Most of the fish have dropsy

[FishGuy27]

First I noticed my fish had ick which i got super ick cure then I noticed most of the fish have belly bulging. Can I expect them to survive or are they most likely going to perish.

 

[Nanonanny]

I've successfully treated dropsy with aquarium salt, so its not guaranteed they are going to die.
How many fish are affected?
Can you post pictures of the fish?

If possible, can you quarantine the affected so it's easier to treat?

 

[Debbie1986]

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[DoubleDutch]

Dropsy is a condition and not a disease.
99,9 % of all causes isn't contagious, so it is more likely that there is an issue with the waterconditions or (over) feeding.

 

[MacZ]

99,9 % of all causes isn't contagious

Agree.

so it is more likely that there is an issue with the waterconditions ot (over) feeding.

Sorry, I have to disagree here.
Dropsy is indeed a symptome and to be exact: It's basically kidney failure. The fish can't excrete liquid anymore and hence developes liquid accumulation in the body cavity and in later stages in the tissue.

Usually it is caused by an unspecific bacterial infection which in turn is indeed often caused by generally unfavourable conditions and feeding.

There are several other possible causes like a worm parasitosis of the organs besides the intestans, osmoregulation problems due to too high or low hardness, fat liver causing multi-organ failure... the list is long, hence it's hard to treat more than the symptom itself instead of the origin and that drops the survival rate down to less than 50%.

You can either try and treat on a whim, risking to kill the fish that way (e.g. antibiotics do a lot of harm to the kidneys, so it's unlikely a treatment with that does the trick) or at least optimize holding conditions to reduce stress factors. I'd preferably try the latter combined with high volume, high frequency waterchanges.

 

[DoubleDutch]

Agree.

Sorry, I have to disagree here.
Dropsy is indeed a symptome and to be exact: It's basically kidney failure. The fish can't excrete liquid anymore and hence developes liquid accumulation in the body cavity and in later stages in the tissue.

Usually it is caused by an unspecific bacterial infection which in turn is indeed often caused by generally unfavourable conditions and feeding.

There are several other possible causes like a worm parasitosis of the organs besides the intestans, osmoregulation problems due to too high or low hardness, fat liver causing multi-organ failure... the list is long, hence it's hard to treat more than the symptom itself instead of the origin and that drops the survival rate down to less than 50%.

You can either try and treat on a whim, risking to kill the fish that way (e.g. antibiotics do a lot of harm to the kidneys, so it's unlikely a treatment with that does the trick) or at least optimize holding conditions to reduce stress factors. I'd preferably try the latter combined with high volume, high frequency waterchanges.

What exactly do you disagree on Mac ?

 

[MacZ]

That it's most likely a water or food problem. Only marginally in my experience.