Help with Angel fish

[JMac]

My zebra angel fish is hughly fat, it looks like she swallowed a very very large marble. She has been like this for a couple weeks, and seems to be getting bigger all the time. Her color is good, she eats, her fins aren't clamped. My water quality is good. The only meds I had were those fizzy Jungle things that are supposed to be good for popeye, etc. I put those in, waited four days, did a 25% water change and repeated the treatment. It hasn't seemed to help at all. Also now one of my cherry barbs is looking and acting sick, this started before the meds. it didn't help him either. Does anyone have any idea what this could be? I do water changes and vacuum gravel every week. Since I don't know what is wrong I don't know what other meds to try. The angel fish and cherry barb are both a couple years old. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[llamabob]

How long have you had the angel? I have 2 females, each in a seperate tank, and they literally looked like they swallowed a marble for quite some time. They acted normal so I attribtuted it to possible over feeding.

Well after seperating the 2 as they once lived together, and adding java fern, they have both since laid eggs! One only did it once, the other lays them every 2-3 weeks on the leaves, and each time she's ready, she's super fat.

How exactly is the barb acting? Color changes? Is it eating?

[Star_Rider]

possibilities. bloat or eggs or constipation

(ruling out over feeding)
try feeding blanched peas..it it's bloat from constipation
if the angel feeding okay, I would tend to rule out internal parasites.

why did you treat with the fizz tabs?

[Madcrawdad]

is the bloat only in the gut or is the whole fish swelling? does this fish eat alot? I used to have a pretty plump angel, as she would join the cories and other bottom feeders while they would eat their algae wafers.....are you missing any fish (like neons, maybe)?

[JMac]

Thanks for replying to my question. The bulge in the angel is in the middle of her body, mostly behind her fins. I have tried feeding peas which they ate readily, but it didn't help. I do think it is a female, though not sure. One of them has laid eggs a couple times in the past, though not lately. The cherry barb seemed slightly swollen, and had a white patch on his side. He was swimming erratically, head up, not eating. Finally he was just layng on the bottom, so I euthanized him. The only other fish in the tank are 5 cories, 1 pleco, 1 dwarf rainbow fish, 2 female cherry barbs. No neons, or anything the angel could have eaten. The other fish all seem fine. They are in a 55 gal tank BTW. I put the Jungle tabs in because someone said it might be bloat, and they are supposed to work for that. I don't know much about meds, as I haven't had much trouble with sick fish in the past. Since the angel seems to feel ok, should I just let it go and see what happens? When the bulges started appearing, some of them looked like there were sharp points sticking out of her, under the skin. It is hard to explain exactly, so maybe this isn't much help.

[Star_Rider]

sharp points?? where abouts were these located?
check the anal region..

[JMac]

Yes I think that's about where they are located. ?????

[Star_Rider]

are these 'sharp points' red?
if they are protruding from the anus..you may be seeing some camillanus worms.

[JMac]

No they aren't red, they aren't exactly sticking out, they are under the skin and just look like sharp points. On one side she has a big round bulge, like a marble. On the other side she has a bulge that looks almost square, that is where the points are. Really weird. She is still eating like a pig, swimming ok, her color is nice and bright. (I am calling her "she" though I'm not really sure what sex it is. Could she be full of eggs, and for some reason not able to lay them?

[cdfishie123]

i think this happened to one of my goldfish and it seemed to be fine and then when i moved it to my pond it died after a few days it might have been the bumps or just the move