# Fat Danio or Diseased Danio?



## Pagan (Oct 23, 2007)

Hello!
I have a very fat Zebra Danio. I didn't think he/she was supposed to get this fat. Then, after searching the web, I found a page where the lady's Danios had tuberculosis!?! So, now I'm confused and slightly frightened.

Could someone please shed some light on this for me?

I've included a couple pics. Sorry about the quality, as Wendell (the Danio) would not sit still. LOL. 

The first is a profile shot, showing the extent of his bowing belly. The second is a rear view, showing the immense roundness of his belly. His little fishy butt looks as if it's about to explode. It's red and missing scales...

Poor little fishy...


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Welcome to Fishforum.com, Pagan.8)

What food have you been feeding it and how often do you feed? Hva you isolated him yet? Fast him for a few days and let us know if there is improvement.


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## Pagan (Oct 23, 2007)

He is isolated. He's the only fish we have. I bought 4 Danios and 3 died within 6 months. We've had him for over a year now. I feed him once a day, before I go to bed. He's got the whole tank to himself. I've tried fasting him, for about 4 days, but no change. He wasn't happy about it. LOL

His tank is cleaned every 2 months. He's got it pretty good. 

I'm stumped... :shock: 

{Smiles}


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Pagan said:


> He is isolated. He's the only fish we have. I bought 4 Danios and 3 died within 6 months. We've had him for over a year now. I feed him once a day, before I go to bed. He's got the whole tank to himself. I've tried fasting him, for about 4 days, but no change. He wasn't happy about it. LOL
> 
> His tank is cleaned every 2 months. He's got it pretty good.
> 
> ...


This is likely to be dropsy. Try epsom salts at a dose of 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons.


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## Julie's Julies (Jun 11, 2007)

I just lost a giant danio to dropsy, too. Are his scales lying flat against his belly, or are they raised and sticking out like a pine cone? Do try the epsom
salts, especially since you just have the one fish and don't have to worry about him contaminating other inhabitants. Let us know how things go!


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

Does indeed seem like dropsy but if the scales are raised then I would sya definitely dropsy.

Just a side note. You say it's cleaned every 2 months? What exactly do you do every 2 months and do you do anything inbetween? Best tank maintanence is small but frequent partial water changes (20% every week works well) and a gravel vac every week with this change. Leaving this only every 2 monnths would leave the tank very dirty, but doing more than this, for example full water changes and changing alll filter media at once, every 2 months would likely destroy a lot of the beneficial bacteria that grows in a tank as it matures.


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## Pagan (Oct 23, 2007)

Falina said:


> Does indeed seem like dropsy but if the scales are raised then I would sya definitely dropsy.
> 
> Just a side note. You say it's cleaned every 2 months? What exactly do you do every 2 months and do you do anything inbetween? Best tank maintanence is small but frequent partial water changes (20% every week works well) and a gravel vac every week with this change. Leaving this only every 2 monnths would leave the tank very dirty, but doing more than this, for example full water changes and changing alll filter media at once, every 2 months would likely destroy a lot of the beneficial bacteria that grows in a tank as it matures.


It's only a desktop tank (1.6 gallon). It's got a gravel filter(air pumped). No water filter/carbon filter. We don't have fluorinated/chlorinated water where we live, just treated for heavy metals, so the water is very good here. I still add the water conditioner though. I do a partial water change every 2 weeks as the tank is so small and the lack of a water filter...

His scales are slightly raised, so I'll treat him for dropsy. 
So, what would the ratio of epsom salt to be used in such a small tank?


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

I'd recommend that you do the water changes twice weekly in such a small tank. The smaller the tank, the more unforgiving when it comes to water parameters.


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