Male cacatuoides, sick?

[Jonathan Aquari]

My male cacatuoides' scales are pocking out from his side, this happened before when i kept guppies, I think it's dropsy but I am not sure.

what is it and how do I treat it?

thanks

 

[henkh]

What are the water parameters of your tank? And is it possible to post a pic of your apisto?

 

[Jonathan Aquari]

the Ph is 6.0, ammonia/nitrite/nitrate is dropping from a series of water changes, but when i got back from vacation (7 days) the ammonia was at 3 PPM

 

[Jonathan Aquari]

29 gallon tank

 

[gerald]

Bloating and scales protruding ("dropsy") can be a symptom of many different problems, sometimes from infectious diseases and other times from improper water quality, diet, stress, old age, or other factors. All you know for sure is that something is messing up the kidneys and/or gills so that he can't balance his salt uptake and water excretion. I doubt your ammonia is really 3 ppm; that much would kill him pretty quick. Once you get the water quality parameters in order, adding some salt temporarily (1 teasp/gal) might help him recover. But unless you can identify the underlying cause its pretty useless to start throwing random medicines at it.

 

[Jonathan Aquari]

most likely age, i got him as an adult and its been about a year. i feed them brine shrimp 2 times a day- 1 day a week

i have done 3-4 water changes yesterday and today, so i don't think it's water quality