Larry's Dropsy Treatment

Dropsy Treatment

Hospital tank set up:
A bare bottomed 10g tank with 5 gallons of water, 2 air stones running at a decent rate and some java moss to help keep the ammonia down.

Medicines needed:
Aquarium Salt, Maracyn, Maracyn2 and Maroxy (optional). 

Treatment:
Step 1: Spray some of the fish's food (if using pellets) with a solution of maracyn and maracyn2 and feed that to the fish for the length of the treatment.  Lay some of the pellets out on alluminum foil.  Give the pellets 3 or 4 sprays and let dry.  Repeat that until you see an obvious white film show up on the foil (about 4 rounds of spray/let dry).  Alternately you could soak some flakes in a solution of the maracyns before feeding the fish.  To do that get an empty medicine bottle or something small like that.  Fill it with tank water and dissolve 1/2 tablet of both maracyn and maracyn2 in the water.  Shake well and add the flakes to the water and let them sit for a minute.  Then add the whole solution to the tank as a day's medication and feeding.

Step 2: A long salt bath (standard 1 tablespoon/5g of water) in water that's been double dosed with both maracyn and maracyn2 (1 whole tablet of each if using 5g of water).  Leave the fish in there for about 5 hours unless it shows extreme distress.

Step 3: Do as large a water change as possible.  At least 80% (4 or the 5 gallons) and double dose the maracyn and maracyn2 again.  Add 1/4 teaspoon of Maroxy, if you are using it and repeat that on day two (I didn't use maroxy after day two because I saw no 'fuzzy' food).

Step 4: Use the standard daily dose of both maracyn and maracyn2 for the next four days (1/2 tablet each in 5g of water).

Step 5: On day 6 do another 80% water change and double dose the meds again, starting the second cycle of the treatment.

Step 6: Continue the second treatment cyle with the standard daily dose of both maracyn and maracyn2 until day 10.

If your fish is still showing signs of pine coning, remove her from the tank, empty all the water and try a different antibiotic like tetracycline or kanamyacin, or an antimicrobial like furan2.

This treatment worked for me on a female betta that was completely pine coned.  I believe I caught it on the first day she pine coned.  She continued to eat fairly well throughout the treatment.  By day 10 her scales were back to normal and I ended the treatment.

Hope this works for you.  Good luck.

Seeker4sophia (Larry)