Fish getting bloated stomach and dying

[richmond55]

-Lost 2 guppies and few cardinals in last one week....All bloated stomach and die in few days

Now my angels have the bloated stomach.I ha e attached a photo image. Here are answers to some questions:


What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability

3 Angels- All with bloated bellies


2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.

0-0-0 temp 80 F
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up? 55 Gal two months
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known. Aquaclear 110-(550 gal/hr)
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes? 10 neons, 6 Blood fin Tetras, 2 German Blue Rams, 1 guppy, 4 Siamese Alage eaters , two yoyo loaches
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?- I do a 25 % water change twice a week
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them? --All three angels hav e been there more than 5 weeks
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.? None
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?

Added recently Blood Worms and Chichild Pellets recently in addition to Flakes. Feed them once a day for what they can eat in 30-60 seconds

 

[Xand3r]

That looks like <a href="http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hddropsy.htm" target="_blank">dropsy</a>. And it looks to me like you might not have cycled your tank.
I suggest you read about both cycling your tank and dropsy.

 

[KatieJ]

Do they have their scales visibly protruding out?

 

[richmond55]

I have been testing water very regularly. I did the fishless Amonnia cycling to establish the tank prior to adding Fish. The parameters show zero ammonia, zero nitrite and Zero nitrates all the time (not sure why nitrates are zero most times). I have a heavy planted tank (close to 20 Plants & 4-6 Driftwoods).

Read about Dropsy. Most say you cannot do anything. Is there a way to save these angels? Please help.

 

[richmond55]

Sorry . Missed the earlier question. The fish show no scales visibly protruding.

 

[LyndaB]

Try fasting them for a few days. After that, blanch a few peas and see if the fish will eat them. If it's just bloat caused by overeating, then this will help.

Are the bloodworms freeze dried? If so, do you hydrate them prior to feeding them to the fish?

What test kit are you using? Sorry if you said above, I didn't see it.

According to your info, you did a fishless cycle, which takes approximately 4-6 weeks to cycle a tank. That said, you added the angels, at least, 5 weeks ago. So, that was prior to the tank being cycled. When did the rest of the fish go into the tank?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

+1 with Lynda.

Usually freeze-dried food causes bloat for some reason. Bloodworms seem to as well if you feed them regularly.

 

[Xand3r]

You can never be to cautious, so I think that your best bet right now is to follow LyndaB's instructions. For some reason peas seem to do the trick some times, but if you don't fast them they will just ignore them so it is important that you stop feeding them for a couple of days before giving them peas. and test the water again.
If you are using the liquid test make sure you shake the bottles before specially the Nitrate II bottles as it can give inaccurate results.

 

[richmond55]

Thank you for all responses. This is my first posting on this site and you guys are awesome.

A few additional details:

1) I did the fishless cycle in 3 weeks(with some old filter materials to speed it up).
2) I test the water with API kit and always follow instructions by book (being new to fish keeping)
3) I feed the Blood Dried worms dry (I dont soak them- I did not know that I need to soak it, my bad)

This is what I am going to do:

1) Do not feed for 2 days
2) Feed them green peas (skin peeled off) and see if it helps

Should I do anything pro actively to rule out any internal infection before it gets worse?. I have a complete medicine kit bought and ready - Metro, Mela Fix, Pima Fix, Mardel Copper , Salt etc) but dont want to do it until absolutely required(dont want to subject them to medicines unnecessarily)

 

[absolutangel04]

Whats all in the tank? I have heard of success stories involving epsom salt baths when fish is bloated. For now, I also advise just fasting though and feeding the peas. I have had troubles with freeze-dried blood worms before I knew better as well. Do, pro active treatment does not usually benefit fish IMO. Its best to only use meds when you know for absolutely sure what problem you have.
Good luck!

 

[LyndaB]

You'd be amazed at how rarely you might actually need meds. Quite often, just keeping the water ultra clean will restore their health, especially with things like fin rot.

You can soak their food in Garlic Guard or Vita-Chem. These items will help boost their immunity. I soak with these about once a week.

 

[richmond55]

Thank you for advice.Let me check the LFS for Garlic Gaurd or Vita Chem.

This is what I have in my tank:10 Neon Tetras, 6 Blood Fin tetras,2 Black Skirt Tetras, 3 Angels, 4 Siamese Algae eaters, 2 Yo Yo Loaches, 2 German Blue Rams, 1 Guppy