Fish with bulging bellies

[CuppaT]

Hi - I'm new to this forum but I hope someone can help me. My daughter has a 10 gallon aquarium which I help her maintain. We have grown to this from a couple of small tanks and have accumulated the following:
1 betta, 2 tetra, 2 orange neons (guppies?), 2 blue neons, a fancy tailed male guppy and a placostamous. Anyway, one blue neon disappeared while I was on vacation - the sitter said she didn't notice!! Now the second blue neon has been attacked and is badly injured. I have removed it to another tank.
The placostamous is neurotic - I think he's the culprit - he may be too big for this tank - I've removed him.

Meanwhile of the tetra has been looking prenant for months. Now suddenly several of the other fish are bulging including the Beta (a male) - this must surely be some kind of disease or am I over feeding them?

Any suggestions.

 

[bgraber]

What'd u do with the pleco?
How much do you feed them?
Welcome!!

 

[FishHeads]

Hi - I'm new to this forum but I hope someone can help me. My daughter has a 10 gallon aquarium which I help her maintain. We have grown to this from a couple of small tanks and have accumulated the following:
1 betta, 2 tetra, 2 orange neons (guppies?), 2 blue neons, a fancy tailed male guppy and a placostamous. Anyway, one blue neon disappeared while I was on vacation - the sitter said she didn't notice!! Now the second blue neon has been attacked and is badly injured. I have removed it to another tank.
The placostamous is neurotic - I think he's the culprit - he may be too big for this tank - I've removed him.

Meanwhile of the tetra has been looking prenant for months. Now suddenly several of the other fish are bulging including the Beta (a male) - this must surely be some kind of disease or am I over feeding them?

Any suggestions.

Ok do this as soon as you can.

It sounds like your fish are suffering from an internal bacterial disease called Dropsy. This causes a fishe's belly to swell and the scales to stand out eventually causing it to look like a porcupine. This disease is fatal....bloating will crush it's vitals and kill it. I recommend going to Petsmart or your local aquatics dealer and picking up a bacteria remedy specified for dropsy cases. Usually it states the diseases it treats on the lables. Mercyllin II I believe is the one you need....but read the labels to be certain I am right.

About your disappearing fish...

The Pleco wil not eat your other fish...he eats specifically algea...and is not adapted to eat other fish. Your Beta may be the culprit....He should not be kept with any fish that are smaller than him....especially tetras, he will kill them and maybe eat them...My Beta did that once when I was first starting out. Anyways, I hope this helps!

Shanno

 

[CuppaT]

Thanks all for your suggestions which I just got - I've been kinda busy and not logged on for a while. This is what I had done in the meantime.
1. I removed the Beta which seemed to be bulging at the sides and enquired at the pet store for medication which I have been using for the past few days.
2. I returned the plecostemous to the store and exchanged it for a smaller one. You are surely right that the plecostemous is not the culprit but he was so large that, when it did his neurotic darts around the tank, it was very stressful for the rest of us! The new one is neurotic in a quieter way - mostly he darts into hiding as soon as I approach the tank! 8)
3. Since removing the two large fish, the fancy tailed guppy has become the dominant male and is acting very excited and agressive towards the other fish I had not suspected him before since he had previously been the culprit of another's agression and had a chunk taken out of his tail. I'm amazzed to see this growing back again
4. The pet store said that the pregnant looking tetra probably is continually pregnant but that the babies were getting sucked into the filter or eaten immediately and suggesting isolating her. If they are right - I'm wondering who's getting her pregnant ) . The other tetra is smaller but looks just the same otherwise. How do male tetras differ from females?
5. The Beta doesn't look much better yet - I'll take him in for diagnosis.
I had no agressive problem with him in the tank with the others. They have become much more aggitated since I removed him - I thought he had a calming effect in the tank
6. I feed the fish once a day.

 

[leah9798]

Hi! Well, I definitely think the betta is the culprit. You'd be amazed at the size of fish theyc an eat. In fact last night I put a fish the size of a neon in with mine and he was gone within 5 minutes. I had no idea and im still amazed by this. I dont want to give you details but the fish couldnt even fit in his mouth but he made it fit. They are very aggressive! Good luck with your fishies!! Leah