Very Swollen Honey Gourami

[kristins1877]

For the past week my honey gourami has had an extremely swollen belly. He is swimming OK, and eating OK but I haven't seen him poop in a very long time so I think he may be constipated. I soaked him in epsom salts and it hasn't helped... He is in a 10 gal with 3 ghost shrimp, 3 albino cories and 3 baby sunset gourami. He seems like he is getting bigger by the day and he seems so stressed when I return him to the main tank after his epsom soak. What can I do?
My stats are:

temp 78 degrees
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Ph 7.4
No nitrate test

 

[WILDER]

Have you tryed peas.
Is his scales sticking out.
If he hasn't been to the toilet and his getting more bloated it could be organ failure.
What do you feed your fish.

 

[destinyxrose]

I'd Definitely try feeding it a boiled pea if you think it is constipated. If that doesn't help make sure you watch out for any symptoms of dropsy. Knowing what you feed it would help but since I don't know, just make sure you change up it's diet a little bit. But try the pea, unless you've got other symptoms like scales sticking out or red streaks on its body, etc. Good Luck.

 

[kristins1877]

no scales sticking out right now. I feed a combo of flake, frozen brine shrimp, and sinking wafer (for the cories) I'll try the pea today

 

[Jodiem]

mine did this and it turned into dropsy,(and died ) im not sure what medicine u need but i would try the pea( even tho mine didnt eat it)

this is what mine looked like

hope he gets better soon

 

[WILDER]

All you can do is epson salts baths to help draw the fluids out.
Try a bacterial med in isolation.

 

[kristins1877]

OK he has no interest in the pea, and after soaking him again in epsom salts he still hasnt pooped. The same thing happened to my other gourami but he swelled up and died within days - this guy has been hanging on for a week like this and is happily swimming in the tank. I do have a box of Maracyn II I could start him on.How much epsom salt should I be adding? The little tank Im using for the soak is about a half gallon... Here's a pic of the fish - sorry about the terrible water spots on the glass.

 

[Kivstev]

OK he has no interest in the pea, and after soaking him again in epsom salts he still hasnt pooped. The same thing happened to my other gourami but he swelled up and died within days - this guy has been hanging on for a week like this and is happily swimming in the tank. I do have a box of Maracyn II I could start him on.How much epsom salt should I be adding? The little tank Im using for the soak is about a half gallon... Here's a pic of the fish - sorry about the terrible water spots on the glass.

Looks like Dropsy. Some antibacterial fish food containing tetracycline would be good for this. If the fish will not eat, TC added to the water is the next best thing.

 

[WILDER]

How is the fish doing.

 

[kristins1877]

When I feed he swims to the other end of the tank and wont eat and mostly hangs at the bottom of the tank but is still swimming at times. The meds I have is erythromyacin so I am going to the store today to buy some tetracycliine for the tank. He hasn't gotten any bigger but he's hanging on...

 

[WILDER]

I would only use antibiotics in isolation as they wipe all the beneifical bacteria out in the filter.

 

[kristins1877]

UPDATE: I have used 2 doses of the TC so far and the swelling is actually going down and the fish seems to be swimming more but is also rocking front and back when stationary...

 

[WILDER]

Not sure why the fish is rocking, just keep a close eye on him.
Is the temp ok.