goldfish bloated, help!!!

Question
Hello!  I'm on the internet making a last ditch effort to help this poor goldfish.  It was actually sold as a feeder fish, my friend was going to get rid of it and I adopted it when it was still tiny.  It grew into a gorgeous deep gold and white fish with a lean body and a looong flowing tail.  I noticed last week it was not as active as usual and was not feeding with it's two goldfish tankmates.  Today I looked in on it and it is so bloated it's scales are actually sticking out away from its body and it is spending a lot of time at the surface gasping.  I came online and read that I should feed it peas, so I stood at the tank shelling peas and the other two hogged them up while my sick fish ignored them.  How do you force feed a fish?  Is it too late or is there something more I can do?  They are in a 55 gallon tank, I do regular 50% water changes and keep aquarium salt in the water.  I have a filter running and an air stone.  I would appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks so much!

Answer
Hello Erika-

Unfortunately this sounds like a case of dropsy. Are the scales sticking out, so that the fish looks like a pinecone?

I'm sorry to say this, but most cases of dropsy are fatal. I've only heard of a few cases where the fish has survived.

If you want to treat the fish, it's going to require some aggressive action. Here's the instructions from the woman who cured her fish of dropsy-

1. Had him in Maracyn II for about a day.

2. When I got Kanacyn, I put that in the water instead (did not use the 2 together).

3. Tried to keep temp as warm as possible--was a bit difficult because we have air conditioning and he's at work. Some sites say they upped the water temp to 86C for gold fish. I think his water was probably around 70-72C. But if you're changing temp, please do it slowly as not to stress or harm your fish.

4. Shielded his tank from stressful light by making a black paper "box" with some air and peep holes cut out. This really seemed to help.

5. Added some Epsom salt to his Kanacyn water. (1 tsp for 5 gallons of water.)

6. I was changing his water every other day--100% change. I also kept the water for changes in the same room as the fish tank so it would be about the same temperature when I changed his water.

Hope this is helpful, and I hope your fish recovers.
If you must do only one thing, I would recommend Epsom salt to relieve the swelling.

-Amber Worman