Bloat PLEASE Halp Me!

zackcrack00

zackcrack00

Members
Hey all. Yesterday I noticed one of my M. zebra Mdoka seemed a little fat. I thought she had just stolen an algae wafer or two from the Clown Plecos in the tank, so I didn't feed the rest of the day. Today I went downstairs to turn on the lights and feed and ALL of the fish look fat and they have white stringy poo. What do I do?

Stocking:
2x Metriaclima estherae (1m, 1f)
6x Metriaclima zebra Mdoka sp. "Long Pelvic" (2m, 4f)
2x L104 Clown Pleco
 
Rasta Fish

Rasta Fish

CCA Members
I have had success with Epsom salt after treatment starve about 2days
and feed light maybe brine shrimp
What are you feeding them?
What brand?
 
Rasta Fish

Rasta Fish

CCA Members
Interesting none of those should caused bloat
Most of your fish stuff food are high in protein but those are fine
Maybe feed less
 
jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
I'd cut back on feedings, but that most likely isn't the main cause. I only feed 4 or 5 days a week.

I've had some luck feeding medicated food, but usually once the get really bloated they stop eating.
 
npbarca

npbarca

Members
I had a terrible episode with bloat back in June. I determined there was some parisitic cause, so I transferred all the fish only to a quarantine tank and dosed heavy with metro. Then I bleached, dried, and re bleached the whole main tank. Transferred the fish back, with a new filter and new media and everything was fine.
 
Localzoo

Localzoo

Board of Directors
Cool you can raise the temp a little to speed the metabolism (only if they seem healthy and active)...if not just starve a few days and add veggies to help with digestion Epsom salt helps with purging


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Greengirl

Greengirl

Members
Metro would also be my first choice. I have metro flake food if you need it. It's easier if they eat it than bath in it.
 
verbal

verbal

CCA Members
What size is the tank? I think metro is the right treatment. You probably want to lower your temp a bit.
 
verbal

verbal

CCA Members
zackcrack00 said:
75 gallon, standard. This is the lowest temp I can achieve as the heater is 300 watts.


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Click to expand...

What is your house temp? You likely don't need heaters in the summer.

My guess is the root cause of your issues are stress. 8 Cichlids in a 75 is pretty typical stocking. However typical doesn't always work with mbuna. Overcrowding is a common management strategy for their aggression.

The first thing to do is to get your current fish better. If they are eating metro flake is probably the best idea. Long term you will probably want to add more fish, but only after you are sure your current fish have recovered.
 
zackcrack00

zackcrack00

Members
verbal said:
What is your house temp? You likely don't need heaters in the summer.

My guess is the root cause of your issues are stress. 8 Cichlids in a 75 is pretty typical stocking. However typical doesn't always work with mbuna. Overcrowding is a common management strategy for their aggression.

The first thing to do is to get your current fish better. If they are eating metro flake is probably the best idea. Long term you will probably want to add more fish, but only after you are sure your current fish have recovered.
Click to expand...

The aggression isn't much actually as it's only 3 males, but I am looking for more Estherae. I will try and get some metro flake ASAP. Thank you.


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neut

neut

Members
Similar to what localzoo said above, epsom soaked pellets are an effective alternative to metro-- or an alternative if metro fails. Link with details
 
hollyfish2000

hollyfish2000

Members
The food only works if they're eating. I have limited experience with bloat, and none of it was ultimately successful. Typically, it seemed to affect one stressed out fish rather than a whole colony. If all seem to have bloat concurrently, that seems weird to me. I might consider another cause.

I used Jungle's Parasite Clear before.

Lowering the temp will help the oxygen level in the tank. You might want to add a bubbler just for giggles since you don't really know what is going on.

Check your water parameters, of course. Do a lot of water changes to keep the water a clean as possible. If some seem unaffected, I might pull them and put them in another tank with a sponge filter from an unaffected tank to see if you can save them.

Zack -- IMHO with Africans you can NEVER rule out aggression. "Only" having 3 males does not protect you from aggression. People swear up one side and down the other they don't have it but their fish keep dying and they can't explain it . . . :confused: I'm not saying it's THE problem, but it should never be just dismissed as a cause. Fish get sick because of something -- bad water parameters, stress, introduced fish with disease. There's got to be something . . .
 
spazmattik

spazmattik

Members
ive had luck with epsom salts and metro in the tank for those past the eating point. actually just pulled one of my lyonsi back from this issue. he was nearly dead and getting picked at by the other fish. took him out, metro/epsom in the water and once he started picking around and looking for food i started metro pellets and did that for a week. hes doing great now aside from fins still growing back.
 
neut

neut

Members
hollyfish2000 said:
The food only works if they're eating. I have limited experience with bloat, and none of it was ultimately successful.
Click to expand...
But if you read the information in the link it covers that-- in a home tank where you're dealing with relatively few fish, not the hundreds or thousands of a fish farm, you can also administer the epsom salt solution directly with an eye dropper or pipette. Soaking feed is simply the easier way to get it into the fish and doesn't require handling the fish IF the fish is eating, but either way it's basically the same treatment.

The Israeli Journal of Aquaculture article cited in the above link describes chronic issues with fish farms situated along a particular river system, to the tune of tens of thousands of fish deaths over a period of time. One takeaway from the article, considering that large numbers of the pathogens were in the water itself of large aquaculture systems is just that, it's possible for your tank itself to become infected, it's not always limited to the guts of individual fish in a tank. In any case, to quote the article: "Mortality ceased with application of medicated feed (magnesium sulfate at 3% of the feed)."

While I've had virtually zero bloat issues in years and have posted here before on the reasons for this (primary causes of bloat are overeating and aggression ime of raising a few thousand fish over the years, individual fish can overeat in a tank that's not overfed and you don't always see the aggression, no doubt water quality issues and nutrition issues can also be causes, but that wasn't the case with me), I've seen some pretty impressive cases reported of the epsom salt treatment working for fishkeepers who have tried it on various types of fish, including discus.
 
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