Three Stripe Damsel with Dropsy

[vaguelyreeflike]

One of our three stripe damsels is suffering from tell-tale signs of dropsy; extreme bloating and ‘pine-coming’ scales, pectoral fins pushed away from the body and heavy breathing.

The other fish in this system are healthy, I’m unsure on how to treat this guy as I’ve never dealt with marine dropsy. I did a 5min freshwater dip to make sure there was nothing parasitic and to hopefully help him release some of the built-up fluid.

I’m well versed with FW dropsy, however this is a first for marine dropsy for me, and the only treatment information I can find is that dropsy doesn’t happen in saltwater lol.

Here are the best photos I am able to get. He’s being fasted now but usually once they start to pine cone, their organs are beyond failing in FW Dropsy

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

#fishmedic

 

[vetteguy53081]

One of our three stripe damsels is suffering from tell-tale signs of dropsy; extreme bloating and ‘pine-coming’ scales, pectoral fins pushed away from the body and heavy breathing.

The other fish in this system are healthy, I’m unsure on how to treat this guy as I’ve never dealt with marine dropsy. I did a 5min freshwater dip to make sure there was nothing parasitic and to hopefully help him release some of the built-up fluid.

I’m well versed with FW dropsy, however this is a first for marine dropsy for me, and the only treatment information I can find is that dropsy doesn’t happen in saltwater lol.

Here are the best photos I am able to get. He’s being fasted now but usually once they start to pine cone, their organs are beyond failing in FW Dropsy

This is from bloating or constpation

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

This is from bloating or constpation

That’s the only known causes? I’ve never seen a constipated fish pinecone their scales unless it’s due to organ failure and filling their body cavity with fluid.

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

This is from bloating or constpation

After closer inspection it appears he has ich on top of the bloating, could the scales be a reaction to the ich?

Will treat in copper and continue fasting and see.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

One of our three stripe damsels is suffering from tell-tale signs of dropsy; extreme bloating and ‘pine-coming’ scales, pectoral fins pushed away from the body and heavy breathing.

The other fish in this system are healthy, I’m unsure on how to treat this guy as I’ve never dealt with marine dropsy. I did a 5min freshwater dip to make sure there was nothing parasitic and to hopefully help him release some of the built-up fluid.

I’m well versed with FW dropsy, however this is a first for marine dropsy for me, and the only treatment information I can find is that dropsy doesn’t happen in saltwater lol.

Here are the best photos I am able to get. He’s being fasted now but usually once they start to pine cone, their organs are beyond failing in FW Dropsy

I'm scratching my head thinking if I've ever seen a marine fish with dropsy, I can't remember ever seeing one.

They do get ascites (fluid in the abdomen) but the scales don't pineapple like they do in FW dropsy.
Putting it in FW actually causes more fluids to flood into the fish, saltier water would tend to dehydrate it. However, that is not an effective treatment, as the root cause is kidney failure and that cannot be corrected in fish any more than in humans....sorry.

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

After closer inspection it appears he has ich on top of the bloating, could the scales be a reaction to the ich?

Will treat in copper and continue fasting and see.

While possible, can also be skin irritation from the ich
Treatment asap will be in your favor

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

He unfortunately passed as expected. It’s weird how uncommon this diagnosis is compared to freshwater fish, I wonder why

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

He unfortunately passed as expected. It’s weird how uncommon this diagnosis is compared to freshwater fish, I wonder why

I think it has something to do with how different freshwater and marine fish are in regards to osmotic balancing: freshwater fish skin cells are constantly being flooded with water and they need to pump that water out, while marine fish are always becoming dehydrated, so they drink water all the time. If the osmotic pump fails, the FW fish tissue floods with water, causing pineapple scales.

Jay

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

I think it has something to do with how different freshwater and marine fish are in regards to osmotic balancing: freshwater fish skin cells are constantly being flooded with water and they need to pump that water out, while marine fish are always becoming dehydrated, so they drink water all the time. If the osmotic pump fails, the FW fish tissue floods with water, causing pineapple scales.

Jay

I suspected as much as thats the only large difference there, so it must take an extreme amount of fluid build up for it to show symptoms on saltwater fish. Hopefully I can avoid it happening again. Thank you for the help though