Emergency, Please Help

[CaptainBarnicles]

Maybe, I don't know

 

[anewbie]

Dropsy is a relative term for an internal bacterial infection...

No; dropsy is a term for bloat; it can be caused by different things including bacteria and parasite.

 

[anewbie]

If the fish does not appear to be in pain or suffering then there is no harm in waiting. The truth of the matter extreme bloat can damage the internal organs so you can treat it and it might get better but the life span will be shorten. However it is not clear that killing it helps. Fishes are not people and that means their sensory are very different than people and it is important when evaluating what action to take to not take the perspective if this was me what would i want done to myself. I am not a biologist so i do not know exactly how a fish respond to internal damage or illness but I tend to believe (perhaps incorrectly) that as long as it behaves normally things are acceptable.

 

[Pichi]

If the fish does not appear to be in pain or suffering then there is no harm in waiting. The truth of the matter extreme bloat can damage the internal organs so you can treat it and it might get better but the life span will be shorten. However it is not clear that killing it helps. Fishes are not people and that means their sensory are very different than people and it is important when evaluating what action to take to not take the perspective if this was me what would i want done to myself. I am not a biologist so i do not know exactly how a fish respond to internal damage or illness but I tend to believe (perhaps incorrectly) that as long as it behaves normally things are acceptable.

Yes I absolutely agree, I understand where you are coming from. But how can we really know when a fish is in pain and suffering? It's hard to tell even when a human, our own species is in pain, it doesn't always show outwardly. I can only assume that if my skin were that red, inflamed and swollen, it would hurt. Sometimes even tiny little pimples can hurt a lot. If I could help him make it through I would. But nothing is working and he is only getting worse, I can only assume he will continue to get worse. I don't think he would want to continue to suffer in pain until he dies. I think he deserves to feel his pain slowly fade away and drift off to sleep. So that at least for a few moments before he dies, he doesn't have to hurt anymore. It's heartbreaking.

 

[Colin_T]

clove oil and then freeze him while he is unconscious

 

[Rocky998]

Yes I absolutely agree, I understand where you are coming from. But how can we really know when a fish is in pain and suffering? It's hard to tell even when a human, our own species is in pain, it doesn't always show outwardly. I can only assume that if my skin were that red, inflamed and swollen, it would hurt. Sometimes even tiny little pimples can hurt a lot. If I could help him make it through I would. But nothing is working and he is only getting worse, I can only assume he will continue to get worse. I don't think he would want to continue to suffer in pain until he dies. I think he deserves to feel his pain slowly fade away and drift off to sleep. So that at least for a few moments before he dies, he doesn't have to hurt anymore. It's heartbreaking.

Just know, whatever you think is good for him is probably best... You know him better than us and you have a good heart...