Dropsy Treatment Problems

[bever_lee]

Hi,

I have 3 Zebra Danios, 5 black neon tetras, and one pleco named Sammy. A few days ago I noticed that one of my danios had a fat belly, and I later diagnosed the problem to be dropsy. I read through some old forums, and realized the rarity of curing dropsy. However, I was worried about Sammy, who seemed to be increasingly inactive, and suffered from a loss of appetite.
I began treatment 2 days ago. Because I have no spare tanks, I'm administering the medicinal powder in my active tank. I learned that the treatment may destroy my bacterial build up, so I bought a big bottle of 'Cycle' (bacteria starter) to renew this bacteria once the curing process is complete.
I have a couple questions; firstly what can I be adding to my tank while this medicine is still present? I would like to add more water, and some bacteria starter ASAP, but I'm worried it may react with the dropsy medicine.
Secondly, after only 3 doses of the treatment my aquarium water is VERY cloudy, and I have 2 filters running full time. What can I do to cure this?
Thanks for you help!

PS. Sammy is a lot more energetic, but unfortunately the danio is getting worse.

 

[tttnjfttt]

The cloudy water is probably a bacterial bloom (as wierd as that sounds), which is harmless. Do the fish seem stressed out at all? What medicine are you using?

You are worried about your ammonia and nitrite levels, have you tested your water? Cycle is pretty much useless. I tried to use it to end a mini-cycle over a year ago, the highest nitrite reading I got was .5, and it took over a week to go back to zero, so i really have no faith in that product. I know i am not the only one who thinks this is worthless. If you are determined to buy beneficial bacteria, look around for a product called "bio-spira", which will work, as long as it has been continuously refrigerated. (It may be called something else in the UK, i'm in the US)

 

[bever_lee]

Thanks for the tip. I live in Canada, so I'm quiet certain it will be sold under the same name.
The treatment I'm useing is called maracyn-2.