Common Koi or Gold Fish Health Concerns ... Dropsy or Pine Cone Disease

Dropsy is a term used to describe the swelling of a fish's body. This causes the scales to stand away from the body like a pine cone in the forest, ... this is why it is also called pine cone disease. Once your fish has this disease it normally always kills the koi or goldfish. The disease must be taken seriously

Pine cone disease or dropsy is perhaps most common in ornamental Goldfish and Koi. If the koi or goldfish fish has a sore, and the scales around the sore, or even on the whole side of the fish, stand up, it doesn't necessarily mean Dropsy is present. These fish may respond well to injections of antibiotics. However if a fish does have fully developed Dropsy then survival is unlikely.

Dr Johnson reports "the belly may become reddened shortly before death. Of the cases I have sent for necropsy, the diagnosis almost always comes back as a mixed infection by two bacteria: Aeromonas hydrophila and Mycobacteriosis.

The former bacteria (Aeromonas) enters the body through the intestine in the winter and springtimes, particularly; and also through ulcers, or the bite wounds of parasites like Gyrodactyliid flukes. The latter bacteria, (Mycobacteriosis) is not treatable with anything we can commercially utilize. The disease progresses despite your best efforts, and there is no known way to stop it in ornamental fish".

Dropsy is a serious, and usually lethal condition brought on by stress inducing factors like sudden water temperature changes and poor water quality.

Expert advice should be sought but recovery from true Dropsy is highly unlikely.

This is what Ben Helm says about Dropsy on his website

It is far easier to describe the symptoms of dropsy than to identify the specific cause of it. Fish suffering from dropsy exhibit the classic pine-cone appearance where the scales become raised and protrude from the smooth body surface and the eyes may even protrude from the head. In extreme cases, the scales may become reddened through localised haemorrhaging when fluid accumulates within the body cavity.

There is no apparent single cause of dropsy and it usually only affects individual fish. As there are uncertain causes of dropsy, precise treatment can be difficult and affected fish are best isolated to reduce the likelihood of any infection to other fish. It is rare for dropsied fish to respond to medication

Almost certainly one of the deterrents to dropsy and other bacterial diseases is Viresco.

What to do if you suspect disease problems including dropsy.

Test for Ammonia, Nitrite, and pH at a minimum, and preferably also test for Total Alkalinity and possibly Hardness. Ammonias are lethal in their own right and worse at higher pH. If dead fish exist this will also create ammonia problem. pH can change overnight if the system loses its buffering capacity (this would show on a test of Total Alkalinity)

If water quality is suspect begin a systematic daily changing of 20-40% of the total volume in the system. But beware of major temperature changes the system. A small addition of salt at .1% level will do no harm.