Dropsy

[HNLim]

Has anyone been successful in treating goldfish with dropsy.

[cowiche ponder]

I had one koi that recovered BUT I think he had was can be called cold water dropsy. A tank had drained and he was in 2" of water..had been freezing overnight, ice around the edges. I figured he was a gonner and put him in the new big tank with everyone else. That was 2 winters ago..I still have him and you'd never know he had it. I have had others that have not been so lucky.

[Veil Gal]

My experience is that a fish that develops dropsy is probably going to die. Every single fish I've had that developed the condition died EXCEPT one calico ranchu. I don't remember doing anything special for this fish. I might have tried MelaFix, but it didn't help any of the others w/that condition. In most cases, it is probably best to euthanize the fish.

[Jed]

I have been successful in treating a couple of my fish with early signs of dropsy with metromeds.

[joe]

like Jed, I have been successful treating dropsy like symptoms with metro meds followed by jump start. I have this lionhead that every once in awhile starts to have its scales extend (like we see with dropsy) I treat with metro meds for 15 days followed with jump start and the symptoms go away. I am not sure if this is dropsy or not. I know that there are many symptoms that can appear to be like dropsy

[afertuna]

Same here metro med has turned back all the dropsy cases I have had except one. Now I am interested in hearing more about the cold water dropsy. That is what I think happened to my yellow comet. she was almost frozen outside caught in an ice pocket during the snow storms I brought here in and she was fine for a couple days then dropsy'd.MIght I add I did warm her to the inside slowly starting with the pond water

[bekko]

Cold water dropsy is likely just a matter of a weakened immune system. Cold can have the same effect on the immune system as low oxygen. The treatment is likely the same as any case of dropsy.

I have been able to turn around a few cases of dropsy using antibiotics if they are caught early. The trouble is, it often seems to return later. If a fish has had some sort of obvious stress it is understandable that they may develop dropsy. But why some particular fish in a group will develop recurring dropsy while the others remain healthy is a mystery.

-steve

[wendylove]

I have treated two fish with dropsy that have survived. Fortaz, lasix and metronidazole IP.
She became a bottom sitter after the dropsy but was quite a happy fish despite this.
She dropsied again two years later and died. Something i was told by my vet that would more than likely happen.

[Virginia ranchu]

I recently had a Bristol Shubunkin recover from Dropsy. I have a group of them in a 55 gallon tank, and because of an extended business trip, the water quality diminished, and that's when the fish became ill. When I got home, one of them was swollen, with its scales looking like a pine cone, and its eyes bulging. I quickly did a 90% water change and decided to just see what happens. I've never had good luck with antibiotics in the aquarium. Over the next couple of days the fish de-bloated, and began to swim normally. After about a week, it began to accept food, and it now fully recovered.