Does My Fish Have A Disease? Here Is A Picture.

[FishByMyBed]

This fish seems to have more white area than it used to, and the skin has become very scaly, actually looks bumpy. The fish is the biggest it's ever been, and is a much older fish. Could this be natural from old age or could this be a disease or condition?

Thanks. [removed]

 

[ellena]

Looks very like dropsy, caused by organ failure. Not usually much you can do, but I think you can try a salt bath. Post in the emergencies section and you should get advice.

 

[Harlequins]

Ellena is right,this is pine coning-unfortunately,once they get to that stage,there's not much you can do for them...

 

[loraxchick]

that does appear to be dropsy and very little can be done im afraid. you can try epsom salt baths/dips/ get a container and calculate the volume. use 1 tablespoon per gal of water of epsom salt (helps draw fluid out of the tissues-which is why the fish looks like a pine cone). epsom salt should NOT be confused with aquarium/marine salt. it is a different chemical compound. you can pick them up VERY cheaply at any pharmacy or other place that sells over-the-counter medicine (the ingredient is magnesium sulfate).
put the fish in the bath for up to 30 mis 2X a day. may not heal the fish (unfortunately will most likely die from his dropsy) but you will at least keep him comfortable until that time.
sorry to give such bad news.
good luck
cheers

 

[FishByMyBed]

Is there any likelyhood that the other fish in the tank could be effected by it. i.e. is it contagious, or caused by something in the tank that could harm future fish, or is it just something that happens to older fish when they get really old?

 

[kribensis12]

As far as I am aware, Dropsy is due to poor nutrition, which leads to organ failure (do not quote me on that).

 

[OldMan47]

There is no known cause of "dropsy" because it describes the symptom, not the disease organism. Many different causes are found when a post-mortem on a fish with dropsy is actually conducted.
You can learn a lot at a club meeting when one of the regular members is a veterinarian who focuses on fish and fish diseases.

 

[fett999]

As Oldman says there are a hell of a lot of possible causes of dropsy.
Anything ranging from nutrition problems to an internal bacteria or illness and beyond can cause it. It's a similar problem to popeye and you sometimes find that a fish with dropsy will have had pop eye first. Unfortunately as far as I know, unlike pop eye which can be cured in a lot of cases if treated early enough, dropsy is pretty much the final symptom of whatever is causing it and is usually not that far ahead of the end.
Sometimes people have been known to bring a fish back from the brink though. I think it depends on what the cause is. Unfortunately, because you can't be 100% sure of the cause it's very hard to know how you should treat the fish.
I'm sorry to sound all doom and gloom and I hope you have one of the cases where you are able to find the right treatment.
If you can find one that has a reasonable knowledge of fish it might be worth contacting a vet.
As to whether the other fish will come down with it, I think it unlikely but it does again depend on the root cause. Personally, if you could, I'd remove her to a quarantine tank and just keep an eye on the other fish to be on the safe side.
Please keep us updated on how she is.

 

[FishByMyBed]

She's getting worse. Belly is sooo much bigger now. I have only been feeding my fish from a vacation feeder

for almost a month now, but it has been floating at the top of the tank and is discolored and soggy. So that could be a problem. I am going to buy another one. I think something went wrong with that one. I handled it too much and it floated to the top almost immedietly. I've used them before and they worked great! Also what should my tank temp be? it's room temperature for the last couple months. The Molly with dropsy is almost 1 1/2 years old.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[ellena]

That most certainly will be a problem! Why are you using the vacation feeder? I take it you're not on vacation? Just get a good quality food and feed them each day.

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

She's getting worse. Belly is sooo much bigger now. I have only been feeding my fish from a vacation feeder

for almost a month now, but it has been floating at the top of the tank and is discolored and soggy. So that could be a problem. I am going to buy another one. I think something went wrong with that one. I handled it too much and it floated to the top almost immedietly. I've used them before and they worked great! Also what should my tank temp be? it's room temperature for the last couple months. The Molly with dropsy is almost 1 1/2 years old.

Thanks for all your help!

Mollys are tropical fish so they need more than room temperature; I'd guess 24celsius plus. I've never owned a Molly but I know they are tropical and will require warm temperatures (with no major fluctuations).

If the food is discoloured and soggy chances are that it is off; especially since it's been rotting in the water for almsot a month.


If you don't want the bother of feeding your fish daily then get rid of them; it's not fair. Fair enough when you go on away but not when you are there.

 

[fett999]

Unfortunately the holiday feeders are just that I'm afraid. They are not made to be used full time.
The ingredients are not made to keep a fish in peak fitness full time but are for keeping a fish alive for a short period of time until you can start to feed them proper fish food again.
Use a decent fish food from now on and you'll probably be amazed at how much better the fish look.
Oh and take that old holiday flake out now.

 

[three-fingers]

Also I'd advise a water test/change.

Having a holiday feeder sitting in the tank cant be good for the water quality, probably some ammonia in there...

 

[Shelby]

As far as that goes you could also get a battery powered auto feeder http/www.marinedepot.com/fish+feeders-si.html

 

[FishByMyBed]

it died yesterday. so sad seeing it suffer so badly, it was still alive but upside down. no good. anyway i flushed it down the toilet and took the flake out and went and got some good fish flakes from tetra min, the new rounds crisps. and I bought 3 guppies 2 female and one male, and another marble molly to keep the other marble molly from being lonely after her friend died. so now I have 2 male marble mollies, 2 female guppies, 1 male guppy, a painted platy, & a sunkist platy. So I'm right at the 10 inch of fish for my 10 gallons of tank. I spoke with the guy at Petco and he said that since I am having a consistant nitrate problem that i should do a 25% water change once a week until it gets better, I use tap water treated with aqua safe. The guy said that fish can go a couple days without food as long as they are fed well prior to the couple of days.

I may post a pictures of a water test strip & chart on here later so maybe you can help me with getting my aquarium healthy.

thanks for helping.


This is a picture I took about a month ago.