Are The Fish Infected - Is It Dropsy

[simplespud]

Hello everyone,

I noticed one of my tiger barbs seemed to have a slightly swollen stomach. I thought it best to keep an eye on it and continue with my normal water change etc as normal. The following evening it was far worse - its stomach must have been three times its normal size and she died during the night. (This was last weekend) She didn't show any sighs of trouble though before she did die - still feeding, no problem swimming - but those final hours she didn't move very far - no pine cone effect. I hoped that it was a tumour of some sort. But now I have noticed that other fish are beginning to show similar swelling.

Here are the details about the tank to begin with
Size - 30 gallon
Filter - Rena Filster XP2
Temp - 25c
Lighting - 2 x Arcadia Freshwater FF38 I have the timers - 5 on, 2 off, 5 on)
Weekly water change of approx 36 litres
Feed - tropical flakes, Algea Wafers (Every couple of days) peas and cucumber as treats.
Tank contents - gravel, 2x bogwood, large peice of rock (live rock?) assorted live plants.
Fish - tetras x 2, albino catfish x 2, bristlenose catfish x 1 - plecs x 2, platys x 3, Ghost Shrimp x 1, Silver Tips x 6, Tiger barbs x 1

I have carried out liquid tests for the last two weeks-
Amonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10
PH - 7

There are a couple of pictures on the link below - not the best I know.

http/s254.photobucket.com/albums/hh120/simplespud/

The platys are showing signs of a bigger tummy - and last night one of the silver tips now has a huge stomach! where he was looking ok yesterday morning. All of them are feeding and eating well though - swimming around fine and again no pine cone effect.

I started a course of Esha 2000 - which apparently deals with shimmies, fungus, bacterial infection and dropsy last night. Am I doing the right thing though?
The instructions in the Esha 200 tub say that it can safely be used for treating illness as described and also when introducing new fish etc and that identifying a disease incorrectly wont harm the fish.

I wasnt sure whether my worry was having my see swellings everywhere I look! but the Silver Tip last night confirmed my fears - there is a problem in there.

Would very much appreciate any help and/or advice on how to treat and help the fish.

Thanks

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The barb certainly sounds like it died of dropsy and some of the other fish are looking quite swollen, however i've never used the esha med brand so i can't say on how effective it is at treating dropsy, but hopefully at the least it should help . What are you feeding the fish and how much on average?

 

[simplespud]

Thanks for your response Tokis-Phoenix.
Sorry I havn't posted back myself though.
I have finished the 3 day Esha treatment and on Sunday did a 50% water change. The platys aren't any worse and the lil silver tip looks a little better - but still a small swelling.
I feed the fish mainly Tropical flakes. 1 or 2 each first thing in the morning 7am and then a little more at night - usually about 8.30pm. every couple of days I drop in a couple of Algea Wafers for the plecs - but the platys and barb do have a go at these as well. Once a week I feed peas instead of flakes and then on another night some cucumber.
I know I have over fed them in the past - until I read a post on this forum comparing the size of flakes to what we eat -but do you think this is too much?
Im also having a problem with the plants, even though I have a Nutrafin system running. The plants seem to be curling up and slowly blackening at the tips of the leaves and loosing a lot of leaves and stalks (Im forever scooping them out from the top of the tank) - I know, their dying. Im not sure whether there isnt enough light or too much surface agitation, as it mentions this in the instructions for the Nutrafin.
Anyway - when I got the fish, I got them with the tank and went through cycling the tank with the fish in. Previous owner didn't want them anymore and was going to have them humanly killed. The previous owner told me that she was loosing a fish every few weeks. The fish were quite colourless, dull with the fins down. They also seemed to be covered - epsecially the platys and Neons, with a grey film. Now they all have colour with there fins up and tootle about fine - or seem to be! But the stomach swelling is worrying.
If you or anyone has any ideas I would appreciate it.

Many thanks