Our Diagnosis

It sounds like your fish has dropsy (an internal bacterial infection)

How to be sure

Dropsy can cause your fish to become swollen, the scales protude giving them a spikey, pine-cone like appearance. It feels quite poorly and may also be gasping for air at the surface.

Step 1 – Treat your fish

  • Treat the entire pond using Anti-Ulcer, you can calculate the correct dosage here.
  • Also dose with Pond Guardian Tonic Salt to help support your fish’s immune system.
  • Observe the recovery and follow any re-treatment advise on pack or on our dosage calculator page.
  • Finally, give your fish some time to recover. Avoid excessive cleaning or adding new fish.

Remember to remove the carbon from your filter prior to dosing.

Step 2 – Check your pond

  • When fish are sick, always test your pond water for excessive ammonia, nitrite, nitrate or pH imbalance.
  • Treat any unhealthy results to rebalance your water quality and give your fish the best chance of getting fighting fit again.
  • Check all your equipment is working properly – especially filters. Carry out any maintenance needed, or replace faulty or broken parts.

ONLY USE ONE FISH MEDICATION AT A TIME

Blagdon fish medications can safely be used with Blagdon water and algae treatments.

If you want to re-dose, or change a fish medication, wait 7 days before beginning the new course.

Further support

Use our treatment dosage calculator to accurately work out how much you need

Watch our ‘How to measure Blagdon pond treatments’ videos

Got a question? See our treatment FAQs here

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