Bloat??

[Jefft]

I have a sick fish. Symptoms have started today this evening to be exact.
It is a smaller Metriaclimia Cobalt zebra. The fish has isolated himself from the rest of the fish in the front right bottom corner of the tank. He is avoiding schooling or swimming in the open water which is something he always does. He can move when he needs to ie. scooting away and for cover if I come too near, or another fish gets too close to him. He seems to be resting on the bottom floating back and forth (side to side) in the current. His respiration has increased as he is the only fish in the tank open mouth breathing perhaps gasping? His coloration is off. He shows no interest in feeding. To me his abdomen seems a little out of proportion but not dramatically at this point. I did see what appeared to be a white tube coming out his anal opening. It broke off I haven't seen anything since. I am heading to the fish store now for Clout and setting up a 10 gallon hospital tank when I get home. I will stop off and pick up EPSOM salt as well. Any other advice or other thoughts on what you see is appreciated.

 

[Jefft]

Drained the 75g to a low enough level to catch the little guy. I have placed him in a 10g by himself and treated the water Maracyn Two by Sentry/Mardel. No mechanical filtration in the tank just a 20g sponge filter bubbler. He isnt swimming just on the bottom like he was in the big tank. Any thoughts or advice?

 

[chriscoli]

If it is bloat, which is sounds like it may be, I haven't had much success saving a fish at that stage of the disease. It also sounds like you've described the dreaded "stringy white poop" symptom as well. generally not a good sign, Im also not sure that the maracyn will help. People often try metro or clout. I noticed you're getting some repashy at the meeting today, are you planning on trying to put some metro in the food?

 

[JasonC]

IIRC, stringy white poo is indicative of internal parasites. I have had success with Flubendazole and Levimazole back to back in the past. Basically a parasite nuclear bomb... but safe for your beneficial bacteria. Both of these are not commonly available in stores though that I know of... I try to keep a small supply on hand JIC. http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/ItemsForSale.html has some good articles on usage, and also sells both.

Agree with Chris though... usually when you see the bloat symptoms, its too late.

 

[Jefft]

Little guy is in the 10g I have seen some swimming from him and then he goes back to resting on the bottom. However the swimming is generally checking out his surroundings so I am taking this as a good sign as he is not nearly as listless as he was yesterday. I have decided about a 5 day quarantine to a full week. Fasting for at least the first 5 days? I am going to continue the Maracyn as I have not seen the fully distended abdomen indicative of bloat. His belly seemed a little out of proportion but nothing like the pictures of bloat I have looked up. Last night he would stay in the same position on the bottom for an hour or more at a time rocking side to side in the current. Now he readjusts changing his view of the world around him. Coloration is not mottled as it was last night. I am hopeful.

 

[Jefft]

Well, s**t. He didn't make it.

 

[chris_todd]

My condolences. I hate losing fish. That just sucks.


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[Avatar]

Bummer

Only bloat IME was associated with Apistogrammas and usually from mistakenly feeding them un-minced whole live blackworms. Basically a hopeless proposition although I saw an alleged cure on the web where someone had posted instructions divined from many years of experience that involved repeated doses of Clout and water changes over about 5 days - claimed it worked almost every time. Am sure if you Google Clout & bloat cure you can find it...

I haven't had a case in my tanks since I started fasting all my fish (except wee ones) 1-2 days a week and chopping blackworms for my dwarf cichlids. A couple years ago CCA had an excellent Apisto speaker/breeder who explained why they have trouble with blackworms but I don't recall the reason - seemed like it had to do with the structure of their jaw and/or GI tract.

 

[Jefft]

Yeah that is what I read. "Worst foods being Brine Shrimp, Boodworms, and other meaty treats" exact quote from one of the research articles I read. Yes you are correct according to the article is the "extensive and lengthy digestive tract of the African Cichlid which makes digestion of such treats difficult". The article went on to suggest "bloat" is caused primarily due to larger bits of undigested bits of shell, meat etc. failing to make the turn around one of the many winding turns of the intestine thus lodging in the wall of the tract and blocking the fish up (serious indigestion and constipation). One of the guys at House of Tropicals said it is generally the live brine shrimp as the rough parts ie, shells and what not will lodge in the tract. My fish did not "bloat" as I have seen many pictures of the issue. I did however see what appeared to be a clear to white looking tube extending like fish poop does out of the anal opening. The sales person seemed to think since the abdomen was not acutely distended that it might in fact be "dropsy" (though my fish did not have the pine cone appearance of protruding scales indicative of "Dropsy") . Hence the treatment with Maracyn and not Clout. He also stated as the now deceased fish was the runt of my group of Met. Cobalt Zebras it was a high probability it was more than likely born on the bottom end of the genetic pool so to speak, thus prone to illness and the like. He said the frozen brine shrimp cubes and bloodworm cubes I have so often purchased there wouldn't have been a huge issue fed on the frequency of 2 to 3xs a week, as I was feeding. Regardless, I won't be feeding those particular treats but once or twice a month from now on. I did purchase some of the "repashy solient green" (or as my roommate likes to call it "fish jello") from Rachel today, made a batch once arriving home and the fish loved it. I have enough varieties of food at this point to keep any fish taste buds safely tickled in a healthy manner for quite some time. Thanks for the advice and well wishes.