Want To Treat For Dropsy, Help!

So earlier today I noticed that my 3 1/2 year old dwarf gourami freddie has dropsy. i'm about 90% sure its dropsy, bloated, scales sticking out, the whole shebang. I love this fish and I know a lot of people consider dropsy a death sentence but I want to try anything I can to treat him. I've read the wobbles story and want to try treating with the maracyn plus and maracyn tc. The only problem is that I do not have a quarantine tank and don't want to harm my other fish. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do? By the way My parameters are ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10. I do biweekly water changes and the parameters haven't changed in months.

 

So earlier today I noticed that my 3 1/2 year old dwarf gourami freddie has dropsy. i'm about 90% sure its dropsy, bloated, scales sticking out, the whole shebang. I love this fish and I know a lot of people consider dropsy a death sentence but I want to try anything I can to treat him. I've read the wobbles story and want to try treating with the maracyn plus and maracyn tc. The only problem is that I do not have a quarantine tank and don't want to harm my other fish. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do? By the way My parameters are ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10. I do biweekly water changes and the parameters haven't changed in months.

Please consider the possibility that your Dwarf Gourami may have Dwarf Gourami Disease. Dropsy is a symptom of that devastating virus that seems to appear from nowhere. I strongly advise against putting antibiotics into your display tank. The labels of broad spectrum fish antibiotics will state the negative affect to the biological filter as being minimal. Do not believe that. If this were my Dwarf Gourami, I'd attempt to treat with aquarium salt. Be mindful of salt-sensitive tank mates and adjust dose accordingly. I may also dose Microbe-Life Artemiss x 10 days. Is it possible the fish is constipated? (Unlikely if he's pine-coning a lot), but something to consider If so, Epsom Salt would be the best salt-form to use. Truth be told Epsom Salt can assist with both dropsy and constipation.

 

Unfortunately I woke up to find that he had passed. It happened so fast, but was definitely a wake up call that I need to get a quarantine/hospital tank set up.

 

Man, I'm so sorry to hear that. It's ridiculously difficult for fish to recover from kidney failure. You've done all you could, I'm sorry for your loss

Please consider the possibility that your Dwarf Gourami may have Dwarf Gourami Disease. Dropsy is a symptom of that devastating virus that seems to appear from nowhere. I strongly advise against putting antibiotics into your display tank. The labels of broad spectrum fish antibiotics will state the negative affect to the biological filter as being minimal. Do not believe that. If this were my Dwarf Gourami, I'd attempt to treat with aquarium salt. Be mindful of salt-sensitive tank mates and adjust dose accordingly. I may also dose Microbe-Life Artemiss x 10 days. Is it possible the fish is constipated? (Unlikely if he's pine-coning a lot), but something to consider If so, Epsom Salt would be the best salt-form to use. Truth be told Epsom Salt can assist with both dropsy and constipation.

I need to correct a few things you said said. Aquarium salt makes Dropsy worse, never use it to treat Dropsy. Epsom salt and Kanaplex treat Dropsy, and it's the kanaplex that gets rid of the bacterial infection. I've used kanaplex six times in my display tanks and it has never affected the biological filter.
Dropsy is not a symptom of iridovirus, it is the result of kidney failure. Symptoms of iridovirus are lethargy, sores, red spots, and sudden death. Over 72% of imported dwarf gouramis have this disease, but Dropsy isn't a normal symptom for it. Constipation also won't cause pineconing.

 

I need to correct a few things you said said. Aquarium salt makes Dropsy worse, never use it to treat Dropsy. Epsom salt and Kanaplex treat Dropsy, and it's the kanaplex that gets rid of the bacterial infection. I've used kanaplex six times in my display tanks and it has never affected the biological filter.
Dropsy is not a symptom of iridovirus, it is the result of kidney failure. Symptoms of iridovirus are lethargy, sores, red spots, and sudden death. Over 72% of imported dwarf gouramis have this disease, but Dropsy isn't a normal symptom for it. Constipation also won't cause pineconing.

Thank you, but no need...truly. Respectfully, in my opinion you are incorrect on every point.

The appropriate use of solutes in aquarium water (including aquarium salt), not to be confused with the excessive use of solutes, while controversial, is in my opinion a topic plagued with false information. I suspect many hobbyists do not fully understand osmoregulation and what creates the "pull" much less where it happens and how could they? We live in a virtual world that allows keyboard laymen to write articles on topics they know little about and present said articles as fact. It is what it is...and it changes nothing. In short, salty (NaCl) water PREVENTS water from entering the fish on a cellular level, not vice versa, and if you want to really get technical, while it's true that Epsom (Mag Sulfate) may not passively diffuse via membrane, I can assure you that when consumed long term at levels high enough to be as osmotically effective as sodium, it's poisonous.

That said, dropsy, not to be confused with bloat, is a symptom of kidney disease (acute, chronic, acute on chronic) that happens secondary to a plethora of disease processes including but not limited to viral infections like Dwarf Gourami Disease, in which dropsy absolutely is "normal" with presentation.

Right...constipation does not typically present as pineconing, which is why I stated constipation is "unlikely if he's pineconing". That said, constipation and the resulting "back up" of toxic waste could surely result in an acute kidney injury that presented with dropsy. Constipation should therefore be considered and if suspected, Epsom (Mag Sulfate) would be the more logical choice due to it's laxative quality.

Beyond that, it's simply not possible for a broad spectrum antibiotic to not have an adverse affect on an aquarium's biofilter, regardless of what it's label says and regardless of whether or not your personal bacterial colony managed to recover 6 times. Our aquarium biofilters consist of gram negative bacteria. Kanaplex attacks gram negative bacteria (and positive). The Seachem Forum Moderators even speak to this possibility (tactfully), in their forum, where I participate, and recommend having Prime and a bottle of beneficial bacteria nearby when using such products. Not that Kanaplex isn't a great product, because it is, but it has no place in this scenario in my opinion. Encouraging someone to dose their community tank of healthy fish with a broad spectrum antibiotic for the purpose of treating a single Dwarf Gourami that has greater than a 70% chance of having an incurable virus, is bad advice.

 

Thank you, but no need...truly. Respectfully, in my opinion you are incorrect on every point.

The appropriate use of solutes in aquarium water (including aquarium salt), not to be confused with the excessive use of solutes, while controversial, is in my opinion a topic plagued with false information. I suspect many hobbyists do not fully understand osmoregulation and what creates the "pull" much less where it happens and how could they? We live in a virtual world that allows keyboard laymen to write articles on topics they know little about and present said articles as fact. It is what it is...and it changes nothing. In short, salty (NaCl) water PREVENTS water from entering the fish on a cellular level, not vice versa, and if you want to really get technical, while it's true that Epsom (Mag Sulfate) may not passively diffuse via membrane, I can assure you that when consumed long term at levels high enough to be as osmotically effective as sodium, it's poisonous.

That said, dropsy, not to be confused with bloat, is a symptom of kidney disease (acute, chronic, acute on chronic) that happens secondary to a plethora of disease processes including but not limited to viral infections like Dwarf Gourami Disease, in which dropsy absolutely is "normal" with presentation.

Right...constipation does not typically present as pineconing, which is why I stated constipation is "unlikely if he's pineconing". That said, constipation and the resulting "back up" of toxic waste could surely result in an acute kidney injury that presented with dropsy. Constipation should therefore be considered and if suspected, Epsom (Mag Sulfate) would be the more logical choice due to it's laxative quality.

Beyond that, it's simply not possible for a broad spectrum antibiotic to not have an adverse affect on an aquarium's biofilter, regardless of what it's label says and regardless of whether or not your personal bacterial colony managed to recover 6 times. Our aquarium biofilters consist of gram negative bacteria. Kanaplex attacks gram negative bacteria (and positive). The Seachem Forum Moderators even speak to this possibility (tactfully), in their forum, where I participate, and recommend having Prime and a bottle of beneficial bacteria nearby when using such products. Not that Kanaplex isn't a great product, because it is, but it has no place in this scenario in my opinion. Encouraging someone to dose their community tank of healthy fish with a broad spectrum antibiotic for the purpose of treating a single Dwarf Gourami that has greater than a 70% chance of having an incurable virus, is bad advice.

Interesting take, it's odd we have had such different experiences. I've treated Dropsy successfully before, using kanaplex and epsom salt. I do understand osmoregulation (I took honors bio six years ago) but the majority of sources I've read stated that aquarium salt puts too much stress on the kidney, and many freshwster fish don't always respond well to it, mainly the scaleless ones. But I get it, more solvents outside draws out more water and what not, but from my digging around, it seems to do more harm than good. I haven't read of someone successfully treating Dropsy with aquarium salt, only epsom salt and Kanaplex. more I've honestly never had kanaplex kill my biological filter, and from what I've read, most who use it don't have negative effects either. If you're really worried about that, it's worth it to run to Target or the grocery store and grab a sterilite container and treat in that.
I was under the impression that Dropsy was a symptom of kidney failure, not disease, as it could be caused by bacteria, fungus, simple old age, or a very rare parasite (only form of contagious Dropsy). The fish's kidnyes regulate fluid in and out of the body, and once they begin to fail, fluid can build up in the body. This may be a more point, I could have misunderstood you on this one.
Good discussion, thanks for diagreeing respectfully, and I also disagree with respect, based solely on the one time I treated Dropsy. So there definitely could be other ways to do it, since my base is only a single experience, where as yours seems to be a broader point of research.