I have a chiclid who is swollen everywhere.We thought she might be pregnant but its her whole body-her face-her eyes and everything.Could this be some kind of sickness?
Swollen-sick?
- Thread starter zamboninewton
- Start date
What type of cichlid is she? Is she eating? Are her scales prickly like a pine cone? What are the water conditions and tankmates? What are you feeding her? Is she a new addition? Do you notice white stringy poo?
A run-down of all of this will help us find out what is wrong with her....
-Diana
A run-down of all of this will help us find out what is wrong with her....
-Diana
Pinecone
She is starting to look like a pinecone.She is so fat that her scales are starting to stick out.Her eyes are swollen ,along with her lips and gut.She has been hanging out at the bottom of the tank latley and as far as eating-very very little to NIL.
Im not an expert on names for all of my chiclids but she is or was ...a blue striped with a diamond near her gill.
She doesnt look weak-and the other fish arent bothering with her.
Thanks for the help
She is starting to look like a pinecone.She is so fat that her scales are starting to stick out.Her eyes are swollen ,along with her lips and gut.She has been hanging out at the bottom of the tank latley and as far as eating-very very little to NIL.
Im not an expert on names for all of my chiclids but she is or was ...a blue striped with a diamond near her gill.
She doesnt look weak-and the other fish arent bothering with her.
Thanks for the help
Sounds like a nasty case of bloat. At this point (when the scales are getting prickly) its rare they recover.
I would isolate her from the rest of the tank (or treat the whole tank if others are showing similar symptoms) and treat her with metranidazol, one tablet crushed per 10 gallons.
Bloat is usually a sign of improper diet. You need to know what fish you have in order to feed them right! Not all fish eat the same things. Malawi mbuna, for instance, can be purely vegetarian and feeding them normal cichlid or tropical foods will kill them in no time. Bloat is usually what they get from eating too much protien... but it can also be caused by a spread of internal parasites.
-Diana
I would isolate her from the rest of the tank (or treat the whole tank if others are showing similar symptoms) and treat her with metranidazol, one tablet crushed per 10 gallons.
Bloat is usually a sign of improper diet. You need to know what fish you have in order to feed them right! Not all fish eat the same things. Malawi mbuna, for instance, can be purely vegetarian and feeding them normal cichlid or tropical foods will kill them in no time. Bloat is usually what they get from eating too much protien... but it can also be caused by a spread of internal parasites.
-Diana
i'd say it's a case of dropsy. Dropsy, is actually a "symptom" and not a disease in itself. the standing scales and blown up appearance are the result of swelling within the tissues and organs of the fish due to a build up of fluids in the kidneys and an inability to excrete this fluid in a normal manner. in other words, advanced kidney disfunction.
the problem with treating this disease is that there are a number of "potential" causes: bacterial infection, parasites, cancerous tumors, virus', internal fungal infections or sudden temperature drop of more than 3 degrees.
If the cause is bacterial, the swelling typically comes on pretty rapidly. if swelling is gradual then one or more of the other potential causes are more likely. unfortunately, treatment is most often useless at this point due to the advanced state of the disease process. When the illness, whatever the cause, has progressed far enough to cause internal swelling, the concommitant internal damage is usually too extensive to be repairable.
the latest research has shown that if the disease cause is bacterial and if the disease process is caught early enough, treatment with Romet B, a broad spectrum antibacterial, *may* be effective when used concurrent with an increase in water temperature to 84-86F for 2 weeks minimum.
BE CERTAIN to maintain HIGH OXYGEN LEVELS during such treatment since at these temperatures, water holds significantly less oxygen at these higher water temperatures. one of the suspected bacterial precursers to the disease process -- Aeromonas, is killed at these temperatures.
concurrently add 1/8 teaspoon of EPSOM SALT -- per 5 gallons of water. feeding foods soaked in ERYTHROMYCIN will kill the second suspected bacteria, Mycobacterium. in rare cases popeye has been found to be caused by Edwardsiella etarda. this is found *only* in fish that have been bred in outdoor ponds -- the functional bacteria in this case is carried by frogs. while fair to good results in treatment have been found by feeding Romet B., even better results have been found using injectable chloramphenicol or amakacin. this is best done by your veterinarian.
If parasites are a known cause, treat for them first for 3 days increasing the temperature to 86oF as fast as possible.
EPSOM SALT may help reduce the internal pressure casued by the swelling. extremely good aeration is necessary here due to the use of such high temperatures.
NEVER USE SALT (sodium chloride, a.k.a aquarium salt) for treatment of dropsy. this will KILL your fish in a very short time. the affected fish are already having a difficult time getting rid of salts due to kidney disfunction. this causes the blown up appearance and concurrent scale standing. the osmotic inbalance caused by addition of sodium to your tank water will make this condition far worse.
EPSOM SALT on the other hand, does not pass through the walls of the gut or gills and will extract water OUT of the surrounding tissue into the gut where it *may* be excreted.
the problem with treating this disease is that there are a number of "potential" causes: bacterial infection, parasites, cancerous tumors, virus', internal fungal infections or sudden temperature drop of more than 3 degrees.
If the cause is bacterial, the swelling typically comes on pretty rapidly. if swelling is gradual then one or more of the other potential causes are more likely. unfortunately, treatment is most often useless at this point due to the advanced state of the disease process. When the illness, whatever the cause, has progressed far enough to cause internal swelling, the concommitant internal damage is usually too extensive to be repairable.
the latest research has shown that if the disease cause is bacterial and if the disease process is caught early enough, treatment with Romet B, a broad spectrum antibacterial, *may* be effective when used concurrent with an increase in water temperature to 84-86F for 2 weeks minimum.
BE CERTAIN to maintain HIGH OXYGEN LEVELS during such treatment since at these temperatures, water holds significantly less oxygen at these higher water temperatures. one of the suspected bacterial precursers to the disease process -- Aeromonas, is killed at these temperatures.
concurrently add 1/8 teaspoon of EPSOM SALT -- per 5 gallons of water. feeding foods soaked in ERYTHROMYCIN will kill the second suspected bacteria, Mycobacterium. in rare cases popeye has been found to be caused by Edwardsiella etarda. this is found *only* in fish that have been bred in outdoor ponds -- the functional bacteria in this case is carried by frogs. while fair to good results in treatment have been found by feeding Romet B., even better results have been found using injectable chloramphenicol or amakacin. this is best done by your veterinarian.
If parasites are a known cause, treat for them first for 3 days increasing the temperature to 86oF as fast as possible.
EPSOM SALT may help reduce the internal pressure casued by the swelling. extremely good aeration is necessary here due to the use of such high temperatures.
NEVER USE SALT (sodium chloride, a.k.a aquarium salt) for treatment of dropsy. this will KILL your fish in a very short time. the affected fish are already having a difficult time getting rid of salts due to kidney disfunction. this causes the blown up appearance and concurrent scale standing. the osmotic inbalance caused by addition of sodium to your tank water will make this condition far worse.
EPSOM SALT on the other hand, does not pass through the walls of the gut or gills and will extract water OUT of the surrounding tissue into the gut where it *may* be excreted.
Excellent post.
Dropsy and bloat are pretty much the same thing... advanced stages of bloat are often called dropsy. Like you said, its a symptom and often its a symptom of bloat.
From what I've seen, most often bloat/dropsy occurs in malawi mbuna that are vegetarians and are getting too much protien. Other than that, I've rarely seen it in other cichlids.
-Diana
Dropsy and bloat are pretty much the same thing... advanced stages of bloat are often called dropsy. Like you said, its a symptom and often its a symptom of bloat.
From what I've seen, most often bloat/dropsy occurs in malawi mbuna that are vegetarians and are getting too much protien. Other than that, I've rarely seen it in other cichlids.
-Diana
in my opinion, they're really two very different issues. 'bloat' is a digestive disorder, which results alot in Malawi cichlids when fed excessive protein or goldfish when fed foods that swell up in their pre-gut.
since malawi cichlids are primarily vegetarians, they intestines are not designed to process high protein levels and a bacterial process may result. it happens in goldfish alot, particularly the globoid shapes due to the way their digestive tract is designed, and foods may swell in the gut resulting in impaction.
dropsy on the other hand is considered a kidney disease. the swelling results from the inability of the fish to excrete fluids.
since they're two different disease processes, treatment is quite different really. though i've not heard of metronizadole used for 'bloat', treatment is generally aimed at a bacterial infection for such as malawi cichlids (though i think you're right in that it's not usually a treatable condition), or impaction for such as goldfish where a few peas often solves the problem.
for kidney disease which i'm calling dropsy, i've read that Romet B and Epsom Salt has been helpful .. though again, i think most often by the time advanced kidney disfunction is noted, it's too late.
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I think often the kidney disease/disfunction directly stems from getting bloat... I've had a saulosi female get bloat so bad she got dropsy. They can be separate issues, but often they are directly related and often cannot be distinguished from each other except in thier advanced stages.