Fish Looking Furry

[CSnyder00]

Yup. Looks like this is no good. Get a water change going and see what you can do. Maybe putting the poor soul out of it's misery is the best option.

 

[nic1]

Hi...
Yes that is dropsy. Usually when a fish gets it then they die within the week. They are far too stressed and ill to come back from it usually. I know this as I had a guppy in exactly the same state. I googled everything going and drew the same conclusion.... I isolated my guppy added esha 2000, as it was all that I had at the time, turned off the lights to minimise stress but he still died.
The nip on his fin May had become infected as someone mentioned, poor little huy.
Edit. ., poor little guy!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

 
Dropsy
    Symptoms: Bloating of the body, protruding scales.      Dropsy is caused from a bacterial infection of the kidneys, causing fluid accumulation or renal failure. The fluids in the body build up and cause the fish to bloat up and the scales to protrude. It appears to only cause trouble in weakened fish and possibly from unkempt aquarium conditions.
     An effective treatment is to add an antibiotic to the food. With flake food, use about 1% of antibiotic and carefully mix it in. If you keep the fish hungry they should eagerly eat the mixture before the antibiotic dissipates. Antibiotics usually come in 250 mg capsules. If added to 25 grams of flake food, one capsule should be enough to treat dozens of fish. A good antibiotic is chloromycetin (chloramphenicol). Or use tetracycline. If you feed your fish frozen foods or chopped foods, try to use the same ratio with mixing. As a last resort add at most 10 mg per liter of water. Also, if unkempt conditions are the suspected cause, correct it.

from http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm#Dropsy
 

 

Common Name:

Dropsy

Pathogen/Cause:

Various organisms (nonspecific), poor water quality.

Physical Signs:

Bloated appearence with scales that stick out like a pine cone. Best viewed from above. Dropsy is not really a specific pathologic entity, it is to describe a general condition of fluid accumulation in the internal body cavity, which has many causes. Dropsy usually signals internal infection and multiple organ failure. It can be compared to ascites in humans in end stage kidney failure.

Behavioral Signs:

Lethargy, lack of appetite, grave constitutional signs.

Potential Treatment:

Unfortunately, dropsy is *usually* incurable and fatal; however, in rare cases, spontaneous recovery may occur. A strong antibiotic such as kanamycin sulfate can be tried, but because it is an internal infection, usually it does little good.

Other Notes:

Take measures to improve water quality immediately. Fortunately, it is not highly contagious.

from http/badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_palace/tropicalfish_disease_identification.html#Dropsy
 
The fluffy is fungus, the scales likely dropsy. However, some parasites can cause a similar symptom. Its hard to tell from the pics, but of the fish is not bloated, it is possible it is not dropsy. The biggest problem is the lack of availability of fish meds in the UK.

 

[catfish4ever]

dby the time dropsy is noticed its usually too late, ive read stories upon epson salt baths which cure the fish, also try feeding vegetables, worth a try, watch the fins aswell to see if they are pineconing, 

 

[Zikofski]

okay i have the fish in 1l of water and added 3/16 of magnesium sulphate i think that was the correct amount and il monitor the fish how long should i keep the fish in this so called bath? all night? then replace with fresh water, there is no filter on this as i have no spare filter to add so i am hoping ammonia/nitrite won't rise to high over night

 

[DrRob]

Baths are usually for only brief periods of time, sometimes only 15 minutes. Do you have an air pump? If so you can knock together a filter with a simple box very quickly, although with only one fish in a container you may not need one.
 
I'd agree to quarantine, if only so the others leave it alone, and treat the fungus at the very least. You can get the copper sulphate and malachite green based meds in the UK fairly easily, which are far cheaper to use in smaller hospital tanks (I've generally used a plastic storage bucket).
 
With UK availability, treating the thing that's causing the secondary dropsy like effect is probably your best bet.

 

[Mamashack]

Hope my gut feeling is wrong and that the treatment works, Zik.
I'd have some clove oil standing by just in case it deteriorates further and you decide to put it out of its misery. Can send you the method if you need it. I know it's not a nice thing to contemplate, but you may have to consider it.
, 

 

[Zikofski]

thnx for all the help people sadly the fish passed away today  

  but at least it is not suffering anymore i hope no other fish have the same problem

 

[Mamashack]

Sorry for your loss, Zik! Are you going to treat the others? Or wait and see?

 

[Zikofski]

wait and see tbh, as they all seem fine, this one was always near the top of the tank and alone where as the others are all together under the plants all the time so i guess they are all happy and healthy

 

[Mamashack]

Got my fingers crossed!!