I'm afraid my fish has dropsy + fungus

[pattihi]

He was looking lethargic and bloated, so I did some water changes and added aquarium salt and some epsom salt. When I took him out, I looked closely saw the pineconing effect. :( He seemed to pick up a little life, but then I also noticed some cottony stuff on his fins. So he may have both dropsy and a fungus. It was too late to go back to the pet store, so I'm going this morning. However, he's not looking good. It seems like there's a little more cottony stuff this am. I'm going to pick up some API general cure too. I feel really bad that I let it get to this point. I hope I can get him to pull through.

What I'm confused about is that under the disease section, I read that you shouldn't use aquarium salt together with antibiotics. Is this correct, or can I put both in the tank at the same time?

[Curlyfatbottom]

with dropsy your fish is good as dead....
i never have a fish that recover from it....

[pattihi]

Well, I didn't want to give up on him, so I got some API General Cure, Maracyn and Maracyn II and put it in the tank in the recommended amounts. He seems to have perked up a little and moves around a little. For a while earlier today he was kind of tilted to the side, not moving around. It didn't look good. Now, at least he's more upright. I take it back, he's listing to the side again, but he still moves once in a while.

We'll see what happens. My question now is, do I need to keep changing the water daily in addition to adding the antibiotics, or not? And since I've added antibiotics, should I stop adding the epsom salts and/ or aquarium salt?

Thanks for any help.

[pattihi]

Back after a few hours out, and he's looking better. He's not tilted over, and it looks like one of the cottony spots has either fallen off or disappeared. The other one is still there and is hanging by a strand, although it looks like it contains the tips of 3 strands of his fins (combtail crowntail). His color actually looks better now than earlier today.

[pattihi]

Bernie is still hanging in there. The cottony fungus on his tail has disappeared, it fell off w/the bits of tail, but the good news is that there isn't any more fungus on his body that I can see. He seems to be swimming more upright, and looks like he's breathing easier. (His mouth had been open a lot before and now it's closed most of the time.) However his scales still have that "pine cone" effect.

I changed the water again this morning (100%) as instructed in the diseases section of this website for dropsy and added the ES and antibiotics again. All of the antibiotic packages say to treat for 5 days, so I'll do this through Friday. I hope he's be able to get back.

Will keep you posted.

[Curlyfatbottom]

Fish with dropsy can live for month....
But the pine cone effect won't go away....
I have a 9 week old fry in it own tank with dropsy....
I just keep the water clean...
Feed it a little so it won't dies....
But her days are number...
Just waiting for her to go...
Been having these fish for years..
I never made a dropsy fish recover or hear of a person that have cure the disease....

[pattihi]

And you may be right. But since Darkmoon17 had posted in the Betta fish disease and treatment part 2 that dropsy could be cured, even after pineconing had started, I had to try.

I know the stress he's been through has weakened him tremendously, so it would be logical that he's too far gone to recover.

[Pataflafla]

Since both Maracyns take care of body fungus, I'd stop adding aquarium salt. That makes the bloating worse.

Epsom salt at 3 tsp/gal should be used instead to combat the fluid buildup and make him more comfortable.

[Pitluvs]

Originally Posted by pattihi

And you may be right. But since Darkmoon17 had posted in the Betta fish disease and treatment part 2 that dropsy could be cured, even after pineconing had started, I had to try.

I know the stress he's been through has weakened him tremendously, so it would be logical that he's too far gone to recover.

It can be cured, but most times it's a long shot. My boy Nixon was dropsy, his original owner was successful in curing him of whatever his problems where and whatever was causing the dropsy. 6 months later, he's a healthy horse.

[Curlyfatbottom]

Will I have to look that up.