Wow!
That was a post and a half! You certainly know your stuff!
I read all of that as I was considering a Pearlscale but as I am fairly new to this, think I will pass! Thanks for that and best of luck with Satsuma Suey, she is gorge and I will be following this thread with interest!

Id cut the bloodworm for now, nice treat though they are and useful for breeding conditioning, they are too high in calories for regular use with most goldies, and especially for pearlscales. Presoaking foods , both flake and granular is a great idea it really will help with avoiding expansion of the gut in an organ compressed fish.In fact I might discontinue flake in favour of a low calorie granular food. Before you feel too guilty about starving your fish, take some comfort in the fact that an already chubby pearlscale could probably go without food in water sub 70f for around a month with no ill effects. Twice a day for a goldie isnt needed.

Makes you laugh when it comes to holiday feeders. Ive left my entire collection of tropicals for two weeks or so, small fish and large for over 10 days with no food whatsoever when Ive gone on holiday. Never lost a fish doing that yet, although they do eat rather well on my return ;) Most people feed their fish four times more than they need to. Id cut your fish's food intake by 90% for at least a couple of weeks , just giving him a tiny taster once in a while to keep fecal transit healthy. Hepatic lipidosis can take many months to correct, even if youve caught it early enough, so you really do have to stick with the diet. Obviously, if its already too late , liver damage can be permanent,it depends on the degree of fat clogging the liver, but then there isnt a great deal you can do about that, but I'm hoping he turns around for you.

Does sound like the other fish died of the complications of organ compression too. Dropsy is a common symptom, as is swim bladder failure.

Keep us updated.

Looking at her tonight in view of the diet issues it could well be argued that she is a little portly even for a pearlscale.

When her 'sister' was ill I added epsom salts to the tank water which seemed to perk her up a little - I wonder if that would help this one Or just leave well alone and keep her water sorted

She had a course of myxazin recently as I thought she had a bacterial infection, seems the meds may have stressed her system as much as helping her.

She's reasonably chirpy at the moment considering her condition

Yep the reaction to meds and salt was predictable, myaxazin is a toxin which puts stress on the liver, its the risk you take when hoping to cure a fish of its ailments, but when liver damage is afoot you can kill a fish by using it, so her getting stressed is expected, salts too have to be expelled from the body to retain a fishs perfect osmotic balance in relationship to its water, and the impact of adding salts is also shouldered by the renal system, so again with an organ damaged fish you could make her worse, not better.

Best thing for now, seeing as there really isnt a cure except for the fish to heal internally,grow, lose weight, and become fitter, is to do absolutely nothing except keep the temperatures completely consistant, the water sparkly clean , and keep a very lean diet going. She will either make it or she wont, but there is no med or water conditioning you can give her that wont make her worse. Total consistancy and restraint will win the day when meds wont in this case.

Its really up to her to recover, and since any kind of toxicity must be avoided, you do the most by doing nothing more than good regular maintenance and slimming her off. I know it seems wrong not to do anything, but this fish is now officially in emergency detox ;)

The only other possible thing I can think of is if youre not already running carbon, try some, it will help take any trace toxins out of the water, and give her liver even less to do. Perhaps make sure she has airstones for plenty of oxygen, that too will take some impact off her metabolism and help facilitate healing.

Shes a bit like a morbidly obese person who has been given the last warning by a doctor. Hepatic lipidosis at its height will lead to organ failure and a dead fish. 99% of goldfish are unable to recover from severe degenrative kidney and liver diseases, and by addressing the diet now, we are hoping it never truly takes hold. She will need to be carefully controlled for dietary intake, probably for the rest of her life. Liver damage can heal , but often only partially so, and always very slowly. You will have to take the greatest care of her.

Next thing after Atkins - the Satsuma diet ...

Quote:

Wonder if I could sell the wheatgerm and pea idea to the public

Thanks for all your advice LHG, she's officially in rehab now I've got some carbon for the filter so will add that and she already has an airstone She's still quite feisty so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we've got it in time. Will keep you updated

An update but a sad one - I came down this morning and found she'd died during the night

She'd been on a fast and had her first food for a week on Thursday which went down well. Unfortunately she developed a nasty case of finrot - I resisted treating this but it progressed frighteningly fast despite water changes and a bit of tea tree oil, so I gave in and medicated last night. I suspect this was the final straw. TBH she was so very ill it would have taken a miracle for her to recover but while she still had a spark about her I had to try. Thanks everyone for your support.

The other female is now alone, I will be looking for a new female friend for her but all in good time, the right fish is out there somewhere

So to all you pearlscale owners out there - watch their diet and take good note of the info LHG gave me

oh dear so sorry to hear that suey

Poor little thing. Sorry she didn't make it.

I've only just read this thread and wasn't expecting there to be bad news yet.

One thing though, by Oranda that died recently after been injured when he got stuck, and then swelled as if he had dropsy, also had bubbles exectly like that on his sclaes on several parts of his body.

Oh Suey, I have only just seen this. I'm sorry you lost her.
You did all you could for her.