Poorly Fish! Please Help Me!

[lotsoflittlefish]

Hi,
I have a minnow and i saw it behind the filter, its got paler and has a large lump at the side of her and she is swimming wonky and wierd, i looked it up and i think she has dropsy! i really dont know what to do for her, whats the kindest thing to do, or should i just change all the water, tommorow i will go get the water tested, please help quick. oh and recently she had babies, but so did another fish and now there are 12 baby minnows in the tank!

 

[laura120381]

hi there,

are the minnows scales 'sticking out' at all? do any of the other have the same symptoms? what size is your tank and what are your parameters? is the fishes whole abdomen swollen or is it localised?

L

 

[lotsoflittlefish]

not that i can see, and none of the other ones have any signs, but the babys are still quite small (maybe almost a centimeter) The tank is only 45 litre and i know its too small for so many fish but i wasnt really expecting babies so i havnt had time to think about that, but i am thinking about buying another tank for the babies. and its just localised.
thanks

 

[laura120381]

ok have you tested your tank water? if so can you please post the results? do you have a hospital tank at all? if so i would recommend moving the fish into isolation until we can get to the bottom of this. any chance you could post a pic?

it could be a bacterial infection. dropsy is unfortunately usually fatal but i don't think its highly contagious...would be best if you could put her in a hospital tank though. i have not experienced this myself so am just guessing. i see fluttermoth is having a look. i am sure she will be able to help you.

 

[lotsoflittlefish]

ok have you tested your tank water? if so can you please post the results? do you have a hospital tank at all? if so i would recommend moving the fish into isolation until we can get to the bottom of this. any chance you could post a pic?

it could be a bacterial infection. dropsy is unfortunately usually fatal but i don't think its highly contagious...would be best if you could put her in a hospital tank though. i have not experienced this myself so am just guessing. i see fluttermoth is having a look. i am sure she will be able to help you.

i dont have a hospital thank but i can go get one tommrow, and im going to pets at home to get my water tested and maybe they can see whaats wrong, but i will post what they say.
thanks

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi there, sorry it's taken so long to post.

It doesn't sound like there's much you can do; once fish with dropsy swell up it's normally fatal, I'm afraid.

You could try Myxazin in case it's an internal bacterial infection.

Dropsy is often related to poor water quality, so I'd change 50% of the water (make sure the new water is warmed and dechlorinated, of course) every day for the next week.

Do get the water tested and post the results if you can; best of luck!

 

[lotsoflittlefish]

I dont think i can get to the pet shop to get the water tested but i will order a new tank, should i put the baby fish in this tank or the sick fish? i will try getting Myxazin too, thanks for the help

 

[fluttermoth]

I would put the babies in the new tank. Don't forget to move some of your filter media too, or you'll be putting them in an uncycled tank which, even though fry should be having a lot of water changes, isn't a good idea

 

[lotsoflittlefish]

I would put the babies in the new tank. Don't forget to move some of your filter media too, or you'll be putting them in an uncycled tank which, even though fry should be having a lot of water changes, isn't a good idea

oh the tank came with a filter so they wont be without one, when should i put them in the tank because last time i had to wait a week

 

[lotsoflittlefish]

the fish died :`(

 

[Fishy friend2]

Im sorry to hear about your loss