Chinese algae eater with dropsy

Well, dropsy isn't a disease...it's a symptom. So first you have to figure out what's causing it.

Is he pine coning at all? That's when their scales kind of pop out a bit and stick out...if that makes sense .

Have you tested the water for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? Has the pH recently changed dramatically? Have you had to net him recently?

Using regular aquarium salt isn't going to help much. An epsom salt bath may help. Prepare a container with tank water and add 1 tablespoon of epsom salts per gallon. Put him in there for about ten minutes (unless you think he is seriously freaking out). You can do this twice a day but that might be too stressful.

Since you are using the Tetracycline already I won't recommend any other medications. Make sure to continue treatment for the full amount of time...at least five days if it doesn't specify.

If the Tetracycline doesn't work I'd try Maracyn–Two and an anti-parasite food.

Keep the water well aerated with airstones and raise the temperature (maybe to around 80 or so?). Do regular water changes to keep things nice and clean. That's really important.

yeah, i realize we re just exploring options. I just wanted to make sure that people know in general that antibiotics are not the way to go, bc well its really a hit or miss without the proper identification techniques...but also it contributes to a lot of antibiotic resistance, bc most people will not use the antibiotic properly in duration, and when they dispose of the antibiotic water they just dump in the sink or out the window....leading to environmental bacteria to become resistant and all this misuse goes on such a high scale

and much of people's mentality is that their is an antibiotic for every ailment...for instance when fish have fin rot or bacterial infections, most of these are secondary infections that were initially started by fungal infections which are more successful in treating...but bacterial infections can be complicated since lets say you use sulfa drugs you may also need another additional one since the bacteria could have an alternative biochemical pathway...ect...these are things most people dont realize and why would they, they re not microbiologists, but they are playing with some strong drugs that are very commonly misused (this being the reason why antibiotics are prescribed by professionals that know what they re doing)

not to mention some antibiotics work as bacteriostatic (inhibit growth, so once its gone, bacteria grow back) and some are bactericidal (kill)



this is some general info i wanted to discuss, not just for this section but in general

there could be hundreds of bacteria that could cause a bacterial infection, and within those they will be either gram positive or gram negative and treating those will require different antibiotics, which many bacteria have become resistant to a large variety of commonly used antibiotics and their classes, penicillin is practically obsolete bc of antibiotic misuse

In the future always continue through the whole treatment for antibiotics or don't use them at all. Putting in one tablet isn't going to do anything and will just make the bacteria more resistant to it.

Oh, and I didn't want you to net the fish. I was asking if he had been netted recently. Sorry for being unclear. Sometimes during netting fish can get injured which is why I asked. To move him I would actually use a cup or small container...much easier and less stressful for him .

I'll be honest...if he's pine coning that's really not good . There's still hope if you can find out the problem but that can be tricky.

What concerns me is that your other algae eater has it now too. Sounds like an internal infection that's spreading. You really should separate the ill fish if possible...it'll make it easier to medicate anyways. Although I'm not a big fan of using antibiotics you may want to try antibiotic foods. Unfortunately these aren't that common but two out there are Medi-Gold (it's technically for goldfish but I don't see any reason not to feed it to other species) and Romet B.

See, the main problem is that most of the meds out there only treat external infections rather then internal ones. Maracyn-Two is probably one of the better ones for internal infections but even it doesn't always do anything.

Remember to stop using the regular aquarium salt if you are still using it. That can make dropsy worse.

Did you ever get your water tested? It's important that you do to make sure there aren't ammonia spikes, high nitrates, etc. Oh, and what do you normally feed your algae eaters?

But yes, it can be difficult (like Skratikans said) without getting a culture since we don't know exactly what kind of bacteria (if it's even bacterial) is affecting the fish.