Over inflated Cherry Barb

[Nikki Casali]

One of my Cherry Barbs stopped eating, secluded itself and started
expanding in size. He started looking like a seal. Poor thing. Oh well.
That's probably the start of dropsy or kidney failure. I put him in a
quarantine tank and, using my own advice, put a tablespoon of Epsom
Salts to the 7 gallon tank and some daily anti-bacterial. I had expected
him to have died a week later. No. His swelling went down and
miraculously he managed to eat a couple of flakes today!

What would cause a reversible type dropsy? An intestinal blockage? Maybe
he's got weak kidneys and the Epsom Salts are stabilising his problem,
which could mean he's a permanent resident of the quarantine tank with
MgSO4. Anyone know what the negative side effects of MgSO4 are?

Nikki

[Logic316]

Nikki Casali wrote:

> What would cause a reversible type dropsy? An intestinal blockage? Maybe
> he's got weak kidneys and the Epsom Salts are stabilising his problem,
> which could mean he's a permanent resident of the quarantine tank with
> MgSO4. Anyone know what the negative side effects of MgSO4 are?
>
> Nikki

I can't say for sure, except that Epsom salt is found naturally in some
lakes and mainly just causes an increase in the water's hardness. At the
very least Epsom salt *doesn't* have the side effects of regular salt,
which causes kidneys to absorb fluids thus making a diseased kidney even
worse.

- Logic316



"Bureaucracy: The process of turning energy into solid waste."