Sudden Death (Goldfish) -Dropsy?

[Abbi]

Hi

I've had berty (a ranchu) and Klaus (a fantail) for about a year and a half. Berty has always been healthy but Klaus has suffered from finrot a couple of times and has had problems with his swim bladder but both problems seemed to had gone away.

yesterday Klaus died. On Sunday he seemed fine, Monday a bit lethargic but still fine (and as Monday was there break from feeding i assumed it was normal ( but Tuesday morning he was laying on the bottom, didn't feed and didn't mind when i put my hand near him. I got a text at 3pm saying he was dead.

when i got him out the tank at 6pm he looked incredibly bloated and i noticed about 3 scales were sticking up. I'm not sure if its dropsy as 1. He was dead for a few hours so could have swelled 2. I struggled getting him out the net so could have damaged his scales if that's even possible (is it?).

does it sound like it could be dropsy? I didn't think he was bloated when he was alive, my dad said he looked like he could pop but when i looked at pictures of his type of fantail, he looked normal. Maybe i missed it

im terrified my ranchu could be next. Again i don't think he looks bliated but i have begun doubting myself and now think maybe he is!

how do i treat/prevent dropsy?

i also need to get berty a friend as he seems very lonely. Does anyone have any advice on buying him a friend?

stats:

my tank is 60 litre, filter, air stone, water change 50% - 60% each week, feed with aquarian flake food and these pellets (i cant remember the name) but they,are specifically for fancy goldfish.

i am looking to get a bigger tank in the next 2 months

 

[purepl416]

First things first...goldfish need 2 gallons of water per inch of fish. they are very dirty fish and produce a lot of waste. A 29 gallon is the absolute minimum for 2 small fancy goldfish. Fantails and ranchu are the fancy breed so if you want two, I highly recommend a 29 gallon tank with 60% water changes weekly.
 
Dropsy is the worst thing any fish can come down with. It's not a disease but rather a bacterial infection. Its where the fish can't extract the fluids from the body due to organ failure. I think its with the kidneys? I have had many goldfish in the past and I remember my prized oranda Daniel fell to the dreaded dropsy. Its a hit or miss treating it. I consistently fed him special medicated foods called metro-meds. Supposed to help cure dropsy but doesn't always work. Metro-meds are available from goldfish connection. They are expensive but have heard many positives from them.
 
Another alternative is to use maricyn 2 and epsom salts to treat the dropsy. Probably the least expensive route to take.
 
The final option is actual injections you inject into your fish. Sadly these aren't readily available and most vets don't treat fish. I looked for these for Daniel and had no luck.
 
Hope this helps...

 

[Mamashack]

+1 for the much larger tank. They should grow to somewhere between 8" and 12" when fully grown and live to 30 yrs or more. When they are in too small a tank they become stunted and as their innards are already scrunched up by breeding to that shape they are already compromised to some extent. Also they become easily constipated which can lead to swim bladder problems too. Give a chopped and deshelled cooked pea every so often preferably before water change as it tends to make the water cloudy.
I've never treated dropsy so I can't offer any advice there, but do please consider a much larger tank or rehoming Berty to somewhere much bigger if you can't manage a bigger tank yourself. Ideally the first goldfish (fancy or not) needs 20 gallons and an extra 10 gallons per addtitional goldfish because of the size they should grow to.
Don't feel bad you didn't know all this - I had 2 Pearlscale goldfish in a tank smaller than yours when I first got into the hobby - bad advice from the LFS, but I know better now.
If you want to research what fish need before you buy, you can't go far wrong with the website Seriously Fish. Don't buy fish with your heart always research what they need first then decide if you can offer it. If you can't don't purchase.