Hi, this is my first time on the forum. I moved into a house and inherited a pond 2 months ago. Came out to feed the fish just now and one is floating upside down under the water. It is still alive but seems very bloated. Could this be dropsy & what should I do. Any advice appreciated as never had pond or fish before.
Dropsy?
- Thread starter Joan-e
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Hi Joan-e first off we need to know your tanks water perameters Ammonia Nitrite, Nitrate, Ph to give us an idea if there is anything going wrong in your pond, next off can you firstly tell us what type of fish this is i;e koi, goldfish or other?
Looking at the fish can you see if any of the scales are pineconing ? Dropsy is a difficult thing to treat as it may be due to quite a few factors , for one there are differing types of dropsy .
Firstly there is internal bacterial infection next the viral and lastly a parasite that attacks a fishes kidneys our gues yours has an internal bacterial infection it being the most common .
It sounds as this poor fish is now to far gone for any sort of help but you could try putting the fish in an areated tank and adding salt to the water at 5-6kg per 1,000 litres of water which should help reduce osmeticpressure on the fish also raising the temperature of the water at a degree a day up to and above 25c .
Will it help I dont know personally weve never heard of a fish that is belly up and swollen like it is coming back from the edge.like this in all our 27 years of koi keeping
Dave
Looking at the fish can you see if any of the scales are pineconing ? Dropsy is a difficult thing to treat as it may be due to quite a few factors , for one there are differing types of dropsy .
Firstly there is internal bacterial infection next the viral and lastly a parasite that attacks a fishes kidneys our gues yours has an internal bacterial infection it being the most common .
It sounds as this poor fish is now to far gone for any sort of help but you could try putting the fish in an areated tank and adding salt to the water at 5-6kg per 1,000 litres of water which should help reduce osmeticpressure on the fish also raising the temperature of the water at a degree a day up to and above 25c .
Will it help I dont know personally weve never heard of a fish that is belly up and swollen like it is coming back from the edge.like this in all our 27 years of koi keeping
Dave
Dropsy is a symptom of another problem. An upside down fish is having problems with it's swim bladder but the question is why? Infection? Constipation? How often are you feeding the fish. Also please answer Dave's questions above. Thanks.
Hey guys,
Thanks for your responses. As I said, we have never kept a pond before so I don't know the parameters of the water, is there a way to test the ph scale? The previous owner of the house told us the fish were Koi carp.
I looked up pictures of this "pineconing" for Dropsy but I don't think it is doing that, it certainly does not look as pronounced as the pictures so it is difficult to judge.
We do feed the fish every day but only a small amount. Should I fast them?
Fish is still alive this morning and more swimming on its side then belly up! We have isolated him from the pond but have no way to aerate the receptacle he is in. Thank you so much for your help, it is difficult to know what to do when you have never kept a pond, but we are keen to do what we can.
Thanks for your responses. As I said, we have never kept a pond before so I don't know the parameters of the water, is there a way to test the ph scale? The previous owner of the house told us the fish were Koi carp.
I looked up pictures of this "pineconing" for Dropsy but I don't think it is doing that, it certainly does not look as pronounced as the pictures so it is difficult to judge.
We do feed the fish every day but only a small amount. Should I fast them?
Fish is still alive this morning and more swimming on its side then belly up! We have isolated him from the pond but have no way to aerate the receptacle he is in. Thank you so much for your help, it is difficult to know what to do when you have never kept a pond, but we are keen to do what we can.
I've a feeling that being belly up this fish is far to gone diesilplower my friend
Joan-e your going to have to buy an API Pond drop test kit which covers the water perameters mentioned but from your answers it appears that you have little or no knowledge on how to keep and maintain a health pond enviroment and thus healthy koi (which in itself isnt a problem because we can help you become a good fish keeper)
, So may I suggest you go on Amazon to buy a few biooks on the subject so that you can learn,to become a good fish keeper (the books are quite reasonably priced) the titles of which are as follows :-.
The Manual of Koi Health (revised and updated ISBN 9781842862377 by Keith Holmes and Tony Pitham .
Koi Heath and Disease (beginner to advanced Life-Saving Technology) by Dr Erik L Johnson DVM
Weve picked both these books for ease of learning and are just two books of many from our large library of koi/ koi health books/fish disease/fish behavouraal/fish pathology books collected by us in the last 27 years of koi keeping .
Dave
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You're probably right Dave. I don't know much about koi treatment. If she had said fancy goldfish, I would have felt more confident the fish could be saved.
Problem being dieselplower my friend, we have no photos to go by as to just how bad things are , remember the autopsy photo's I posted of an autopsy that I did on my friend Matts koi ?
It didn't have dropsy but the amount of fat the koi hd on it acctually impacted on the swimbladder bursting it sending the fish belly up but still alive , so to be truthful mate, neither of us have xray eyes to see just what his happening with joan-e's koi .
But we can be here for her to educate and thats the important thing in all this, from Water test kits API and gettng her to understand the Nitite cycle to partial water changes and filter maintenance but best of all if joan-e buys a book reads and learns from it , then in years to come joan-e to pass on that knowledge mate "our job is then complete".
Dave
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It looks like one of my black goldfish has dropsy. It has a very extended stomach and pineconing effects. Also it is swimming close to the surface. Since this is the start of my season I am planning on doing regular water change to improve the water quality and started my first one today. I do have some antibiotic food but have not yet begun to feed my fish. All my other fish are fine except for one large pretty goldfish with long fins that is spending a lot of time laying on it's side. Right now my biggest concern is that my other fish don't get sick and the one fish I definitely don't want to lose is the pretty goldfish. Re the black one naturally I don't want to lose it but I have a lot of black ones in my pond right now. Don't have a qt tank so can't go that route. Dave I would welcome your suggestions or anyone elses.
Meyer Jordan
Tadpole
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Dropsy is bodily edema (fluid accumulation) caused by renal (kidney) failure. The kidney failure can be caused by an internal bacterial or viral infection. If the fish is eating, anti-biotic food may help if the infection has not progressed too far.
How old is the medicated food that you have on hand? Typically, if kept in an airtight container in a dry, cool, dark place, medicated food has a shelf life of about six months.
How old is the medicated food that you have on hand? Typically, if kept in an airtight container in a dry, cool, dark place, medicated food has a shelf life of about six months.
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Thanks for the feedback Meyer. It's in an unopened package I bought from Dr Fosters and Smith in the fall so it's around 6 months. Since it's too early in the season for me to feed my fish I would have to catch the fish from the pond and put it in a 5 gallon bucket to feed it and then put it back after it's meal. Does this make sense to you? The bright side of all this is that every single one of my 40 fish made it through the winter this year and these are the only issues.