DROPSY!!

[Kyanite14]

I think my Dwarf Gouramis has Dropsy, I found him gasping on the floor of the tank with a distended belly and slightly pine coned scales.

What should I do?? I heard that at this stage it’s incurable. Do I put him out of his misery? I don’t have clove oil and it’s the middle of the night

I don’t know what happened. After one of my guppies got his fins torn I added half strength Melafix, I know labyrinth fish are sensitive to it, that’s why I did half strength. Did that cause this??

I feel terrible if it was my fault. What can I do for him…?

 

[Kyanite14]

I think my Dwarf Gouramis has Dropsy, I found him gasping on the floor of the tank with a distended belly and slightly pine coned scales. View attachment 315028
What should I do?? I heard that at this stage it’s incurable. Do I put him out of his misery? I don’t have clove oil and it’s the middle of the night

I don’t know what happened. After one of my guppies got his fins torn I added half strength Melafix, I know labyrinth fish are sensitive to it, that’s why I did half strength. Did that cause this??

I feel terrible if it was my fault. What can I do for him…?

Update: I decided to decapitate him, as it seemed like the least painful option if done right. One slice, and he was fully severed from his body.
I really hate that I did that, it LOOKED painful but I was told that it wouldn’t be… and now I’m freaking out that I didn’t NEED to kill him, like what if it WASN’T Dropsy and was something curable?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Dropsy is a condition, not actually a disease in itself: https://www.thesprucepets.com/dropsy-in-aquarium-fish-1381806

There are many causes for the condition, as you see in the link above...Dwarf Gourami Disease is very common, and could be the culprit, as well: https://helpusfish.com/1/17/dwarf-gourami-disease-guide.html

From looking at the one pic you provided, I believe you did the right thing

 

[GaryE]

That was dropsy - there was nothing else you could have done.

It's generally from an internal infection, so the melafix would not have caused it.

 

[Kyanite14]

Dropsy is a condition, not actually a disease in itself: https://www.thesprucepets.com/dropsy-in-aquarium-fish-1381806

There are many causes for the condition, as you see in the link above...Dwarf Gourami Disease is very common, and could be the culprit, as well: https://helpusfish.com/1/17/dwarf-gourami-disease-guide.html

From looking at the one pic you provided, I believe you did the right thing

I mean, other than his lack of interest in food and hiding away, he seemed normal. I always chopped it up to him being scared of the guppies, as they always got to the food before him. He DID eat though when it fell right in front of him, he just didn’t have the same interest as the others, who would dart around the top waiting to be fed. He did just recover from columnaris not too long ago, maybe that lowered his immune system?

 

[Kyanite14]

Dropsy is a condition, not actually a disease in itself: https://www.thesprucepets.com/dropsy-in-aquarium-fish-1381806

There are many causes for the condition, as you see in the link above...Dwarf Gourami Disease is very common, and could be the culprit, as well: https://helpusfish.com/1/17/dwarf-gourami-disease-guide.html

From looking at the one pic you provided, I believe you did the right thing

I hope so, I know I could’ve just let him die but I didn’t want him to suffer, I also didn’t want him to cause an ammonia spike if I didn’t catch him right when he died.

 

[Kyanite14]

That was dropsy - there was nothing else you could have done.

It's generally from an internal infection, so the melafix would not have caused it.

The day after I first brought him home a couple months ago he developed columnaris, and it took a few weeks to finally cure it. Do you think that previous infection weakened him? I know how sensitive these guys are.

 

[Colin_T]

Dwarf gouramis (Colisa lalius) are genetically weak due to inbreeding. They also regularly carry the Gourami Iridovirus and or Fish Tuberculosis (TB). There is no cure for either of these diseases and you should avoid buying anymore dwarf gouramis until the breeders in Asia clean up their act.

If the fish had Columnaris, that would have weakened it to some degree but won't have caused the dropsy. If the fish stopped eating suddenly, and got fat and developed dropsy overnight, then it had an internal infection and there is no cure for that. It could be from Fish TB or something else.

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If a fish ever dies, or gets sick, do the following.
1) Wipe the inside of the glass down to remove any biofilm (slime).

2) Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

3) Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash filter media/ materials in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the dirty water on the lawn outside.

Don't add any new fish for at least one month after a fish has been sick or dies.

 

[Kyanite14]

I don’t plan on getting any more fish anyway, once my tank goes I’m going to start a new one.
I haven’t replaced any of my filter media since I started the tank, but it’s covered in brown algae and rinsing doesn’t work that well. I also at one point put the tank through antibiotics (the columnaris I talked about) and since then the biological filter hasn’t recovered. It’s stuck at .25 ammonia no matter what I do, and I assume it’s stressing the fish.
Should I replace all the media? I don’t know if it’s possible the algae is affecting the bacteria’s growth, since my tank matured I no longer have brown algae in the tank itself, it’s all localized in the filter. I’ve added bottled bacteria, but it doesn’t do anything anymore.

 

[Colin_T]

Do not replace the filter media/ materials unless it is falling apart. then you only replace one bit at a time and wait a month before replacing anymore. If you replace the filter media you get rid of the beneficial bacteria and will have ammonia and nitrite problems for the next month or two.

All filter media turns brown over time. it's staining from the fish waste and bacteria.

 

[Kyanite14]

I’ve been having issues ever since I last used antibiotics. My tank was cycled beforehand, and I used carbon to remove it, but ammonia has stayed at .25 no matter how many water changes I do. I’m not sure why it won’t recover.

 

[BleuTheBetta]

I’ve been having issues ever since I last used antibiotics. My tank was cycled beforehand, and I used carbon to remove it, but ammonia has stayed at .25 no matter how many water changes I do. I’m not sure why it won’t recover.

Sorry to bud in!
Does your tap water have ammonia in it? Or has that never been an issue before the meds?

 

[sharkweek178]

Update: I decided to decapitate him, as it seemed like the least painful option if done right. One slice, and he was fully severed from his body.
I really hate that I did that, it LOOKED painful but I was told that it wouldn’t be… and now I’m freaking out that I didn’t NEED to kill him, like what if it WASN’T Dropsy and was something curable?

In my brief experience, when fish get to that point, they don't come back from it.

 

[Colin_T]

I’ve been having issues ever since I last used antibiotics. My tank was cycled beforehand, and I used carbon to remove it, but ammonia has stayed at .25 no matter how many water changes I do. I’m not sure why it won’t recover.

Depending on how much carbon you used, will determine how much medication was removed from the water by the carbon. A small cartridge might not be enough to remove all the medication. Residual medication can also sit in the gravel and leach out over weeks or months after treatment.

The best way to remove chemicals from an aquarium is by doing big (75%) daily water changes and gravel cleaning the substrate. After a week of this there shouldn't be any medication left and the filter should start to recover. However, you also need to clean the filter before and after medicating the fish. You do it before treatment to remove the gunk in the filter so the medication can work on the fish. You clean it after treatment to remove any dead micro-organisms and leftover medication in the filter.

It can take a couple of months for an aquarium to recover after treatment. This is common when antibiotics have been used. Adding a liquid filter bacteria supplement can sometimes help, but normally it's just a matter of waiting until the bacteria recolonises the aquarium.

If you use a filter bacteria supplement, add a double dose every day for a week, then pour the remaining contents into the tank. try to add the bacteria near the filter intake so it gets drawn into the filter where it belongs.

 

[Kyanite14]

Sorry to bud in!
Does your tap water have ammonia in it? Or has that never been an issue before the meds?

I’ve tested it and it’s zero. I also use prime before adding it in. It only became an issue after I used nitrofuranzone/kanaplex treatment.