Fish Tank Volcano

Question about raised scales?

A few weeks ago I bought four volcano rasboras from a LFS and added them to my 55 gallon tank. One of them looked a little iffy–skinnier than the others and a little less active–but they only had 4 and rasboras are schooling fish, so I wanted them all. A few days after I bought him, I noticed that he had developed “pinecone” scales and figured he was a gonner.

However, a week later, his scales had smoothed out and he started to gain a little weight, and is more active. He’s still skinnier than my other 3, but otherwise he seems fine.

I thought pinecone scales were only a symptom of dropsy–what could have caused them in my rasbora, and why did he suddenly recover with no special treatment?
He’s gaining weight gradually, but I have been keeping an eye on him. He actually just went through a week of fasting (due to a vacation) and was fine when I got back.

80% of dropsy cases are lethal – I’m sure you know that – but that means that 20% aren’t.

Pineconing is indeed a sign of dropsy, but dropsy itself has a number of different causes … It’s quite possible that the tank the fish came from in the LFS had ammonia and/or nitrite readings, or an incorrect pH that were producing the dropsy symptoms. Presumably, your tank meets the needs of the fish better than the pet shop and the signs of dropsy disappeared.

Only thing I’d be worried about now – is the fish putting on too much weight too fast.

My advice to you would be to keep an eye on the fish for the time being – see if there’s any repeat occurance.

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