.

Put it this way he certainly wont be getting any further purchases from myself and two others down here again.

I'm being VERY diplomatic in my comments here.

Very interesting reading has already been mention, how ever I would like to know more as I have had 4 cases of this, 2 of which was a pair of red Gouramis which gutted me, all in the space of a week, and from three different tanks?? Does it only spread once the fish has died???

I recently lost a couple of young Appisto females which I was trying to fatten up for breeding and I suspect over did it! The interesting thing was they were in a tank with other varieties of Appisto and only the one variety was affected which also happened to be my favourite! I isolated the pair imediately and placed each into its own quaranteen to be safe. I read where overfeeding can cause a strain on body organs and lead to kidney failure resulting in a build up of body fluid, the visual symptom of dropsy! I don't know how true it is but it sadly fits the bill in my case.