Loaches Online Forum

Hi back again! Needing advice on my slightly bloated black moor.
I have two I believe one is male & one is female as the what I think female has always been plumper.

I had a mixed veil that developed what I'm sure was dropsy, had to put it to 'sleep'
I've noticed this black moor is bloated, sits at the bottom a lot, but does go for a swim & is eating.
However she does look plumper, both sides of the body are equal, there are no sticking up scales, white dots anything just siting a lot & slightly plumper.

Any suggestions? Ph etc all are fine, can the other fish catch dropsy? I did do huge water change & cleaned everything once I had removed the veil one.

Dropsy is not caused by any single organisms, but rather is a problem that can develop as a response to any of several diseases or stresses.

It can be confined to the abdominal area without the raised scales, and then it may be called Ascites.

Whatever disease or problem lead to the first fish getting it may be contagious, and the other fish have whatever it is.
Unfortunately you do not have any other symptoms to go on to help figure out if the initial problem might be bacterial, viral or something else. No way to figure out what medicine might help.

Goldfish are very tolerant of salt. You might try Epsom salt and sodium chloride combined to help the fish get rid of some body fluids.
You can try as much as 1 tablespoon per gallon of sodium chloride, and 1/2 tablespoon per gallon of Epsom salt. I would raise the level slowly, though. Start with about 1 tablespoon of salt and 1/2 tablespoon of Epsom salt per 10 gallons, and add just that much each day. Dissolve it in water and pour it into the tank slowly over several hours. Next day the same... repeat daily until the fish seems a bit better.
If you can measure the GH (commonly available aquarium test) then use it and raise the GH by 2 German degrees of hardness per day. Epsom salt will read as GH.