Bloated Rasbora - Possible Dropsy?

[Miss Wiggle]

we've just stocked our tank after a full fishless cycle, current stats;

pH - 7.2
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10ppm

tanks around 60 gals, filter providing 10 x tank turnover, moderately planted, current stocking;

15 x copper harlequin rasboras
15 x celebes rainbows
15 x sterbai corydoras
4 x angelfish

fish have been in since last thursday following a 4 week fishless cycle using ammonia and a few days qualifying the cycle. when we put the fish in one of the angels got a tiny bit of mouth rot so we started treating the tank with pimafix, this was all clear yesterday although we plan to carry on treatment for a couple of days just to be on the safe side.

just noticed today that one of the rasbora's looks a bit of a funny shape, it's like he's got a really full tummy, some signs his scales are sticking out which makes me think it might be dropsy but on such a small fish (they're juvi's and even at full size they won't be that big) it's a little hard to tell, also i guess the distortion of the body could be causing this. there is also a tiny red dot on the underside of his belly.

water quality is fine but as its a newly cycled tank I'm aware there could be other chemical changes going on outside of the basic parameters we test for.

i haven't a bacterial med in but i can get one tomorrow, also have a small tank I can isolate him too. so questions

1 - do you agree with the diagnosis of dropsy
2 - other than isolation, good water quality and a bacterial med is there anything i can do
3 - recommendations for a bacterial med
4 - is it contagious, no other fish are showing signs of illness - do i also need to treat the main tank if i isolate him

thanks

 

[Carlovel1]

Maybe the rasbora is a 'she' and maybe 'she' is gravid (fishie pregnant)
But pics wouuld help

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hmmmm hadn't considered that, although wouldn't be pregnant as they are egg layers, but could be distended with eggs.

i haven't a pic of ours however did a bit of googling to try and find a picture of a gravid rasbora to compare too - not much joy but did find this pic which doesn't say it's a gravid female, but the body shape resembles ours. although i think ours is a bit more pronounced.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Decided it's definately poorly not gravid. Popped him into a hospital tank last night with some melafix as it's the closest thing to a bacterial med we had to hand in the evening. Got loss of colour and scales pineconing.

Off to the LFS in a few mins for a good bacterial med - recommendations anyone. Protozoin is springing to mind but it's a while since I've done this so I may just be getting confused.

 

[Athena]

No, not Protozin for dropsy - use Octozin. Depends how far gone the disease is as to how successful treatment will be. Pineconing is usually towards the later stage, unfortunately. Worth a try though.

Athena

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah got to the LFS and realised it wasn't protozoin. got some myaxin which is for bacterial infections. i know dropsy's pretty hard to treat but it's worth giving it a go at least.

thankfully he doesn't seem to be too distressed so fingers crossed.

 

[Athena]

Ok, but I'm not sure Myxazin will cure it at this late stage. Octozin is the one specifically for early stages of dropsy (although dropsy is usually caused initially by a bacterial disease). Your nitrates are not high anyway, so that's one less worry (usually that is the trigger in dropsy).

Athena

 

[Miss Wiggle]

he didn't make it through the night, sad but not entirely unexpected

 

[WILDER]

Bless Him.
R.I.P.