What's Wrong With My Fish?

[Fish-Hed]

Balloon Red Eye Tetra
I have two in the tank for about 2 months now. They were both the same size and now one (B) has ballooned in size. None of the other fish I have (Platy, Neon tetra, black skirt tetra, guppies) look over fed. Does not appear sick or injured other than "waddling" when it swims because it now resembles a puffer fish. What (if anything) is wrong with my fish??? Thanks

Pic of the beast: (A) is the "normal" (B) is the one in question...sorry for the quality

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd498/aquariumhobbiest999/FishTank%20Oct2011%20pt%202/#136###.jpg

 

[Devilish Angelfish]

Balloon Red Eye Tetra
I have two in the tank for about 2 months now. They were both the same size and now one (B) has ballooned in size. None of the other fish I have (Platy, Neon tetra, black skirt tetra, guppies) look over fed. Does not appear sick or injured other than "waddling" when it swims because it now resembles a puffer fish. What (if anything) is wrong with my fish??? Thanks

Pic of the beast: (A) is the "normal" (B) is the one in question...sorry for the quality

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd498/aquariumhobbiest999/FishTank%20Oct2011%20pt%202/#136###.jpg

Are its scales sticking out? It could have "dropsy" (can't think of the technical name at present)

 

[Fish-Hed]

Are its scales sticking out? It could have "dropsy" (can't think of the technical name at present)

Yes i notice that the scales are starting to stick out. Dropsy? have to google that one.

 

[Devilish Angelfish]

Are its scales sticking out? It could have "dropsy" (can't think of the technical name at present)

Yes i notice that the scales are starting to stick out. Dropsy? have to google that one.

OK, you'd best quarantine it because it can spread to your other fish. Not sure if I can post the link here but Wikipedia has an article on contagious dropsy in fish

 

[Fish-Hed]

Are its scales sticking out? It could have "dropsy" (can't think of the technical name at present)

Yes i notice that the scales are starting to stick out. Dropsy? have to google that one.

The images that I googles from dropsy just show the Belly of the fish sticking out. This fish's entire body is ballooned. Picture below...

http://tinyurl.com/3zgvrcc

 

[fidjet2]

Are its scales sticking out? It could have "dropsy" (can't think of the technical name at present)

Yes i notice that the scales are starting to stick out. Dropsy? have to google that one.

+1 i think it is dropsy aswell

what are your water parameters?
tank size?
was your tank cycled- if so, how?

 

[the_lock_man]

Yes, I'd say dropsy as well.

Dropsy is a symptom of another underlying problem, which could be a number of things. It is incredibly difficult to treat, because you don't know what the actual problem is. The fish swells because its internal organs have failed, so it swells up with fluid. Dropsy in itself isn't contagious, since it is a symptom, however the underlying problem may be contagious.

You could try an Epsom Salts bath, to try to draw out the fluid from its body, but once the organs have failed, it is very likely to be too late. It certainly was in my platy's case.

 

[Fish-Hed]

The fish died early this morning. Thanks for the help, this forum is a very valuable to beginners like me. I use test strips and the tank levels are perfect. I do 30% water changes weekly and always use water conditioners and biological supplements.

Thanks again.

 

[the_lock_man]

Mate, sorry to hear the fish didn't make it, but seeing the photo of it, I'm not really surprised.

Can I make a suggestion? Those test strips are notoriously inaccurate. Pretty much all the regular members of this forum use a liquid-based test kit, most use the API one, I personally started off with the Nutrafin one, and another one that's recommended is the Salifert.

 

[colleen0309]

Sorry

 

[Devilish Angelfish]

Yes, I'd say dropsy as well.

Dropsy is a symptom of another underlying problem, which could be a number of things. It is incredibly difficult to treat, because you don't know what the actual problem is. The fish swells because its internal organs have failed, so it swells up with fluid. Dropsy in itself isn't contagious, since it is a symptom, however the underlying problem may be contagious.

You could try an Epsom Salts bath, to try to draw out the fluid from its body, but once the organs have failed, it is very likely to be too late. It certainly was in my platy's case.

Thank you I meant to say the cause of the dropsy was contagious, not the condition itself - sorry. I read somewhere that it was thought that if the dropsy was caused by a bacteria or disease, the fluid from the victims body could spread the causitive disease to the other fish so that's why quarantine was suggested.
@ Fish-Hed: sorry about your fish - its almost impossible to cure dropsy once its started. (I remembered the original word: Oedema. Its used to describe fluid swelling in humans as well)

 

[Fish-Hed]

Thanks again to everyone. The tank is our (my 8 yr old son & my) very first tank. We love it and plan to up grade this 10 g tank to a 50 g around Christmas time. We plan to use the 10 as a future quarantine tank. Never thought we would get bummed out over a $5 fish, but our recent hobby reminds us to respect life no matter how small.

Lock_Man - I plan on taking your advice and purchasing a Salifert Test kit or something comparable by the weekend. I will also use the test strips (why not? they were $18!) and comparing the results.

Links to picture below....

What and why are there two nitrate readings. Bottle is not very clear on this. The Nitrate level that measures 0 to 200 (NO2)shows "safe", but the level that measures 0 to 10.0 (NO3) shows between "caution & Stress". All other levels are good - colors on the scanned picture may be a little off because I scanned to strip about 20 minutes after the reading and the colors are changing slightly.

also did a 30% water change and the readings are not changed.

http://tinyurl.com/Help-TheFishHead <-- Picture

 

[dh058977]

There is not two Nitrate readings. There is NitrAte and NitrIte. I would be concerned that there is no Ammonia test on your strips, make sure you get a decent liquid kit soon. I hate the strips!