Question
Thank you in advance! I have a goldfish in an outdoor pond she has been extreemly bloated for about 3 months, huge belly she has been normally active and eating, she now has developed a red blood spot on her abdoman as well, again acting normally, I tried to quarintine her but she keeps trying to jump out. I am not sure if she has egg binding (all of the fish have spawned and she is still bloated, or dropsy) scales are not protruding either. Is it safe to put her back in the pond the other fish are fine and she is much happier there, we do not have another tank to put her in just bucket with water added daily. I don't want the other fish to get sick but also don't want to hurt her if she does not have dropsy. Any suggestions?? Thank you again!

Answer
I'm sorry about your fish.  I've had a few fish get huge myself.  With dropsy, it happens fast, and the scales stick out as the fish doesn't have time to grow.  An egg-bound female may get dropsy but egg binding is not very common in a pond with males and females present.  If the fish has a problem with its kidneys or something else, sometimes it will take on fluid and slowly become huge.  I have had a few fish like that.  They eventually died from all the ruptured cells inside their poor bodies.  None of these problems are contagious, at least not in the same way as say a parasite.  The bacteria that contribute to dropsy are ubiquitous, meaning they're always in the pond.  So, for the sake of the other fish, you don't have to quarantine her.  A quarantine though would allow for treatment (at least more easily).  None of these problems respond very well to treatment which includes salt (0.1% if there are no plants or snails, 0.05% if there are) and antibiotics.  Injections of antibiotics are the best bet.  Personally, I just keep such fish in my pond, and they live for a while.  I've tried treating in the past with no luck.  Here are some pages on my site talking about "fat" fish:

http://www.fishpondinfo.com/health4.htm#fat
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/health5.htm#basket

Good luck!

Robyn