FAT female sword

[Sesos]

In the first week of July I purchased a male and two female flame swordtails. I noticed that one of the females was not as slim as the other but figured that fish vary in shape, right? Over the next few weeks I noticed that she was getting bigger and bigger and thought that maybe we were expecting...

Today she was laying on the bottom of the tank. I did a 20% water change (as I do weekly in my 10 gal) and I have my eye on the rest and so far everyone seems ok. Any ideas? Heart attack? 8O

 

[e-cat]

mabey she has bloat.

 

[Allivymar]

Hrmm...how fat? Do her scales kinda look like they're stretching away from her body, kinda making her look like a pinecone?

I figure its one of 3 issues: pregnant, constipation or dropsy.

Pregnancy will most likely resolve itself *grin*
Constipation can be addressed thru feeding her an unshelled pea (epsom salts also seem to help but I don't know how to dose); think of Metamucil for fish.
Dropsy is usually a symptom of something else; means the kidneys are shutting down due to injury or infection of some sort, and the fish is retaining water. The pinecone look is typical of dropsy. For more info on dropsy, click here and scroll down to dropsy: http://www.fish-disease.com/diseases.htm

 

[Sesos]

Thanks folks,

I was trying to be subtle in my original post by stating that she was "laying on the bottom". I should have said she croaked 'cause some fish *do* lay on the bottom :?

I don't think it was dropsy, she was eating the same thing as everyone else: Omega One veggie flakes, Hikari freeze-dried bloodworms and some Hikari freeze-dried brine shrimp a couple of times a week. Iwould notice my three swordtails going after the sinking wafers for my two corys...? Dunno.

I'll keep my eyes on the rest of the tank but so far everyone else is going about their business as usual.

Is there anything I should do to the tank after a death in the family (I did a 20% water change immediately after I recovered the body)?

 

[Allivymar]

Whoops sorry. I'm so literal sometimes LOL

Actually, sounds to me like you did exactly what needed to be done; a water change. Double check your parameters if you haven't yet, just to be sure ammonia levels haven't spiked. Hopefully it was just her and the others will be fine.

 

[Oscar]

She could possibly have been having trouble giving birth. With egglayers, they can get egg bound, with live bearers several fry could get sideways in the vent, stopping the natural path for "birthing". This can kill the mother quite quickly.

 

[Terry]

I think Oscar has probably hit the nail on the head, with livebearing fish they will either go to a top corner of a tank or just sit on the bottom to give birth, out of the way of the other occupants. If she was haveing trouble giving birth this could be the reason she died.