75 Gallon Tank Cherry Barb With Dropsy, What To Do?

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? 75 gallon
How long has the tank been running? A bit more than a year
Does it have a filter? Yes FX4
Does it have a heater? Yes
What is the water temperature? 76-77
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)

11x Cherry Barbs
11x Harlequin Rasboras
2x Honey Gourami
2x Bolivian Rams
9x Sterbai Corys
1x BN Ple o

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? Once a week
How much of the water do you change? 50%
What do you use to treat your water? Prime
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? Both

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? Yes
What do you use to test the water? API Liquid test kits
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10 ppm
pH: 7.0

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Once or twice a day 5-6 days a week
How much do you feed your fish? Small amount
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Variety of brands
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods? Frozen once or twice a week

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? A bit over a year
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? Just now
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Fish is bloated with scales sticking out
Have you started any treatment for the illness? No
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? No
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? Yes, she’s a bit lethargic and seems unbalanced

Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)

Hello,

Hopefully someone can help me.

This morning I noticed one of my female Cherry Barbs has dropsy. The scales are sticking out and she’s bloated. At this stage is she too far gone to help? I’m in Canada so I can treat her with aquarium salt but I don’t have access to antibiotic. I could move her to a 10 gallon qt tank but idk what’s more humane. If there’s a chance she could recover I want to treat her but if she’s too far gone I don’t want to cause her unnecessary stress by separating her from her school.

Is there a high risk of her spreading infection? I suspect this is due to overeating, I try my best to not overfeed but some of the cherry barbs munch on algea wafers ment for my Pleco who is very slow at eating, so the barbs sometimes eat a lot of the wafers.

I’ll try to get a pic but I don’t think it’ll help much she’s too far from the glass and because of her colouring the pinecone-ing is hard to see unless your there.

Advice much appreciated

 

Hi, the best thing I can reccomend for you to try is epsom salt baths. It's very possible that she is too far gone to treat, but that is an option you can try just to see if it does help.
You can separate her into the qt tank to make treatment easier, Cherry Barbs generally aren't too fussed about being separated. I have a male who has some issues, and so I occasionally need to isolate him to treat him for different things, and he never seems overly stressed.

 

Hi,

I'm sorry this is happening to your fish. Dropsy is, more often than not, caused by fluid retention from kidney failure. If it came on suddenly and there was no sign of previous infection or water quality issues, this is likely the case.

Unfortunately, there isn't anything that can be done to fix failed organs. You can help make her comfortable by giving her an epsom salt bath though. The epsom salt will help draw out excess fluids, reducing the swelling. This might help give her some relief for the time being.

Dropsy isn't a disease in itself, its simply a symptom of kidney failure, so its not contagious to your other fish. Just keep an eye on them to make sure no other strange symptoms start appearing.

I hope this helps and please feel free to ask any additional questions you may have.

 

Thank you both so much for your replies. I will try the epsom salt and hopefully that gives her a chance or at least makes her more comfortable!

Okay I have her in the 10 gal qt now. I think I’m going to start with 1/4tsp of epsom salt. How much do you think I need to add? I just want to increase slowly as the water in her original tank is 4-5 degree GH so I don’t want to shock her.

 

Thank you both so much for your replies. I will try the epsom salt and hopefully that gives her a chance or at least makes her more comfortable!

Okay I have her in the 10 gal qt now. I think I’m going to start with 1/4tsp of epsom salt. How much do you think I need to add? I just want to increase slowly as the water in her original tank is 4-5 degree GH so I don’t want to shock her.

Sorry this thread is kinda old, but I am having a similar issue with my cherry barb. She is bloated, has a red spot and is pineconing. I can't get medication here in Canada, so aquarium salt is all I have on hand. I decided to go the same route as you, pinch added to 10 gallon qt tank yesterday, today 1/4 a teaspoon as you suggested. How did you proceed after? 1/2 a teaspoon the next day? With a 20% water change?