Dropsy is characterized by edema. Edema IS bloating.
When was the last time this pond was cleaned? How thick is the sediment accumulation on the bottom? What is the capacity of this pond (in gallons or liters)? How many fish are in this pond? What size pump is being used (gph or lph)?
This is obviously a Water Quality issue.
I agree with Meyer on this DOD we have to get to the bottom of this and why it has happened, personally I would never take my water to be tested to any aquatic outlet.
I've acctually been aproached by a friend of mine after a new koi died to test his water, this was after he had been to the shop to complain and taken a sample to the shop he bought the koi.
They tested his water and blamed him on the death of his koi, stating water quality issues that had brought about the koi's death. But when the same person asked me to do his perameters it turned out there was nothing wrong with his water .
They at the aquatic shop were acctually at fault, he went back to complain and the banned him from the shop"thankfully its in better hands nowadays".
We need to know the following readings Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and Ph the shop should be happy to give you those results if not then find another outlet, howeveryour best bet is to purchase an API pond test kit and do your own readings , dont buy any test strips as they arent accurate always buy liquid test kits .
If it isnt water quality issues involved then its more than likely to be dropsy.
However in saying this Fish sometimes get a tad bunged up( constipated), peas and chopped earth worms normally put paid to that and clear them out .
May I ask exactly what feed your giving them , you should only feed as much as the can consume in 5 minutes any left overs should be removed from the pond otherwise it will sink and rot creating even more problems for you .
Regular maintenance of the pond and your filters are a must,especially prior to going into winter (however I believe your winter is our summer and vica versa)
The bottom of the pond should be kept as clear as you can of detritus and debris, we have a bottom drain that takes our fishes waste away to various filters before it enters the pond again the first filter is what is termed a vortex, any large bits of detritus drops it to the bottom , with smaller bits being taken away in the next filter and so on till we have clean and polished water coming out of the last filter then through a pump and UV-C before entering the pond but ours is a koi pond and its set up for them.
The point is everything is cleaned on a regular basis giving our koi the best possible living conditions, the water is tested on a regular basis to check everything is well with the water perameters etc .
Until we have those perameters theres not alott we can do to help , we could even make things worse and non of us wish to do that .
Diagnoses online is hard and even though Val and I have a good track record of turning fish its down to the fishes owner to help in everyway they can by implementing what is being said .
Life would be perfect if you lived next door we'd just pop round but we cant .
The fish floating upside down isnt good news , sadly for the fish its bad, it means that the swimbladder has been effected most probably by the pressure of the fluids building up inside.
I think Meyer will agree that Euthanizing your fish may well now be the best and only option left open to you .
To go about eithaizing a fish buy a bottle of oil of cloves add 10ml to a bucket of pond water and place the fish in the bucket the fish will after a while drift off to sleep and pass away, if this dosent happen add another 5ml and it should.
Dave
