Sick appisto

[vishy100]

Hey,
One of my cacs aint happy, lost body colour and is inflated like a pufferfish Scales also stick out from body a little bit and he isnt to keen to move. Fish has been in tank for about a month and no live food has been fed(all other fish are fine),
Thanks
Matt

[sharn]

sounds like dropsy to me most of the time its not curable and apparently it is contagious so try get it out of that tank asap. sorry i cant be of more help!

[Robdog]

I've had similar symptoms with an old Caca male. Notice the past tense.
I hit him with a few treatments including Bactonex, Multicure and Paracide and he still got away from me.
Couldn't say for sure what was wrong with him or your one for that matter but maybe something more hardcore like Metro would do the trick.
Reality is it'll probably die soon so get him into a hospital tank to reduce the chances of something spreading to other fish

[fishgeek]

does the fish show any signs of bloating anywhere else, specifically around the eye's
elevation of the scales and dropsy signs can occur due to any accumulation of gas or liquid within the abdomenal cavity
or due to accumulation of fluid within the dermis/subcutaneous tissue itself(more likely with the pinecone appearance you describe)

ideally you would collect some abdomenal fluid and culture perform microscopy on it

as others have said unfortunately without this chances of being lucky and curing are slim

ascites and subcutaneous odeama can occur for many reasons , some include organ failure such ar heart , kidneys or gills

support for osmaoregulation and antibiotics may occasionally prove beneficial

andrew

[*Chris*]

definate dropsy extremely contagous if he dies in the tank the other fish will catch it probably best to knock him

[Th0mas]

Is there a pic to provide a clearer image.

Sometime slight bloat may not be dropsy, but if not can develop into dropsy if left untreat.

Place a post (+pic) on apistogramma.com as well, there should be someone over there to provide more opinions.

Thomas.

[parkap]

Matt,

I agree with the above; sounds like dropsy.

Remove immediately.

Two treatments I've had limited success treating dropsy with: Melafix or Bactonex. However I've found I usually have to dose more than what's recommended for it to be effective. But do so at your own risk.

Also, if you have a hospotal tank / quarantine tank to put him in, make sure you use some of the tank water you're taking him out of. If you use all clean water the change in parameters could also further weaken / kill him.

Good luck.

p.

[fishgeek]

sorry i feel i need to say this, and am not trying to start an arguement

one of the most common cause's of abdomenal bloating is polycystic kidney disease in goldfish , this is not contagious

i am just trying to make the point's that
1. dropsy is a descriptive term(it should be called acites) not a diagnosis
2. without a correct diagnosis all the suggestions of contaigois nature are purely speculation


the appearance we are talking about in this fish occurs, most commonly, when osmoregulation is impaired

andrew

[vishy100]

Hey,
Poor little guy went to the chiller this morning as he wasn't looking tooo happy. Just wondering what causes these symptons, is it my fault?
Thanks
Matt

[Th0mas]

Matt,

Don't feel too bad about this, it happens more often with dwarf than many other as they don't take too much before the infection become fatal.

I totally agree with Andrew about the dropsy bit, in my experience dropsy is usually secondary infection. Generally when the fish reached this stage, it is pretty much gone. Hence it's best to provide a pic for a more accurate identification.

Therefore keeping dwarf can be a challenge. Recently I've lost two for no aparent reason - all others are well without any illness, suddently I've found two fish dead at the bottom of the community/growout tank. All others are fine and well, so it may have to do with my water change over the weekend - buggered.

Thomas.