Dropsy Disease in Aquarium fish, Cure and Prevention with Related Resources

Dropsy disease is one of the most common of ailments found in the aquarium, affecting a lot of freshwater fish, it seems to appear from nowhere leaving the fish keeper unsure which steps to take to prevent and cure this problem. Dropsy itself is not a classified disease, it appears to originate from poor health in the fish, and this is often caused by deteriorating water conditions in the fish tank. The first signs are usually swelling of the abdomen, when viewing the fish from above, the swelling will become a lot more obvious. Other signs include raised scales; this gives the fish the appearance of a pine cone and can be quite alarming to see.

The swelling of the abdomen is caused by excess fluid building up in the abdomen where the stomach, intestines, gall bladder and kidneys are housed, as mentioned above the excess fluid is not classed a the disease but a side effect of other problems with the fish.

To find the cause of dropsy disease in freshwater fish we have to look elsewhere, other factors are affecting the fish so tracking these down can be a bit of detective work but once solved, the dropsy disease should not affect the fish again if the other problems are kept under control. The most common problem is poor water quality, often dropsy disease is associated with high waste producing freshwater fish such as Goldfish, it can be the high waste production that is not being handled by the fish tank filters that is creating the poor water quality. Higher levels of ammonia and nitrites in the water can affect the health of the fish, this can then reduce their hardiness and the dropsy will become introduced to the list of problems. If the pH levels are not buffered correctly and produce pH swings on a regular basis, this will also have a detrimental effect on your fish’s health; always make sure that the pH remains constant.

One factor that many keepers overlook if dropsy disease appears has to be harassment by other tank mates, if a fish is being bullied or constantly being chased around the tank this will cause stress. Stress in fish is a serious problem and will reduce their immune system leaving them open to contracting a wide range of ailments.

If you do find that one of your fish has contracted dropsy disease you will need to know how to deal with it. Officially this disease cannot be passed from fish to fish; many keepers who have experienced this disease will know that often more than one fish will contract the dropsy over a period of time. This actually makes sense, dropsy is not contagious but if there is something wrong happening in your tank and it has affected one of your fish, the same problems will be hitting the other fish which in turn will increase their chances of contracting the dropsy disease.

The only way to deal with this problem is to prevent it happening in the first place. Keep the water quality high and make sure that the fish tank filters that you are running are capable of coping with any fish waste produced by your fish. Test your water on a regular basis to ensure that the ammonia and nitrite levels do not rise above 0, any higher than this is not acceptable for your fish.

Perform regular fish tank maintenance so that the tank is always clean and all of the equipment is running efficiently. Select tank mates carefully and never overstock your fish tank.

Unfortunately once the dropsy has been spotted it is often too late to treat the fish, their internal organs will be damaged, in this case prevention is the best cure!