# PLEASE HELP! Ballooning Fish!!



## BubsyismyBetta (Jun 17, 2006)

Hi everybody. There is this fish in my grandparents pond (about 15,000 gallons, manmade, filled with koi and goldfish) that has starting ballooning, literally. I'm not sure what kind of fish it is as we have called it the "Mystery Fish" since it first randomly appeared in the pond about 4 or 5 years ago. It sort of resembles a large minnow or grey goldfish though I don't think it is either of those. It is about 8 inches or so long and has always been long and lanky (skinny). A few days ago, it's abdomen started to swell and it hasn't stopped. This is by far, the most swollen abdomen I've ever seen on a fish. I thought it may be dropsy but it is not pineconing and it's abdomen is larger than any pictures I've seen on fish with dropsy. My grandparents called me over to take a look at it after telling me it was getting fat and something is wrong with it, but once I stopped over and looked...I was shocked. It is the size of a large balloon, honestly. We're afraid it's going to explode. The water paremeters are normal and no other fish seem to be affected. I can't get a picture right now as it doesn't sit still in a visible spot but if we manage to catch it later and put it in a bucket (if it fits), I will take a picture. Do you think this still could be dropsy, and if it sounds like it is, is it contagious? I've never seen a fish like this before, it is huge.Thank you for reading all of this and I really appreciate any help you can give.


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

It could very well be dropsy.

http://www.fishjunkies.com/Diseases/dropsy.php

They have some good pictures on this site that kind of sound like how you said your fish looks.


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## Ringo (Apr 10, 2006)

Most likely its an internal parasite. 
I dont know of too many internal parasites, but when my dog had pups we had to worm all of the em, they were really fat b4 they were wormed, pretty skinny after.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Fish sometimes get eggbound, resulting in massive swelling, although there are many other causes of edema.
Some are very contagious, while most aren't.


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## msdolittle (Mar 4, 2006)

What about a tumor? Fish get cancer too so........why not?


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