Constipation?

[mark4785]

On monday I fed my German Blue Ram and Black Neon Tetra's some blood worms. Knowing how much the ram likes these worms, I let him eat around 5 of them within the space of 10 minutes. During tuesday evening and today he is no longer coming up for food as though he is constipated. On tuesday a red-coloured turd exited him, I'm not sure if this was a blood worm or something else. In all honesty, it was probably blood worm as it was inanimate.

How do I treat a constipated fish that is no longer eating?

Just in case something more sinister is causing this lack of appetite, I'm going to record his behaviour and publish it here; I would appreciate any comments on his behaviour for diagnosis purposes. Video 2 is better quality.

Thank you,

Mark.

Vid 1:
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeO_kBfOM3c

Vid 2:
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=p98izdA2lrk

 

[mtbdean]

Tried feeding him the inside of a cooked pea?

 

[mark4785]

Tried feeding him the inside of a cooked pea?

Given that he was at the bottom of the tank, I didn't want to stress him out by shoving a pea in his face lol. Also, he spat out the flake food yesterday so clearly the constipation has (hopefully temporarily) put him off of eating.

Can constipation kill a fish or does it resolve itself?

 

[Tizer]

pop a cooked pea out of its shell , squeeze it between your fingers and let it drop to the bottom and leave it. Im sure it will nibble on some when you are not looking. if you see bits of pea in the water 3/4 days later, remove it and do it again. You dont have to feed your fish every day, they can go without for a good few weeks. Trying to get some veg inside them is all you can really do. Once recovered, try a move varied diet.

 

[mark4785]

Thanks for the advice.

I placed a pea in the tank and he wasn't interested. He did look at it so he isn't listless. Thankfully there was a long strand of faecies exiting him so I'm confident the problem is constipation. I'll try the pea idea again tomorrow and see what happens.

 

[mark4785]

Just thought I'd provide an update.

I checked the water stats of the tank which the Ram was in and here are the results:

Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
PH: 6.6
Nitrate: Between 80 - 160 ppm.

It would seem that one of the liquid ferts I prepared has got too much Nitrate mixture within it which has contributed to a much higher than normal nitrate level. The Ram was opening/closing mouth very quickly as though there was a lack of oxygen; I was shocked to find that excessive nitrate inhibits how much oxygen can be utilised.

I've done a 50% W/C and the rate at which the mouth/gills move has slowed but he's still not interested in eating. I guess tomorrow will reveal whether he recovers or not.

 

[mark4785]

Is there anything else I can try that may help the male Ram return to normal behaviourally?

As mentioned above, his gill rate was very fast earlier and it slowed after a 50% W/C. I have a separate smaller aquarium with fish in that will inevitably die as they have been struck by the irreversible effects of gill damage thanks to a gill parasite. I am confident the problem in the tank containing the male Ram is not infested with a parasite since he has not once rubbed/flicked or yawned unlike the fish in the smaller aquarium.

I'm not sure if anybody can see the situation from my point of view, but it's very heart wrenching and stressful for me to have two problems in two separate tanks taking place simultaneously, especially since I failed to treat my smaller tanks' (which is now infested with a gill parasite) inhabitants before the gill parasite caused irreversible damage to the gill tissue; it doesn't give me any confidence with regards to resolving what is wrong with 'Mr Ram'!

Can constipation itself cause a rapid gill rate or should I presume, more so, that the high nitrate reading has caused the high gill rate?


Mark.