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Wag platy with dropsy

4214 Views 19 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Edarion, 
E
So this weekend, another member, out of ignorance, sold me a wag that had dropsy.
none of the other fish in his tank exhibit the classic symptoms. So I'm thinking that this is not the contagious kind.

Left untreated this wag, will eventually fade away. However, I don't have a quarantine tank... I have raised the temperature as high as I can without cooking the fish.

What other solutions can I try? I know that there are medications available. But I don't want to kill my other fish by medicating the whole tank......
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Rastapus
The most common cause of Dropsy in Livebearers is the lack of hardness in our water supply. The lack of minerals causes the fish to fill with fluid, caused by the inability of the fish to osmoregulate, (balance fluids in the body).
Most hobbyists in BC are unaware of this problem and don't correct it. Whomever you got the fish from probably has super soft water in his aquarium and livebearers are raised in hard water conditions overseas.
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Rastapus
No, as long as it is done slowly over time. Oc course I don't know what your other fish are, and I am assuming your levels are zero. In the case of livebearers, they prefer medium to high hardness. We keep our livebearers in a KH of 7-8 and they thrive.
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Rastapus
They would all be content with a KH and GH around 6.
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Rastapus
Alkaline buffer for KH and we use Replenish for GH but many hobbyists use epsom salts. A small amount of marine salt is very effective as well but too much will irritate your cory cats.
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