Dropsy

[nmonks]

Please be careful with Melafix (or Pimafix, or Bettafix). While inexpensive and seemingly versatile, the reality is that very few experienced aquarists have anything good to say about them. They're based on tea-tree oil, a mildly antiseptic substance. There may be value in using them as a preventative, but if your fish are already showing signs of finrot or whatever, you don't have time to mess about with Melafix.

There is a reason why vets and doctors don't treat gangrene with tea-tree oil! It doesn't work! Finrot is essentially a gangrene-type infection where bacteria have got into an open wound. Internal bacterial infections are akin to septicaemia, and even more dangerous. There's no reason at all why Melafix would help, since Melafix doesn't get inside the fish.

I cannot stress this point strongly enough: when your fish are ill, you don't have time to waste on things like tea-tree oil or salt. Antibacterial medications (including copper and dyes such as methylene blue) are good for external infections, while antibiotics (such as erythromycin and minocycline) will treat both internal and external infections.

Cheers, Neale

not sure if dropsy is curable, but we have treated any infections or what eva they have caught with...melafix an antibacterial fish remedy or even separated the poorly fish 2 or 3 times daily in a small dose of methylene and they get better. so next time maybe you could try it. b

 

[Miah002]

Ok, can anyone answer this question?

I've asked four times.

Can i feed the fish during the medication peroid?

 

[minxfishy]

Yes you can.

 

[Miah002]

Ok thanks, your the only one that actually answered my question.

 

[nmonks]

Why are you treating the tank if the fish with dropsy is dead?

All medications (except antibiotics) are poisons, and the more you use them, the more you stress your fish and filter bacteria. If your fish aren't sick, then don't use any medication. One of the silliest things you can do is "treat your whole tank, just in case".

Cheers, Neale

Ok thanks, your the only one that actually answered my question.

 

[Miah002]

Theres another post saying major diesease and minxfishy said that if fish have white poo then

this means that they have internal bacteria infections. The other 5 Lampeye Killifish have white poo.

I've only had them for 6 days now and they have all sorts of dieseases.

 

[minxfishy]

It also depends on their other symptons as to the cause of the problem, stringly white poo is sometimes a sign of an internal bacteria infection. What other symptoms do the fish display?

 

[Miah002]

Sunken bellies and two of them have red spots which are ulcers.

 

[nmonks]

Theres another post saying major diesease and minxfishy said that if fish have white poo then this means that they have internal bacteria infections. The other 5 Lampeye Killifish have white poo.

Colourless faeces can imply a variety of things, including poor diet. "Internal bacterial infections" is a useless phrase banded about by aquarists. It doesn't mean anything, and certainly can't be diagnosed by looking at the faeces. The most common reason fish have white faeces is because the intestine is producing a lot of extra mucous. If you think about it, this makes sense: the mucous is colourless but binds the faecal matter together, forming the colourless strings. The usual reason for this is an protozoan infection of the gut, specifically Hexamita. This is the parasite that causes hole-in-the-head and can also be responsible for head-and-lateral-line-erosion. Protozoan infections will obviously not be treated with antibacterial or antibiotics, and your "anti-internal bacteria" medication will have zero effect. You need to use an anti-protozoan medication, for example metronidazole (trade name: Flagyl). In the UK at least, this is obtained from a vet. Very few medications are available over-the-counter, and most of those that purport to treat Hexamita are extremely unreliable (read: don't work). Recently eSHa Labs has started selling a product called eSHa Hexamita. Their products tend to be very good, so I'd certainly be prepared to try this out.

I've only had them for 6 days now and they have all sorts of diseases.

Do review water quality, water temperature, diet and handling. When lots of fish get sick simultaneously, and the symptoms are all vague or varied, then the chances are you dealing with something to do with the way they are kept. In this case, since you have new fish, there's a good chance that moving them to your tank battered their immune system somehow, or exposed them to something unsuitable to their safe maintenance. Blackwater fish for example react badly to being put into alkaline, hard water tanks because they can't handle the much higher bacteria populations in the water. Brackish water fish don't do well exposed to soft and acidic conditions, even in the short term. So review the needs of the species in question, and double check you've provided what they need.

Cheers, Neale

 

[Miah002]

My water param are fine for the fish and they're getting a good diet.

Remember these are not my fish. I'M TAKING CARE OF THEM AS MY FREIND IS ON HOLIDAY. If you don't remember.

All my other fish in different tanks are perfectly fine with their diet. These fish are currently in my 90 litre which i emptied as I was going to

make it into a community tank. This is not a new tank. It had fish that used to live in it before which are now in my fluval roma.