Goldfish Acting Strange (Dropsy?) (No Pineconing)

[F1sh]

Hello Everyone, one of my two younger common goldfish in my 120-gallon is acting incredibly strange. For the most part, water parameters are perfect (0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 20-30 Nitrate, 7.6 pH). She (Or I assume so because of her body shape) has been hiding behind the decor and sometimes remaining still on the sand for a long time. I first noticed this behaviour one or two days ago and noticed that right after eating her pellets, she would quickly dive down and hide behind a rock for a while, at the time I simply assumed that she was just a little scared, and didn't think too much of it. However, now, she is going down to hide and stay still behind all sorts of decor for a long time even without any food being in her mouth or the water. The only thing that may have possibly affected her health is that my little brother had dumped loads of pellets into her tank when I was away and when I got back from my overnight field trip, the water quality was nasty. Nevertheless, I immediately did a large water change and for a while after that, she was still acting normally. Her tankmate is also acting fine. Another sign that I noticed was that her eyes were slightly out of their sockets just by a little bit. Now, I don't have that great of a memory, and I usually don't look at her eyes for a long time so I can't remember if she was always like this, or if she has popeye. However, just to be safe, I added a bit of aquarium salt and treated her with API Melafix. Long story short, nothing happened. She continued to sulk away after eating food and within these past few days, her symptoms have increased and shes continuously staying at the bottom of the tank, hiding.
As I put this together I realize that it may be possible that she has dropsy(though no pineconing). So my question is what should I do from here?

 

[Fishfur]

Hello Everyone, one of my two younger common goldfish in my 120-gallon is acting incredibly strange. For the most part, water parameters are perfect (0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 20-30 Nitrate, 7.6 pH). She (Or I assume so because of her body shape) has been hiding behind the decor and sometimes remaining still on the sand for a long time. I first noticed this behaviour one or two days ago and noticed that right after eating her pellets, she would quickly dive down and hide behind a rock for a while, at the time I simply assumed that she was just a little scared, and didn't think too much of it. However, now, she is going down to hide and stay still behind all sorts of decor for a long time even without any food being in her mouth or the water. The only thing that may have possibly affected her health is that my little brother had dumped loads of pellets into her tank when I was away and when I got back from my overnight field trip, the water quality was nasty. Nevertheless, I immediately did a large water change and for a while after that, she was still acting normally. Her tankmate is also acting fine. Another sign that I noticed was that her eyes were slightly out of their sockets just by a little bit. Now, I don't have that great of a memory, and I usually don't look at her eyes for a long time so I can't remember if she was always like this, or if she has popeye. However, just to be safe, I added a bit of aquarium salt and treated her with API Melafix. Long story short, nothing happened. She continued to sulk away after eating food and within these past few days, her symptoms have increased and shes continuously staying at the bottom of the tank, hiding.
As I put this together I realize that it may be possible that she has dropsy(though no pineconing). So my question is what should I do from here?

It would help us help you if you’d fill out the emergency template and post a few clear pics of the fish.

 

[F1sh]

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? 120 Gallons
How long has the tank been running? 3 Years
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? No
What is the water temperature? 68 F, 20 C
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
2 Common Goldfish

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? Every 2 Weeks
How much of the water do you change? 30%
What do you use to treat your water? Prime
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? Vacuum and Change Water

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? Yes
What do you use to test the water? API Master Kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate:20-30 ppm
pH: 7.6

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? once a day
How much do you feed your fish? 5-6 pellets each
What brand of food do you feed your fish? aquascape premium cold water food
Do you feed frozen? Yes; bloodworms and brine shrimp
Do you feed freeze-dried foods? No

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? 3 Months
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? 1 Week
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Lack of Energy; Hiding; Eyes Popping Out
Have you started any treatment for the illness? Aquarium Salt and Melafix
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? No
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? Eyes Popping Out A little, Lack of Energy and Hiding Behind Decor

Explain your emergency situation in detail.
Mentioned in my first post:
She (Or I assume so because of her body shape) has been hiding behind the decor and sometimes remaining still on the sand for a long time. I first noticed this behaviour one or two days ago and noticed that right after eating her pellets, she would quickly dive down and hide behind a rock for a while, at the time I simply assumed that she was just a little scared, and didn't think too much of it. However, now, she is going down to hide and stay still behind all sorts of decor for a long time even without any food being in her mouth or the water. The only thing that may have possibly affected her health is that my little brother had dumped loads of pellets into her tank when I was away and when I got back from my overnight field trip, the water quality was nasty. Nevertheless, I immediately did a large water change and for a while after that, she was still acting normally. Her tankmate is also acting fine. Another sign that I noticed was that her eyes were slightly out of their sockets just by a little bit. Now, I don't have that great of a memory, and I usually don't look at her eyes for a long time so I can't remember if she was always like this, or if she has popeye. However, just to be safe, I added a bit of aquarium salt and treated her with API Melafix. Long story short, nothing happened. She continued to sulk away after eating food and within these past few days, her symptoms have increased and shes continuously staying at the bottom of the tank, hiding.
As I put this together I realize that it may be possible that she has dropsy(though no pineconing).

Include pictures
** Working On Pictures. Computer refuses to upload them.
A general description would be: Eyes about 1mm out of socket, head and torso are wide and thick. Tail is relatively thinner.

 

[fishywoo]

I would increase WC to 50% weekly and in the meantime daily just to get those Nitrates below 20. You don't want them over 20 ppm as that can cause nitrate poisoning, so get them as low as you can and monitor how much they rise each week.

Do you have photos of the fish yet? Might help to see the symptom, though I'm no expert. I can recommend giving her kanaplex though mixed in with her food if you feel there is definite swelling going on with the eyes. If you can get gel food like repashy (super gold) it will be easier to mix the medicine in. Have you been feeding any veggies or only the pellets? What brand? I would also recommend stop using the melafix and use carbon for a day to get that out of the water. I've never heard of it helping any fish tbh. Aquarium salt and water changes in the meantime can be helpful.

 

[F1sh]

Hi, sorry for the late reply. I’ve done some things in the past two days. I’ve quarantined her in a separate 50 gallon tank. Cleanest water possible, weekly 50% water changes. I’ve increased the salt percentage in her water, and I’ve ordered some kanaplex. I’ve given her some decor that she can hide behind and for the most part, she show no improvement nor any decline in her condition. She stays behind a log all day, barely moving, but still very responsive (she’ll shift away if I come to the other side of the tank and look at her). She also is still eating well and for the most part I can see her feces are no different from any of the healthier fish. I think that the best course of action right now is simply to give her the best conditions possible and hope that the kanaplex will help when it arrives in a few days.

 

[fishywoo]

Hi, sorry for the late reply. I’ve done some things in the past two days. I’ve quarantined her in a separate 50 gallon tank. Cleanest water possible, weekly 50% water changes. I’ve increased the salt percentage in her water, and I’ve ordered some kanaplex. I’ve given her some decor that she can hide behind and for the most part, she show no improvement nor any decline in her condition. She stays behind a log all day, barely moving, but still very responsive (she’ll shift away if I come to the other side of the tank and look at her). She also is still eating well and for the most part I can see her feces are no different from any of the healthier fish. I think that the best course of action right now is simply to give her the best conditions possible and hope that the kanaplex will help when it arrives in a few days.

I hope it helps! Keep us updated.

 

[F1sh]

Update: Her bloating has gotten a little bit worse now, there is clear asymmetry in her abdomen. However, her eyes have sunk in and are no longer swelling at all. She is still responding well, and still hiding most of the time. She is a little reluctant to come out for food when the light is on, however, when I walk away and turn the light off, she will still go up and eat. The Kanaplex is arriving tomorrow, so hopefully it helps.

 

[JaymeP]

Update: Her bloating has gotten a little bit worse now, there is clear asymmetry in her abdomen. However, her eyes have sunk in and are no longer swelling at all. She is still responding well, and still hiding most of the time. She is a little reluctant to come out for food when the light is on, however, when I walk away and turn the light off, she will still go up and eat. The Kanaplex is arriving tomorrow, so hopefully it helps.

If you have good reason to suspect dropsy the only treatment is kanaplex, so you're doing what you can do. If your fish were healthy before given your previous water change routine I would not do anything to upset that too much. If you have a situation where your water parameters went a little bit off kilter because for example somebody else fed your fish for a couple of days and your water is a little dirty or something like that I would say change 20% water every 3 days for two weeks and then go back to your normal water change schedule beyond that anything drastic that you do is just going to stress out goldfish more. Goldfish are extremely hardy- what that actually means is that they are adaptable to various water parameters so whatever your normal water parameters are you just have to keep them stable to what is normal for YOUR tank conditions. Just remember that if you use kanaplex it's a one-time shot you can't use that medication again in the future.
Good luck
One other thing- I don't know if anybody mentioned this you should try an Epsom salt bath if your fish is bloated. Mix one teaspoon of Epsom salt per gallon of water in a bucket and you can treat your fish in that bucket for 20 to 30 minutes. If it makes you feel more comfortable you can put an air stone in the bucket as well. Some people recommend one tablespoon of Epsom salt I've done this successfully with only a teaspoon. It is worth a try and that way you don't have to use medications

 

[F1sh]

Update: Over the past few days, after I've applied the Kanaplex, I've noticed that behaviorally she has started to improve a lot. She is no longer hiding behind rocks for most of the day and she has started to wander around the tank, only going behind the rocks to rest once every hour or so, she is still eating surprisingly well and has good responsiveness. Physically, from my point of view, her bloating has stopped getting worse and is remaining constant, if not getting better. However, I have noticed that her scales have now clearly started to pinecone (it was there earlier, probably because I couldn't get a good look at her before in the larger tank) and she now has long white, unclear strings of feces trailing. I am currently in the process of acquiring some frozen peas to improve her digestion.

 

[Lusoluvr]

I cured my fancy goldfish from obvious dropsy a few months ago. Put him in a 15 gal hospital tank with heater on 82F, filter and air stone. Put 250mg of metronidazole in tank every other day, did Epsom salt bath for 10 min daily. Did a 50% water change BEFORE each dose of metronidazole, so every other day. On the 6th day my pineconing Ranchu looked 100% normal. I stopped the salt baths, but continued metro & water changes for 1 more full week and slowly reduced water temp to 78F. At the end of 2 weeks he went back into the regular tank with his mates. I used to keep my nitrates at ~ 20ppm. Now I keep them at 5ppm and all is well. Some of these instructions might be different for a common goldfish, but I'd do some research and raise temps at least 5F warmer than your normal temp. Wishing you good luck!

 

[Fishfur]

. Just remember that if you use kanaplex it's a one-time shot you can't use that medication again in the future.
Good luck

Why do you say kanaplex is a one shot deal?

Update: Over the past few days, after I've applied the Kanaplex, I've noticed that behaviorally she has started to improve a lot. She is no longer hiding behind rocks for most of the day and she has started to wander around the tank, only going behind the rocks to rest once every hour or so, she is still eating surprisingly well and has good responsiveness. Physically, from my point of view, her bloating has stopped getting worse and is remaining constant, if not getting better. However, I have noticed that her scales have now clearly started to pinecone (it was there earlier, probably because I couldn't get a good look at her before in the larger tank) and she now has long white, unclear strings of feces trailing. I am currently in the process of acquiring some frozen peas to improve her digestion.

Peas won’t improve her digestion though they’ll do no harm either. A picture might be helpful. If you can’t upload a pic, try copy/pasting instead.

 

[JaymeP]

Kanaplex is an an antibiotic/combination that is powerful and easily recognized by the body and after it's been used once is usually no longer effective the second round. It's similar to how you can't continually take the same antibiotic over and over again because it loses effectiveness. Kanaplex is VERY effective and if it doesn't work on the first shot the body usually recognizes it and it usually won't work on the second shot. In other words if you give your fish another round of kanaplex it's probably just stressing them out. It's used on humans as well and I'm not a doctor I did this research a very long time ago but what I found was that kanaplex is a last resort dropsy medication, best to be mixed into a gel food for maximum absorbency and not to be used again because it loses its effectiveness.
I can tell you that I had a fish that had raised scales for a year and a half and she swim normally and behaved normally and every other aspect of her life was completely normal so I stopped treatment. If your fishs behavior is normal and all you see is raised scales just watch your fish. I know there was something wrong with my fish in that case but she still lived another year and a half, comfortably by all accounts. Don't look for trouble but also realize nature will take her course. In other words keep your water clean. Don't medicate again until you know exactly what your medicating for.

 

[F1sh]

Sorry for the late response. I think that you're right, and after going through one full cycle of treatments (3 doses, two days apart). I can tell that my goldfish is so much healthier and I'm planning to move her back into her original tank in a few weeks. Although some of the symptoms still linger around, her behaviour has changed incredibly and she is now much more active and healthy. I have been dosing her tank with some aquarium salt each day, and just as a precaution if symptoms come back, I will continue to do so in her bigger tank.

 

[JaymeP]

Please let me know how your fish is doing. I know raised scales are often a death sentence but for me that was not the case. My telescope was 6 years old when I first noticed it. (Mild, but I saw it.) She lived well for over a year more. Look from above to check for improvement, the glass+water distorts your view. (May seem obvious.It took me a while to realize that.) Good luck. I'm pulling for you!

 

[F1sh]

Its been more than a week, and I am relieved to say that she has essentially fully recovered. Her symptoms are almost completely gone and her behaviour has returned to normal. She now is eating a lot more and now has solid feces. The Kanaplex worked better than I had expected and soon, I will reintroduce her back to her old tank.

 

[F1sh]

It's been nearly 5 months and I would like to give an update for those who are interested. In January, I treated one of my younger goldfish for dropsy, and it seemed like she fully recovered (she was no longer completely bloated and the pineconing had significantly gone down). However, over the past few weeks, I had noticed that she was acting a little bit strange, as in she would no longer come up to the surface to eat the pellets, but she would still eat the pellets that sank and produce solid feces, her swimming+activeness remained the same and her body shape remained the same(no bloating, eyes in sockets, just a regular fish). I even gave her tank 2 doses of Kanaplex during the weekend just as a precaution for the small, small chance that the dropsy came back. I wished I had done more at the time, but her signs really weren't that drastic. On Wednesday, before I left for school I fed my 120-gallon tank just as I regularly would, and she was behaving normally, hovering below the water level, picking off the pellets that would sink, her behaviour and image were no different from any other day. Yet, today, I came back to find her dead upside down at the bottom of my tank, eyes cloudy and belly bloated, the other goldfish in her tank was just fine and nobody had touched the tank while I was gone. After I buried her in my backyard under my pine tree I went back and checked my water parameters and everything was 0 or as close to 0 as can be(nitrates were <50), the water had never been clearer and the filtration system was going strong. I wish I had taken action earlier and done more for her, and I want to thank everyone here for helping me deal with her dropsy in the first place.

 

[Fishfur]

It's been nearly 5 months and I would like to give an update for those who are interested. In January, I treated one of my younger goldfish for dropsy, and it seemed like she fully recovered (she was no longer completely bloated and the pineconing had significantly gone down). However, over the past few weeks, I had noticed that she was acting a little bit strange, as in she would no longer come up to the surface to eat the pellets, but she would still eat the pellets that sank and produce solid feces, her swimming+activeness remained the same and her body shape remained the same(no bloating, eyes in sockets, just a regular fish). I even gave her tank 2 doses of Kanaplex during the weekend just as a precaution for the small, small chance that the dropsy came back. I wished I had done more at the time, but her signs really weren't that drastic. On Wednesday, before I left for school I fed my 120-gallon tank just as I regularly would, and she was behaving normally, hovering below the water level, picking off the pellets that would sink, her behaviour and image were no different from any other day. Yet, today, I came back to find her dead upside down at the bottom of my tank, eyes cloudy and belly bloated, the other goldfish in her tank was just fine and nobody had touched the tank while I was gone. After I buried her in my backyard under my pine tree I went back and checked my water parameters and everything was 0 or as close to 0 as can be(nitrates were <50), the water had never been clearer and the filtration system was going strong. I wish I had taken action earlier and done more for her, and I want to thank everyone here for helping me deal with her dropsy in the first place.

Sorry to hear that - my condolences.

Fwiw, I doubt that you could have done more - sadly, sometimes there isn’t anything we can do that helps. SIP fish.