dropsy in angel fish

Question
i noticed that my angel fish was becoming fatter recently. and i've maybe been feeding him a little too much since i recently got rid of an angelfish that i had. i also have a few tetra sort of fish and a small blue shark. my angel fish looks like his scales maybe popping out a little, and his eyes are bulging. do you think he has dropsy? my other fish do not look great either. i had the tank for two years and never cleaned the tank that much. i recently did a thorough cleaning of the gravel and the fish seemed better than before. now they all look kind of bad and the angel fish floats around now. is he a goner? should i not even clean the tank? snd i bought some meracyn-two. did i get rid of nitrates or something?
erik

Answer
Dear Erik,
I'm sorry but it sounds like your poor Angelfish does indeed have dropsy and popeye and he may be too far gone to save. Once they reach the point of their scales sticking out they are often too far gone to save. Dropsy is often a sign of poor tank maintenance and you mentioned about not cleaning the tank much so there is your problem there. Lack of proper tank maintenance is the biggest cause of fish illnesses. And the fact that you may have overcleaned everything too much when you did the thorough cleaning of the gravel (unless you just did gravel vacuuming) means that ammonia could be building up due to your 'good' bacterial possibly being destroyed if the gravel was too thoroughly cleaned.

It's the most beneficial thing you could do for your fish to regularly do frequent partial water changes and gravel vacuumings. They are vital for fish health, you cannot neglect your tank or your fish will suffer. When you do a partial water change, just use your gravel vacuum and siphon up any debri in the gravel bed while draining about 30-50% of your tank water. You'll need to do this once or twice a week to maintain good water quality in your tank. And keep up the tank maintenance as long as you own the tank. Also, you'll need to check and rinse your filter pads or material once or twice a week in a fish-safe (no chemicals been used) container like a pitcher or small 2gal bucket. Rinse the filter material in drained tank-water only to preserve the beneficial bacteria living on the filter media.

When you don't ever clean your tank and then suddenly do a drastic water change/cleaning, your fish are put into shock after being use to the old dirty water and sometimes they can get sick. But if you maintain your tank properly, large water changes do them so much good that they are almost always healthy, colorful and active.

From now on, you could certainly try the maracyn-two medication. But you'll be needing to do daily water changes of 30-50% to battle the ammonia buildup that can occur after a tank cleaning that involves scrubbing the gravel or other harsh treatment. You should never clean your tank too thoroughly and at the most just use the gravel siphon and an algae scrubber or paper towel to wipe the sides of the tank and decor.

I can't predict what will happen with your other fish. But I'm afraid the poor Angel will lose his battle against the poor water conditions, sadly.

Please try to maintain your tank better in the future, for the sake and welfare of your fish.

Best of luck!!!
Karen~