Fish with a swollen tail - dropsy or not?

[aqua.land]

Hi.

So yesterday I noticed one of my fish looked a little strange, but couldn’t really figure out what is was.
Today I noticed that she wasn’t active and had a little bit of a swollen tail. It also seems like she has pinecone scales, but they aren’t really raised, and only a little, on the tail.
Shes not very energetic and is always opening and closing her mouth, but comes up to eat and is quite energetic when I feed her.
I hope this isn’t dropsy. Does anyone have any advice/know what to do?
Thanks.

 

[Colin_T]

It doesn't have dropsy because it's too skinny.

It does have a bacterial infection on the rear half of its body, which is characterised by the red inflamed area.

--------------------
You can try salt (2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres (5 gallons) of tank water, keep salt in there for 2 weeks. Or you can look for anti-biotics but they will cost you more than the fish and it could still die.

Before you add salt, wipe the inside of the glass down and clean the filter. Then do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
This will dilute a lot of the disease organisms in the water and help the fish heal.

 

[aqua.land]

It doesn't have dropsy because it's too skinny.

It does have a bacterial infection on the rear half of its body, which is characterised by the red inflamed area.

--------------------
You can try salt (2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres (5 gallons) of tank water, keep salt in there for 2 weeks. Or you can look for anti-biotics but they will cost you more than the fish and it could still die.

Before you add salt, wipe the inside of the glass down and clean the filter. Then do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
This will dilute a lot of the disease organisms in the water and help the fish heal.

Hi.

Thank you so much for replying, this explains why the fish doesn't want to use her tail to swim with.
Should I buy a special aquarium salt or can I use normal table salt?
I read that you can use normal table salt as long as it doesn't have additives and iodine........ but I'm not sure whether I have some in my normal salt.

I just checked - my salt has anti caking agent so I can't use that. What salts will be okay? Epsom salt?

Also, will the salt harm plecos? Not sure if it's true but apparently they are sensitive to salt.

 

[Colin_T]

The dose rate I put in post #2 is safe for all fish, shrimp, snails, plants and filter bacteria.

You can use any type of sodium chloride as long as it does not contain iodine or anti-caking agents.

Swimming pool salt (sold at hardware stores and swimming pool shops is the cheapest but aquarium salt or rock salt is the same stuff.

 

[aqua.land]

Hi.
Thanks so much for your help @Colin_T .
I just bought aquarium salt along with some other stuff for my nitrite problems.
It says put 1 heaped tablespoon for 20 litres of water....you said put 2. What should I do? Maybe this salt is more powerful?
I’m only going to put 1 in pet 20l now, I’ll add more if you think I should.

 

[Colin_T]

2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres.

if you have ammonia or nitrite readings, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until the levels are on 0ppm.

 

[aqua.land]

Thank you.
I’ll add some more.