Maracyn 2 and dropsy?

[The Evil Hand]

Hi, i have been treating a female siemse fighting fish for dropsy for the
last five days. I fihsed the 5 day treatment last night, but this morning
there is still no signs of improvment. She is still bloted, but has not yet
started to show signs of her scales being pushed out?

Thanks
Evil hand

[carlrs]

The Evil Hand wrote:
> Hi, i have been treating a female siemse fighting fish for dropsy for the
> last five days. I fihsed the 5 day treatment last night, but this morning
> there is still no signs of improvment. She is still bloted, but has not yet
> started to show signs of her scales being pushed out?
>
> Thanks
> Evil hand

Dropsy, also known as Pinecone disease, is usually caused by bacterial
invasion of the fishes' kidney. Bacterial dropsy is usually caused by
Aeromonas or Pseudomonas bacteria. The herpes virus may also be a
cause. Effectiveness of treatment also depends on the cause, as their
are different causes for dropsey.
I have have not personally had sucess with Maracyn II for Dropsey. My
antibiotic of choice was Chloramphenicol, but it is not readily
available in the aquarium trade. Kanamyacin in my next choice, I have
had fair to good results with Kanamyacin.
Pimafix is a natural treeatment that has also shown effectiveness for
Dropsey, and Aquarium Pharmaceuticals has studies showing this. I have
not used Pimafix much for Dropsey, but it does seem to show
effectiveness here.
I am also testing Usnea for Dropsey, but cannot recommend it yet.

Here is more information about medications:
http://aquarium-medictions.blogspot.com/

Carl

[IDzine01]

I have had 100% loss in all my Betta splendens dropsy cases. The best I
have done is to have it go away and then come back again a few
weeks/months later. My understanding is that Dropsy is a symptom not a
disease and its cause can be bacterial, parasitic or viral in nature.
Obviously antibiotics only work on certain bacteria so Maracyn-Two may
help if the cause is a gram-negative bacteria. To throw a wrench into
things, the antibiotics can also cause further degradation of the
already stressed internal organs. Many folks believe that the swelling
is caused by kidney failure. The state of the kidneys, already being
stressed, could worsen if made to metabolize potent antibiotics.

So, long story short, I have little advice having never "cured" a Betta
from Dropsy but thought I would share what I have learned.

Are you sure it is Dropsy? If she isn't pineconing could she just be
full of eggs?

CarlRS- Are the Aquarium Pharm studies on PimaFix available online? I
would love to see this. PimaFix is so mild that I am surprised it could
do anything for it. Plus, I thought it was similar to Melafix in that
it is a useful antiseptic but makes a pretty lousy antibiotic. If this
isn't the case, it would be fantastic news for other Betta obsessed
folks like myself. :D Although, there is only so much weight we can put
on AP's study, since it IS their product afterall. ;-)

Let me know what you can.
Thanks!

The Evil Hand wrote:
> Hi, i have been treating a female siemse fighting fish for dropsy for the
> last five days. I fihsed the 5 day treatment last night, but this morning
> there is still no signs of improvment. She is still bloted, but has not yet
> started to show signs of her scales being pushed out?
>
> Thanks
> Evil hand

[The Evil Hand]

This is the second female Siamese fighting fish that I have had and also the
second that has had dropsy. the first one died. I was wondering if it could
have anything to do with her not being able to spawn, or the fact that I
started feeding her frozen
hikari bloodworm recently? Other than that everything is OK in my aquarium.


"The Evil Hand" > wrote in message
...
> Hi, i have been treating a female siemse fighting fish for dropsy for the
> last five days. I fihsed the 5 day treatment last night, but this morning
> there is still no signs of improvment. She is still bloted, but has not
> yet started to show signs of her scales being pushed out?
>
> Thanks
> Evil hand
>

[carlrs]

IDzine01 wrote:
> I have had 100% loss in all my Betta splendens dropsy cases. The best I
> have done is to have it go away and then come back again a few
> weeks/months later. My understanding is that Dropsy is a symptom not a
> disease and its cause can be bacterial, parasitic or viral in nature.
> Obviously antibiotics only work on certain bacteria so Maracyn-Two may
> help if the cause is a gram-negative bacteria. To throw a wrench into
> things, the antibiotics can also cause further degradation of the
> already stressed internal organs. Many folks believe that the swelling
> is caused by kidney failure. The state of the kidneys, already being
> stressed, could worsen if made to metabolize potent antibiotics.
>
> So, long story short, I have little advice having never "cured" a Betta
> from Dropsy but thought I would share what I have learned.
>
> Are you sure it is Dropsy? If she isn't pineconing could she just be
> full of eggs?
>
> CarlRS- Are the Aquarium Pharm studies on PimaFix available online? I
> would love to see this. PimaFix is so mild that I am surprised it could
> do anything for it. Plus, I thought it was similar to Melafix in that
> it is a useful antiseptic but makes a pretty lousy antibiotic. If this
> isn't the case, it would be fantastic news for other Betta obsessed
> folks like myself. :D Although, there is only so much weight we can put
> on AP's study, since it IS their product afterall. ;-)
>
> Let me know what you can.
> Thanks!




As for dropsy, yes it is a symptom, which what I basically said in my
above post about "different causes". Also when Dropsey is caught, it is
often too late for any treatment
I have snip of the study on line at:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Pimafix.html
But Pimafix is NOT Melafix, it is made from Pimenta extract, which from
my studies has much more antimicrobial abilities than Melafix (Melafix
does work on certain bacteria such as aeromonas). Neither are
antibiotics, they are both more fit the description of antimicrobials.
Your point about further degradation of the already stressed internal
organs is well taken, which why many true antibiotics do not work. But
I have had success with bacterial Dropsy with Furacyn and Kanamyacin
(even mixed), but Chloramphenicol worked best.
Back to Pimafix, I have had much better results with Pimafix over
Melafix in many bacterial treatments, partly because what many blame on
fungus is actually Columnaris, and Pimafix can be effective here. But
in Dropsy treatment I have not used it much, so I am more going on
others studies and word, which is why I did not whole hardily recommend
it. This is also the reason I did not recommend Usnea lichen as a
treatment, even though I have been successful in treating a case of
Dropsey (most likely bacterial) and in several stubborn bacterial
diseases. Any honest recommendation of Usnea is months or even years of
true results away.

Carl