Constipation or Swim Bladder Problems?

[lilhurleybunny]

Earlier tonight, I noticed my guppy had a very large belly when I looked at him. He seems to be swimmig with a little bit of a wobble and doesn't even move around much. I know this may be problems with "overfeeding" which I think i do >.<. I don't really know the right amount of food to put in and i want to make sure everyone gets enough cause my gourami can be greedy.

In one of my books it says this could be constipation and that i should put him in a hospital tank and starve him for a couple days. The problem is that I dont have another filter or heater to make a hopsital tank with!

I also read that this could be swim bladder problems.

If I need to give anymore information I'll be glad to! I wont be on till tommarow morning or during school so..it may be a little bit before I can get back to you guys.

Does this sound like constipation or swim bladder problems?

Thanks!!!

1. Water parameters. - don't know them

2. A full description of the fishes symptoms. -Big belly and he doesnt swim around much and when he does swim he wobbles a little bit.

3. How often you do water changes and how much - weekley 10-20% and when i add new fish i do a 15% water change.

4. Any chemicals and treatments you add to the water -something to take the chlorine out, called "Start Rite".

5. What tank mates are in the tank - 1 otto, 1 julii cory, 1 dwarf gourami, and another fancy guppie. All male.

6. Tank size. - 10 gallons

7. Finally Have you recently added any new fish? - the julii cory was added last friday and the otto was added this past monday night.

 

[Big_al_d]

Hi

I'll leave it to one of the experts on the board to help you with the diagnostics, but there was a couple of things I picked up on whilst reading your post.

Please bare in mind i'm a fairly new fish tank owner but I have done quite a lot of reading up, and talking to seasoned fish keepers. Please, someone, slap my wrist and shout up if you disagree with my comments

One of the most important things i've learned over the last few months, is the importance of regularly testing your water parameters. Unfortunately, this lesson cost me the lives of 2 fish However, I now test my water weekly. I would also recommend testing before adding new fish and a day or so after.

Maybe someone else can comment, but i've been advised to leave a couple of weeks in between introducing new fish. Also, I was told off by my LFS for doing a water change and introducing a new fish on the same day - as they both affect the balance of bacteria in the water. However, this is the opinion of my LFS, i'd also be interested in other peoples views on this

I think over feeding also causes more problems than I first realised. I was advised to add enough food to allow my fish to feed for around 2 minutes. Then, after 5 minutes, to remove any food remaining in the tank as this quickly rots and becomes poisonous to the fish

Sorry i've been no help with the diagnostics. Good luck

 

[semper fi]

you could try netting him in a greeder net on the side of the tank. don't let any of the food get into the net though. will save the hospital tank for now. a hospital tank is very handy and a must have for medicating fish. if you are not medicating him though the breeder net will work for a few days.

you should always quarantine fish before addingthem to your community. since swim bladder or constipation are not contagious diseases it is unlikely that he picked it up from the others.

food left on the bottom of the tank decays and turn to ammonia. ammonia is the end result of decay of plants, food and fish. this will raise your ammonia levels. try not feeding all the food at once. give a small amount, let the groumai get his meal wait a few minutes and then give a small amount a few minutes later for anyone else who may be hungry.

your 10 is overstocked. smaller tanks are harder to maintain than the larger tanks. smaller tanks will show ammonia levels more quickly than a larger tank. i would increase your water changes to about every 3 days. a test kit is a valuable element in fishkeeping. you should test your water daily and when the toxin (ammonia, nitrite and nitrate) levels rise a water change is in order.

epson salts are also good for constipation. need to know what "wobbles" is. does he go side to side or up and down?

sf

 

[lilhurleybunny]

Thanks for the tips Big Al.

My tank overstocked? Is it ? Thanks for the feeding tip Semper, I'll try that!

Also, when he swims he kinda moves from side to side a little. Not alot like he looks like he is really having problems, but wobbles enough to notice.

Thanks for the help!

 

[semper fi]

tank is overstocked. to get a general idea of the amount of fish for a tank, take the average adult size of the fish. figure for every inch of fish = 5 gals of water. some species you can overstock to avoid aggression issues.

cories are schooling fish and need atleast groups of 5 to feel comfortable. a single cory may become aggressive towards the other fish as it matures.

 

[lilhurleybunny]

OOookie. Thanks for all the help Semper!

Temp doesn't appear to be constipated anymore so I guess everything is okay .

I'm not sure what else do to with my cory though x.x. I was planning on getting him like another friend so that there would be two so that i wouldn't be too terribly crowded but I dunno, I'll ask around.

Thanks again!