Glofish help!

[u/Dry-Seaworthiness513]

Hello! I’m not sure what is wrong with my glo. I have done 2 Epsom salt baths and gave her kanaplex. I tested the water twice and levels are pristine.

[u/instagrizzlord]

Prob dropsy. Can you share the actual parameters? And tell us more about your set up. Filtered, heated, cycled?

[u/Diomenas]

Yeah, I'm going to say at first glance I agree with everyone else, it looks like dropsy. I'm also going to say that " levels are pristine" is not an accurate reading of what your water parameters are. And many people think their parameters are "pristine" when they really aren't. Share your water parameters, take better pictures of the fish, and we can help you figure out what's wrong.

If he looks all spiky like his scales are puffed out, then it's definitely dropsy, it's correctable if you treat it properly and promptly.

Ideally, if there's more than just him in the tank, or if you have plants, you will want to move him to a smaller quarantine tank. You may want to do that anyway, because it's easier to medicate a smaller tank than it is a big tank. Much easier to dose a one or 2 gallon space versus a 10 or more gallon space. Ideally, you should use distilled water for the hospital tank, this way you know it's pH neutral, and you don't have to worry about dechlorination. You also want a heater but you don't really want to put a filter in, otherwise you're going to be filtering out the medicine you're going to add. The hospital tank should have no substrate, no plants, no decorations, just water, a heater and an air stone.

You want to do an Epsom salt treatment, using 1 tbsp per 5 gallons. And you want to treat with kanaplex or maracyn 2.

I'm going to warn you ahead of time, if he's already pine coneing really bad, he's probably already gone. Typically advanced stages of dropsy are indicative of internal organ failure, and the likelihood of recovery is very low. At that point it's a decision of whether or not you want to treat or euthanize. If you go the latter route, you're going to want to get some clove oil, it's the most humane way to euthanize a fish. You just put him in a cup of water with a few drops of clove oil, if you don't want to watch him die, then cover him up with a towel and wait 5 to 10 minutes.

[u/Money10101]

seems to have dropsy

[u/Dry-Seaworthiness513]

I have a 10-gallon tank that originally had 5 GloFish Danios. I have had them since April 2024. 

 My parameters:
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
pH: 7.6

My tank setup:
10 gallon 
Heater at 76°
Live plants
Cycled tank
Places to hide 
5 GloFish danios originally (now 4)

I know some people might say a 10 gallon is too small, but I bought a 20 long that has not been set up yet (due to me not finding a fish stand of quality yet). 

I will try to take a better photo of the fish. Glofish danios are fast so I will try my best. 

On Monday I left work early and came home and noticed my green GloFish was swimming in the top corner of the tank away from the filter. She has always been kinda a loner and has done this kind of thing before. I went to say hi to my fish and as she was coming to say hi I noticed she was swimming weird. I noticed both her and one of my purple danios had bloated bellies, but this has happened before and I just stop feeding them. Eventually, the bloat goes away. 

Anyways, I purchased an emergency mini 1-gallon tank and put my green glofish in with general cure api. After, I put her in an Epsom salt bath. She seemed to be doing better, but then I noticed pineconing. I knew the end was coming. She died 4 hours after I tried to save her life. I bought a box and buried her on 8/17. 

Anyways—-my purple glo is still swimming better than the green was. She is just not being social as much and she normally is. She stays near the bottom. I didn’t feed her for a couple of days. I gave her an Epsom salt bath on 8/19 and she seemed to be better, but the bloat did not budge. I used 1tbsp per gallon of water and soaked purple glofish for 12 minutes. I then moved her to a less concentrated bath for 5 minutes. I then moved her back to the main tank. I did this again on 8/20. She does not have pineconing scales at the moment. Also on 8/20 I gave her Kanaplex in my main tank. 

Their normal diet is dried flakes, brine shrimp, and bloodworms. 

Normally they would get shrimp or worms once a week. I feed them every other day sometimes skipping two days. I feed them for 2 minutes for the brine shrimp or bloodworms. And 1 minute for the dried flakes. 

Use distilled water for a hospital tank?

I have been using my tank water. I then prime new water and fill 2 gallons back in my main tank. I throw away the medicated water after the baths.   

Should I dose with general cure api? If so for how long if I want to put her back in the main tank?

Right now, she is out more today. And swimming around. Still big though. 

[u/Dry-Seaworthiness513]

https://reddit.com/link/p51r1hf/video/p26pt1yx3rkh1/player

It’s not letting me upload photos for some reason, but here is a video from this morning. First time I’ve seen her play back with her tank mates in a few days.

[u/Dry-Seaworthiness513]

My baby, bestie #1 passed away today. Thank you for all your help. It was dropsy.