Recovery From Dropsy?

[ctendoh]

Well, I've had an interesting two weeks.

Somehow, my smallest molly (it was an adult, they refuse to breed ) managed to get dropsy when no one else did, and I put him in isolation, figuring it would be the end of him. Looking around online to see what I could do to make him more comfortable, I found a site that said to use epsom salts to coax him to pass the nasty stuff inside of him. It made sense to me, so I went ahead and dosed him, and headed off to school. He had a long string of not-so-healthy-lookin poo when I got home, so I figured the treatment was working, and after a few days he was back to normal! YAY! No swelling, no pine cones, no nothing. I was thrilled!

As I watched him swim after the swelling, I noticed he was swimming kinda funny. He was doing a lot more wiggling than normal, and it wasn't getting him anywhere. He still does it, it's kind of like a full-body whip. I'm assuming this is from damage to the swim bladder or just to general muscles used for swimming. I'm just wondering, will this go away with time, or is he gonna look funny and get picked on by the other fish for the rest of his life?

[sammiesam]

You should continue medicating for the full week even if symptoms seem to dissapear, there still could be some infection inside.
Plus I bet carl would recommend some methylene blue with the espom salt baths and a broad spectrum antibiotic? Carl or Bill will have more to say. But I think you shouldn't stop with the baths.

And try feeding him some brine shrimp or chopped up shell-less peas?

[bikeguy33]

i would keep feeding to a minimum for the time being. sam is right too....just because he looks cured, I would still continue the treatment. the disease could just be in remission temporarily. you actually were very lucky....dropsy is usually fatal because by the time the pineconing is noticable the disease has already progressed pretty far. as for the odd swimming....have you changed anything in the tank. maybe moved the filter or added a powerhead? sounds more like he is fighting a current. especially since his body is moving but he isnt getting anywhere. can he keep his buoyancy in the tank....does he fight to get lower in the tank?