# Possible dropsy?



## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

About two days ago I noticed that one of my goldies looked a bit 'rounder' than usual... maybe slightly bloated? Scooped her out into a bowl for a closer look and her scales do not look completely flat to her body as they should be 

Does it look like pineconing to you guys??





She seems to be behaving as normal, eating and swimming around. For the moment though I've quarantined her (she might not be contagious but it's easier for me to try and treat a smaller tank), and I've added epsom salts to the water.

Not too sure what else to do at the moment...


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

Decided to start treatment with eSHa 2000... fingers crossed.


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

Can't really offer any advice, but fingers crossed that the treatment works.


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

Thanks Naomi x

She has now developed some kind of growth on her side, so not looking good


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

Oh goodness me, poor thing. That does look like pine-coning to me.

I had a goldy that had some bloating, a bit of pine-coning, and odd bumps and swellings coming up in various places. I'm afraid I couldn't tell you what it was as I tried every kind of medicine I could think of (aside from the antibiotics recommended for dropsy - and I still haven't tried any of the ESHA brands, so please let me know if they're any good), and in the end I put the fish into the pond because stunting was my only other option. Sadly I don't think the poor thing made it.

My fish health book pointed me towards parasites for the lumps (or else tumours...) but I suppose with the dropsy element it could be something else. They still know so little about fish diseases, even dropsy doesn't have a definitive cause 

I hope you can have some luck with the meds.


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

That's the problem really, that dropsy is a symptom rather than a diagnosis. So it could be a number of things that's causing it 

I have actually ordered some worming treatment, in case it's some kind of parasite that the esha 2000 doesn't cover... but that's probably a long-shot! 

Water quality is perfect, so the only other possible causes are things like kidney disease or liver disease etc, which I don't think I can treat for. Could well be down to poor breeding I suppose.

Ah well, all I can do is wait and see if she responds to treatment!


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

Well, nearly two weeks on and she's still hanging in there, though her scales still have the pinecone look. The growth on her side seems to be disappearing, which is something!


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

My goldfish with a similar problem went on for months with it. Did you just use the eSHA or did you try the worming? If you can get old of the antibiotic food that might help, alas I can't tell you where exactly you can get it - but someone on here might.


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

Tried eSHa, didn't seem to make any difference. The worming treatment I ordered has only just arrived today, so I will try that next on the off chance it helps. From what I've read online you need to do the treatment at a time when you're going to be around for a few hours afterwards (or the fish may eat the worms that come out!), so I'll have to wait til my next day off.

Fingers crossed...


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

Hope it works!

What worming treatment are you using, out of interest?


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

It's called Avitrol Plus, and strictly speaking it's a bird wormer! 

plecoplanet: Treat Camallanus Worms


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

Lol, are you sure you said goldfish not goldfinch? JK! 

I used one called kusuri plus when my rasboras had suspected worms, and it seemed to help. I've actually heard of some people using dog wormer in their tanks, though!


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

Trying not to get too overexcited... but it looks like the pine-coning might be going down  
And she doesn't look quite so bloated anymore either...




Please, please, please let her continue to improve! *fingerscrossed*


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

Fingers crossed!


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## Apollo2012 (Jun 10, 2013)

I had a neon with dropsy, It started after I added a couple new fish and a plant and her scales were proper stuck out, for the first week she was still fine but started getting a bit slower and hiding during the second week, eventually last week I had to take her out because it was making the other fish act weird too, unfortunately even catching her in the net was two much for her and she gave up as soon as I caught her, the good news is all my other fish picked up as soon as she was gone and are all happy and back to normal now along with my two new bristle nose plecs.

you're goldfish definitely looks better


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

It looks like the pine-coning & bloating has completely gone, so I've been gradually returning the quarantine tank water to 'normal' (turning temperature down and doing water changes to reduce salt levels). And tomorrow I plan to return her to the main tank, and pray to the fishy gods that the dropsy doesn't come back!


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

Great news!


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

Great news - just remind us what you did to fix her? It would be good to know for future reference.


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

I pretty much threw every treatment I could think of at her! 

1. 22 Jan, she was quarantined, I gradually increased the temperature in her tank to about 24C and added epsom salts to a concentration of 0.3% (calculator here: CNYKOI - Salinity calculator)

2. 24 Jan, did a 3 day treatment of eSHa 2000

3. 6 Feb, treated for camallanus worms with Avitrol Plus

4. 8 Feb, treated for flukes & tapeworms with Fluke-Solve

And it was on the 8 Feb that I noticed the pine-coning was going down 

No idea which treatment did the trick though! Just hoping that she stays ok after I move her back into the main tank.


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

Thanks Magpie - seems like at least one of those (or the combination of all) was a success. Lets hope she's all ok when she goes back in her own tank again 

Just one query - epsom salts are not the same kind of thing as aquarium salt, so i'm not sure that that salinty calculator is really a good way of calculating dosage. But i'm not 100% sure about that, I just know that its a totally different kind of salt.


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

The calculator seems to work ok for epsom salts, as far as I can tell anyway! You need 2 tablespoons of epsom salt for every 10 litres, to get the 0.3% concentration, and 1 tablespoon weighs roughly 15 grams. If you compare that to the calculator, you get the same result  Though I suppose it does depend on the size of your spoons!


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

Just a very quick update (for anyone interested!), to say that my little goldie is doing really well back in the main tank with her buddies, and there has been no sign of the dropsy returning 

Compare sad, bloated fishy of 6ish weeks ago...


To fishy now  ...


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