Molly has dropsy?

[Emma73525]

Hi, After my last message about a few fish dying, there seemed to be no issues after I gave the tank a water change...until now. One of my mollies seems to be swimming around a lot slower and it’s scales have puffed up, I had a look on the internet and believe it might be dropsy? Is there anyway to cure this? Water levels seem to be fine and the tank is relatively new. Thanks

 

[UnknownFishies]

i can’t be to sure, i am not an expert in illnesses. from the description and from me looking online it does look like dropsy.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

What's happening with this fish now? Is it still alive?

If it is dropsy, it looks as though it's still early stages. There was a guppy here recently that looked much worse, that recovered after the owner used Melafix. Would be worth a try here I think.

 

[Emma73525]

What's happening with this fish now? Is it still alive?

If it is dropsy, it looks as though it's still early stages. There was a guppy here recently that looked much worse, that recovered after the owner used Melafix. Would be worth a try here I think.

Hi, yes the fish is still alive swimming normalish but still has scaled puffed out. I will have a look where I can find Melafix and hopefully I will be able to get it before it dies. Thanks for the suggestion

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Hi, yes the fish is still alive swimming normalish but still has scaled puffed out. I will have a look where I can find Melafix and hopefully I will be able to get it before it dies. Thanks for the suggestion

Is there anything else in the tank with him? Adding aquarium salt might help keep him going until you can get Melafix. Also plenty of water changes with fresh, clean, declorinated and temperature matched water!

 

[Emma73525]

Is there anything else in the tank with him? Adding aquarium salt might help keep him going until you can get Melafix. Also plenty of water changes with fresh, clean, declorinated and temperature matched water

Yeah I have mollies, guppies, a neon tetra, 2 corydoras and a dwarf gourami. Also changed the water this morning so that may have helped? Thanks

 

[UnknownFishies]

Good job with the water changes. Just make sure to keep doing them to help keep him going.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Yeah I have mollies, guppies, a neon tetra, 2 corydoras and a dwarf gourami. Also changed the water this morning so that may have helped? Thanks

Ah, I wouldn't add salt to the main tank then, since you have cories, and they can be sensitive to salt. They're sensitive to some meds too, so do look into how cories are with melafix. I've never used it, so have no personal experience. I've used eSHa-2000 and other eSHa products (worming ones) in tanks with cories at full dose without problems though.

@Deanasue do you know whether cories are okay with Melafix? Not sure whether you've used it!

ETA: Do you have a spare quarantine tank, OP?

 

[FishGuest5123]

Are you in the States? Melafix won’t do too much. I use Kanaplex and Furan-2 together for Dropsy. Mollie looks pretty bad to me though. If you decide to do the meds mentioned, put the fish in quarantine to treat. I would also do epsom salt baths to pull the fluid off. Add 1 teaspoon of pure epsom salt to 1 gallon of dechlorinated water same temp as tank. Be sure epsom salt is free of perfumes. Dissolve the salt and allow the fish to bathe in bowl for a few minutes then return it to quarantine tank. You can do this up to 3 times a day along with the Kanaplex and Furan-2.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Oops, I see you are from England so try the epsom salt and Esha.

 

[Essjay]

Since there are gouramis in the tank I wouldn't use Melafix (or any of the -fix products) and they contain aromatic oils which can cause problems with the labyrinth organ.

eSHa 2000 or Waterlife Myxazin are the better meds to try, along with epsom salt baths to draw the fluid out.