At my Wits end here...

[bigredspecial]

It strikes again...

I was looking at my dwarf rainbows last night(My most highly prized fish ever since my blue ram kicked the bucket), when I noticed something out or wack.

DROPSY.

It's back. I've had it before; it took a black neon last spring, and a dwarf gourami in late october. Now 2 of my four dwarf rainbows have it.

I'm wondering two things:
1) What is the cause - I've had internal parasites, but I'm confident they were eradicated long ago; I think it's happened too often to be internal bacterial infections, leaving - Dammit!- TB.
2) How can I prevent it from happening again? Assuming it is TB of course.

The rainbows are still doing ok; they're very active and still eating, but very swolen with scales sticking off.

Please please PLEASE tell me there is some way to eradicate this without tearing down the tank!

 

[TLM4x4]

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles, I dont have any experience with this but I can offer maybe some help:

http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/diseases.html

http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html#External

http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/stressdisease.shtml

good luck!!

 

[Lotus]

If all the fish have it, it sounds like it's from bacterial causes. I would use a course of Maracyn I and Maracyn II and hope that it fixes them. Dropsy isn't a disease in itself, but more a sign of internal organ problems.

 

[bigredspecial]

Not all fish have it, just two; but I've lost fish from it in the past.

I don't know if it makes a difference, but my parameters are:
pH 7.0
Kh 4.0
CO2 11ppm
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Temp hasn't moved from 25c in over a year
20% Waterchange every week
no test kit for Gh or nitrate, but they're both low.

Up untill last week I had alot of green water if that makes a difference, but it's gone now.

 

[Lotus]

I saw on your other post that you added a phosphate remover. Does adding that coincide with the deaths/illnesses?

 

[bigredspecial]

I doubt it; I added it 2 days before I noticed the fish... I would assume it would take longer than that for dropsy to develop. In either case, it's just a pouch containing media(Just like the carbon or ammonia remover pouches) that is supposed to absorb phosphate, nitrite and nitrate.

Besides, it's two rainbows; the other two are fine, along with the rest of my fish.