Sad news folks.
Unfortunately a few weeks ago KathFIN passed away. She suffered from Dropsy and after three days of salt baths, quarintine and heavy monitoring her short time was bid a due:(
With this said, I thought I should maybe share the symptoms and effects of Dropsy so that it doesn’t happen to anyone else.
The first symptoms are a lack of eating, hiding away, seeming slow, staying near the surface or the top and lethargic. The main causes of Dropsy can be the environment, poor water conditions, stress or simply a lack of luck.
Unfortunately when I noticed Kath it was basically too late. She was insanely round and swollen, with ‘pinecone scales’ (when the scales fan outwards. From the top she kinda looked like a corn cob), she was hiding a lot, her spine was bending and she was sticking to the surface. I knew she wasn’t well so I got to research.
To treat Dropsy, it’s better to be treated ASAP as it’s an internal disease. I bathed her in a salt bath (room temperature, one eighth of a teaspoon to two cups of water) and then left her there for ten minutes before putting her back in some water, making sure it was always clean and not too cold. If your fish has a friend with them (in my case FINch) you should seperate them ASAP.
I continued the baths for a few days, knowing that the salt reduced swelling and pain. Unfortunately by the third day she was barely moving, right at the surface just floating with her lil face up so she could breathe. Her fins were barely moving (it can be really painful, to the point where movement feels like too much)
At that point I should have simply put her to rest but I thought she still had a chance. I was wrong and she passed away that night. If I could go back I would have put her in the fridge until she went into a slumber, then froze her to put her to rest a humane way. She still had a wonderful few weeks with me and FINch, always playing together. It’s such a shame that she succumb to her illness, as I still wish she were with us. She was buried out in the garden that next afternoon, and of corse a few nice words were said.
FINch is now in her tank again. She’s actually going very well, so worry not for her. RIP KathFIN. You were loved by many, and I hope you’re a lot happier in fishy paradise 💖💖
