Bloated Appistogram cacatoides

[nik_n]

Hello everyone,
My male appistogramm orange falsh appears to be bloated (or at least I think he is). I first noticed this on Friday, a couple of hours after I fed blood worms. He had a fat stomach and seemed to be passing the food. I know blood worms cause bloating in many fish, so I didn't feed the tank for a day, because this usually enough time for other fish to go back to normal. However the fish is still bloated and didn't want to take any food I gave to the others. I don't know if these is a bloat or something more serious. I may have overfed the fish this week but non of the others show any symptoms.

I know peas should help with bloat but the fish is too small to eat a whole one so I don't think he would even be interested in eating it or anything at all.

Here are some pictures of the fish any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Colin_T]

He isn't fat from food, he is bloated.

If he has stopped eating and does a stringy white poop, he has an internal bacterial infection and is dying. There's not normally any cure for internal bacterial infections but sometimes people treat it with anti-biotics. However, these should be used in a bare tank so they don't affect the filter bacteria.

 

[nik_n]

I haven't seen him poop at all. I will check but I'm pretty sure he has no white string poop. From your response I'm guessing there is little chance of survival right? This is very unfortunate as I wanted to breed these fish once they reached breeding size.

I don't have any antibiotics or am currently using any. Should I let it be or euthanise it, if there is little change of survival and if he is suffering

 

[Colin_T]

If he doesn't eat in the next 24 hours, then I would euthanise him.

If you have access to live brineshrimp, daphnia or small worms, see if he eats them. If you can get him eating, you might be able to save him, but if he doesn't eat and keeps getting fatter, then it's over.

 

[nik_n]

I can hatch baby brine shrimp but they will be ready in about 24h. I have access to frozen brine shrimp, which I can easily feed. If he takes them what then? Should I keep feeding the tank and leave him in there or take him out and try and treat him on his own?

If he doesn't take any food I can euthanise him using clove oil. Is there something I could be doing to prevent this from happening again in the future. I had to euthanise my female blue gourami for the same reason.

 

[Colin_T]

If he eats, then just feed him as much as he can or will eat. The food might help push the bad stuff out of his gut.

Leave him in the tank, if he has an internal infection, it's already in the main tank.

If the problem is caused by a dirty tank, then doing more water changes and gravel cleans can help. But if the problem is caused by Fish TB then there is no cure and all the fish will eventually die from it.

The only way to find out exactly what is causing it, is to have the fish necropsied (animal autopsy) by a fish vet and see if they can identify the organism responsible.

 

[nik_n]

how would the problem be by fish TB? I haven't added any new fish for months and did a water change a 2 weeks ago. The tank is heavily planted and the water permitters are all in order. I highly doubt fish TB can appear out of nowhere, because if it would be in the tank, which has been set up for a year know the signs would be seen before.

 

[Colin_T]

Fish TB can take months or even years before it kills a fish. The bacteria is very slow growing and simply grows over a period of months or years before it eventually destroys the infected organ. Then the fish stops eating, swells up and dies within a day or two of this happening.

Fish can literally carry this disease for years before it affects them and bigger fish will live longer while infected.

Your dwarf gourami might have had it and shed the bacteria into the tank where the Apistogramma picked it up.

It might not be Fish TB but if more fish die from the same symptoms over a period of time (one every few months), then send the sick fish off to a fish vet for a necropsy and find out what is causing it.

 

[nik_n]

Oh ok I didn't know it worked that slowly. The employee at my LFS said that the female gourami was filling up with water or something and that it was expanding. Don't remember her mentioning any bacteria but she could have. The fish has had it for about 3 days now and is still not dead just breeding heavily. The colours still look great and all. I will feed it some frozen brine shrimp, hopefully that will help him pass it if not I can always take it to the vet.

 

[Colin_T]

Fish can get dropsy, which is a common term for fluid build up in their abdominal cavity. It is usually caused by bacteria and or organ failure.

The fish has had it for about 3 days now and is still not dead just breeding heavily.

Is the fish breeding?
If yes, then it should be eating too.

 

[itiwhetu]

What is the pH of your tank and the other parameters, Thanks.

 

[nik_n]

Fish can get dropsy, which is a common term for fluid build up in their abdominal cavity. It is usually caused by bacteria and or organ failure.


Is the fish breeding?
If yes, then it should be eating too.

Sorry I meant breathing

The parameters of the tank are
NO2 10ppm
NO3 5ppm
gh 70pmm
KH 268 ppm
and ph of 7.2

 

[Colin_T]

Sorry I meant breathing

The parameters of the tank are
NO2 10ppm
NO3 5ppm
gh 70pmm
KH 268 ppm
and ph of 7.2

Is the nitrite (NO2) correct?
10ppm of nitrite will do some damage to fish and a nitrate (NO3) test kit should read higher than 5ppm if there was 10ppm of nitrite. This is because nitrate test kits read nitrite as nitrate and give you a false reading when there is nitrite in the water.

 

[nik_n]

Is the nitrite (NO2) correct?
10ppm of nitrite will do some damage to fish and a nitrate (NO3) test kit should read higher than 5ppm if there was 10ppm of nitrite. This is because nitrate test kits read nitrite as nitrate and give you a false reading when there is nitrite in the water.

I got new test strips (the other ones were really old) and you are right the reading was wrong, it is in fact around 5ppm.
Unfortunately the fish passed away.

I need to say that it might have not be my fault interlay. I have bought another pair months before and they also died soon after. I save the same fish in the store and they seemed to have the same problem. I talked to the supplier and they said the source was the problem. As much as I want to keep appistogramma I will not buy it from this store again. I never had the problem with my other fish.