One of the most severe fish diseases, guppy dropsy, can turn fatal unless you give remedial treatment quickly. However, there are ways and means to detect the infection and offer treatment, which can save your dear pets.
What Are the Causes of Dropsy?
You may not be aware of what causes dropsy in your pet guppies. One of the primary reasons causing this disease is an infection caused by bacteria, which can turn fatal. However, the actual cause of death is the weak immune system in your pet fish, which makes your pets prone to infection.
Here are some causes for a flawed immune system:
Unhygienic Water Quality
You must frequently monitor the quality of the water in your aquarium. Poor water quality is one of the main reasons why your pets get affected by guppy dropsy. Unless you regularly vacuum the gravel, change the water at regular intervals, and get rid of decayed food and aquatic plants, the quality of water in your aquarium will deteriorate, affecting your pets’ health. When the water quality deteriorates, ammonia will start building up, which can turn fatal for your pets.
Inadequate Nutrition
Another significant factor causing dropsy in guppies is lacking or inadequate nutrition. Guppies that don’t get sufficient nutrition can lose their immunity power and are susceptible to diseases. Hence, it is essential to feed your pets nutritious food to help them fight dropsy or prevent its onset.
Injury from Fights
If your guppies start fighting each other and injure themselves, the injured ones are prone to be affected by dropsy. They can even injure themselves while the aquarium is being moved to a different location. Hence, it would help if you took care to prevent any injuries to your pets to protect them against dropsy. If you have decorations or rocks with sharp edges, have them removed immediately to prevent injuries.
Fluctuations in Water Temperature
While in their natural habitat, guppies have developed their capacity for thermal adaptation. However, once they are used to a particular temperature, they need to remain in waters with such temperature to survive healthily. Acute temperature changes can affect their health and survival.
Hence, you need to ensure that there is never a sudden drop or increase in the aquarium water temperature. Any such sudden fluctuations may cause dropsy in your guppies, resulting in fatalities through temperature shock.
Typical Symptoms of Dropsy
A Swollen Belly is a classic symptom indicating that your guppy is infected and may be suffering from dropsy. The infection may be in the gut or the kidney, which causes fluids to be retained, leading to a bloated belly.
However, other non-dropsy conditions like swim bladder disease or general constipation can also cause your pet’s gut to bloat. Hence, it would help if you watched closely to decide what is causing the bloating.
Protruding scales are a common symptom indicating that your guppy is down with dropsy. The scales start jutting straight out because of the excessive belly bulging. If your guppy reaches this stage, it is quite a challenge saving it.
When you notice its stomach swelling, you need to take remedial measures like changing the water and providing nutritious food to help your pet survive the disease.
You may also notice your pet swimming listlessly, hardly nibbling on the food due to a lost appetite. These are other symptoms that your pet is unwell.
Summing it Up
Dropsy in guppies can be detected through several typical symptoms. However, it is advisable to prevent dropsy by following specific basic rules like keeping the aquarium hygienic and feeding your guppy nutritious food.
