I was going to put this under the thread I had for Koko, but thinking about it for a bit I realized that it is a totally different issue.

Last night I noticed my teeny red oranda Carnelian was exhibiting the symptom most dreaded by all fish keepers...pine-coning scales.  Now it isn't severe...yet...in fact, you almost need a magnifying glass to notice because it isn't extremely obvious, especially when viewing the tank face on.  But I got a little suspicious when I saw her scales not looking quite "right..." especially under her chin, it looks a little...how to describe it...ragged.  So the warning sirens went off in my mind and I viewed her from a thousand different angles before concluding that she is indeed beginning to show the first signs of dropsy.  The water quality is perfect right now, but some of you may have known that I had a bit of a mysterious water quality problem for a bit and then it went back to normal. She also was acting a little funny when I came in the room...she had lodged herself behind one of my filters and refused to eat. 

Well I immediately took action by preparing a strong salt bath for her...1/2 a tablespoon of Epsom salts, 1/2 teaspoon of regular natural non iodized sea salt in a 1 gallon mixing bowl.  I set a timer for 12 minutes and watched her cruise around.  From that angle I could see most of the pine-coning was directly behind her gills.  Took some photos and may post some if they turn out.  I also got her to eat some pellets, but she seemed to have trouble swallowing them.  She'd make a dive for the pellet, chomp it with glee, then spew it out, then go after it again with gusto.

So after the bath was done I scooped her up gently in my hands and put her back in the main tank.  I gave her another salt bath this morning and was wondering if you guys here think I should be doing anything different?  Does anyone here have any suggestions for this horrible illness?  I know I have heard some rare success stories at one point in time...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Goldiegirl (speaking for Carnelian)

Aww gosh so sorry to hear about the little fish GoldieGirl

The only medicine I've heard of helping dropsy was something called Metro Meds- (Link is not visible to guests. Please register to view.)

I'm not sure how easily it is to obtain, or how reliable the product is as I have never had experience with it, but I'm afraid this is all I can add. I'm still very in-experienced, so just go by things I've read and seen about. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

Good luck with the little one.

sorry to hear that Goldie, best of luck to you and your fish.

So sorry to hear that, maybe she'll be one of the lucky few. The only thing I have heard is injections of Baytril, although this probably isn't easy to obtain, most vets are not willing to sell injectable medication.

That was a good link Vicky, interesting story.

Thank you for that link, Vicloz2006, I read the article and that poor fish sounds much worse off than my Carnelian.  I do not have access to Baytril, however, so I have to stick with my carton of Epsom salts. 

I haven't noticed any red under the scales...like I said, her pine-coning isn't extremely severe, but it is detectable from above.

I DID make a mistake though!    I decided to experiment with adding a couple of drops of peroxide to one of her baths in the last 5 minutes of it.  That very night she developed a large, clearish/pinkish blister over one eye, like the kind you get when you burn your finger on a hot glue gun.  I could have kicked myself for being so rash!  However, after 2 days it went away completely AND HER PINE-CONING HAS GONE DOWN DRASTICALLY.  Whether due to that peroxide or the constant epsom salt baths I do not know. I think she is going to make it! 

I have stopped using the sea salt for her salt baths, only the Epsoms...through experimentation I have found them to be more effective.

P.s. she is also eating better.   

Goldiegirl in the future look for the signs for dropsy. the coning of the scales is an advanced stage of dropsy. You can identify dropsy much earlier. the signs are white poo and swollen belly. dropsy is a bacterial disease, and the bacteria causes infection in fish, to fight that infection the fish needs antibiotics. ampycillin is the best antibiotic. if u wanna know any detail let me know.

meow gangster: Dropsy isn't a bacterial illness, it's a symptom that can be caused by anything from parasites to bacteria to wounds and/or poor water quality. That's why it's always so hard to treat, you can't tell exactly what caused it :/

Goldiegirl: I'm really happy to hear she's getting better! That's amazing! Keep us posted!

goldiegirl then your goldfish isn't suffering from dropsy. A swollen belly has to be there if your fish has dropsy. your goldfish is suffering from Areomonas. and you are always welcome:)

And Nossie: Dropsy is a 100% bacterial disease, dropsy is caused by internal infection caused by bacteria. once the scales are protruding due to dropsy and not Areomonas, the fish almost always dies. The protruding of the scales when caused by dropsy is a point of no return for the goldy.

I thought it was not always a bacterial infection that sometimes it can be a tumour or a parasite.

Thanks Nossie I had looked it up after I saw this thread and that was what it had said, so I was a bit confused.

Vicloz dropsy is a symptom of bacterial disease, hence dropsy is a bacterial disease, Nossie is a senior member, thats why its difficult for him/her to accept what i'm saying. But Vicloz don't be misguided by misinformation. Respect for all. cheers.

Dropsy can be caused by bacteria or it could be kidney failure! Dropsy is a symptom of what is wrong not the actual problem!

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Thank you all for trying to help to the best of your ability.  I do appreciate it. 

Carnelian is doing pretty well as far as I can tell... she has some slight pine-coning  but most of it has gone down.  I have discontinued the salt baths and am just letting her do some recovery time in the tank on her own.

She does have a patch on her tail with short red blood streaks on the tip...not sure if this is from the others possibly bullying her while I'm away or what; the water quality is fine (ammonia and nitrite 0, nitrate .5ppm, ph around 7.5 and so on...) so can't be certain what that's about. 

Her eating habits are back to normal as well. (yay!)

Great! The streaks are probably left-overs and will go away as she's getting better, I think?