Dropsy

This funny-sounding disease is not funny at all!  It is an infection of the koi or goldfish's internal organs and is fatal in almost all cases.  The trick to being able to treat this monster is catching it before it gets started.

How to Recognize, Treat and Prevent Dropsy in Your Koi or Goldfish Pond

My heart goes out to any koi or goldfish I see that has dropsy.  It's such a nasty infection and almost always fatal.  It's basically an infection of an internal organ, often the kidney.  The fish no longer is able to process its fluids.  They build up inside the fish causing the tell-tell signs of bloat.  You could probably equate the effect it has on the fish to the effect kidney failure has on us. 

There's very little we can do to help a fish in the advanced stages of dropsy.  We can, however, do things to help prevent it and treat fish we suspect could have early stages of it.   

Recognizing Dropsy

What makes dropsy so hard to diagnose in time to treat it is that the symptoms that we know as dropsy do not come out until the fish has entered the final stages of the disease.  The fish literally blows up like a balloon.  Its scales stick out, making the fish resemble a pinecone.  In fact, Dropsy is often called Pinecone Disease because of it.  The eyes will bulge out from the trapped fluids beneath.

Dropsy is also often accompanied by external bacterial infections including fin rot, mouth rot and ulcers.  In some cases I've seen almost any and all symptoms.  It's really a sad sight to see.

This poor little fellow died from dropsy this morning.  You can see how his breast area is swollen and his scales are sticking out.  His eyes never bulged out but he had fin rot, ulcers and his skin and fins were riddled with red streaks and swollen blood vessels.

Treating Dropsy

I have a bad habit of giving up when I hear the symptoms of dropsy described to me by a customer.  I will always say that there's really nothing they can do for it -- just to make it comfortable and let it live out its short life in a stress-free environment.  I was happily reminded just this spring that every now and then a fish actually survives dropsy - even after it has swollen up from it.

The treatment regimen that worked on the lucky koi who survived this year was feeding it triple antibiotic food and keeping him in .3% non-iodized salt.  This was such a no-nonsense approach and so basically simple!  The triple antibiotic food kept the internal infection at bay while the salt prevented water from seeping into the sores or skin of the koi and keeping his protective slime coat intact. 

That leads me to believe that there is hope for a koi or goldfish who has dropsy as long as the fish is still eating.

Emergency Procedures

1. Perform a salt treatment.
2. Begin feeding with triple antibiotic food.

What to Expect Next

Once, by a small miracle, the swelling goes down and the scales are no longer sticking out any other complications such as fin rot or ulcers that are still present should be addressed.  Treat them as you would ulcer disease and be careful to treat them gently.  This survivor has gone through a lot of stress and we certainly do not want to give him more than he can handle. 

Preventing Dropsy

Excellent water quality is probably the one best thing we can have to prevent dropsy, though sometimes no matter what you do a dropsy case will still happen.  A pond can never have too much biological filtration.  Make sure the filter you have is sufficient (and even more than sufficient) for your fish load.  We use the ProBead because it gives us excellent water quality and low-maintenance.   

In early spring we like to treat our pond for parasites as well as start our koi out with two weeks of triple antibiotic food -- even if the fish are showing no symptoms of parasitic or bacterial problems.  This is a precaution that pays off well in prevention of disease, including dropsy.

More Information About Dropsy

• How to Prevent Spring Disease Outbreaks in Koi & Goldfish
• Battle of the Bacteria

Items You Might Need:

Triple Antibiotic Food

Doc's Pure Salt

ProBead Biological
Bead Filters

Master Test Kit

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