05/08/2024
Dropsy is the symptom as such, and the cause is usually down to acute kidney failure, a tumour or an internal bacterial infection.
The kidneys are pretty much the engine that powers the fish’s ability to regulate osmosis, or balance the salinity and water levels in the body, while excreting unwanted water and ammonia. If the kidneys are struggling, this entire process goes to pot and the fish can fill with fluids/urine. In this instance, antibiotics is the worse thing you can do - ultimately, antibiotics are seen as a foreign body by the kidneys, forcing them to work even harder to filter them out. Salts baths (20g/L for 10-15mins) or quarantined at 6g/L with a stable temperature close to 25 degrees celcius is about the best that can be done in my opinion.
If it’s an internal bacterial infection, a course of antibiotics would most certainly help, while also do the same treatments as mentioned above.
If it’s a tumour, there’s little to nothing that can be done really.
Biggest problem is knowing what the cause is, and they all require a prompt response which isn’t always easy. With tumours, you can usually feel the hard mass which is usually more one-sided and the gills are often pale. Kidney failure often creeps up slower, and the swelling is often uniform. Internal bacterial infections tend to storm in quicker and more dramatic, and are usually secondary to another problem (water quality, parasites, etc).
