Swollen belly, still eating good, occasional stingy feces

[Daven]

Hey guys. I hope you dont mind that i made another thread, i thought the other one wouldnt have gotten much attention seeing as when i made the thread i was wondering about early signs in just a few fish. The symptoms didnt get more severe and in other fish until a few pages in after we concluded it was likely eggs. Heres the issue...

My girlfriends 29 gallon community tank with 7 rasbora, 4 neon tetra, 4 male guppy, and 4 panda corries. 3 of the rasbora, 4 neons, and the corries have all been recent additions without quaruntine over the last couple weeks (getting rid of old fish at the same time and no ammonia spikes/etc). Started with a rasbora or two with swollen stomachs that i was worried about. Now it is almost all of the fish aside from i think the corries are ok (they dont let me see their bellies lol). They seem to all be eating readily. I have not spent much time watching her tank, but i dont think ive noticed any weird feces. The fish seem to be swimiing in their spots (rasboras stay up top swimming with the current in short jolts as there arent much, neons middle to bottom, and guppies wherever they want lol) but again i never spent much time watching this tank. She feeds once a day around 30 seconds or so, hadnt been timed but i have her timing now

I got some NLS Hex-Sheild pellets for parisites, but the only size they had were the 2mm kind thats too big for them. First time trying to feed them was unsuccesful because of the size, so i also added some thawed peas to help. Later i took a knife and chopped them into smaller pieces and that seemed to work good and i believe they all got some. I was going to start feeding them twice instead since that is what the food recommends and i figure it contains a specific dose (Says twice for 1 minute, im going to do twice for 30 seconds as that seems to be alot of food).

Since i am pretty sure there is an issue in that tank, and we use the same equipment for both tanks, i am worried about my 75 gallon Mbuna cichlid tank as well. I have be having lighter colours stringy feces in a couple, but they all eat readily as well. Ive never had an illness aside from ich before so idk what the dreaded "white stringy feces" looks like for sure, but these arent white as much as lighter tan so i thought it might be from the food. But it tends to be stringy with parts of thicker solids throughout when i see it. I fed them the pellets as well and later noticed their stomachs seem bloated. Might be from the different food, but im treating it as the same deal.

These are some pictures ive taken so far of her tank. Let me know if others are relevant and ill try my best to get them lol

 

[brennae]

A source for antiparasite foods is peabodys paradise. He's a mod on here and runs an online biz. I was just looking at his site this morning and he has flakes I believe and those obviously can be crushed. It sounds like parasites to me but I'm hardly am expert and I haven't covered that yet in my overpriced textbook of fish illnesses.

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[brennae]

Also, I rarely share equipment. No nets, do dip and pour containers and usually not siphons. If I do they get bleached.

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[Daven]

Thanks for the heads up! I live in canada and find it hard to get stuff from the states for a half decent price though so im not sure if that would work. If they do ok with the cut/crushed pellets then in theory it should be ok. I dont know much about the illnesses and medications, but should this medication be a pretty good bet for stopping this? And should i do daily/bi-daily water changes to get rid of any free roaming parisites or try to keep things the same way so they can feel more comfortable?

This sucks. I wish i could have quarantined :/

 

[brennae]

Oh sorry didn't realize where you were located and he doesn't ship to Canada I don't think. I would keep doing what you are doing then and yes I would assume that water changes are a good thing as long as you are temp matching etc to avoid parameter swings which could make the fish very uncomfortable and possibly cause death. Everyone starts off and makes errors about qt. Some people only do 2 weeks which is not sufficient to me as illness takes time to show up. I qt about 6 weeks. I know breeders that qt wild caught fish in another room for a year or so before they will mix with their stock. Lesson learned. A 10g is plenty for a qt tank and you just have to keep extra media in your filter or run a sponge filter and transfer to qt tank when you need it. And a heater of course if the fish are tropical. I would keep separate equipment and don't put your hands in the tanks unless you have to and wash in between tanks. If you use bleach just rinse really well in a lot of fresh water and then use a large dose of prime in fresh water to rinse and allow to air dry.

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[Daven]

Oh sorry didn't realize where you were located and he doesn't ship to Canada I don't think. I would keep doing what you are doing then and yes I would assume that water changes are a good thing as long as you are temp matching etc to avoid parameter swings which could make the fish very uncomfortable and possibly cause death. Everyone starts off and makes errors about qt. Some people only do 2 weeks which is not sufficient to me as illness takes time to show up. I qt about 6 weeks. I know breeders that qt wild caught fish in another room for a year or so before they will mix with their stock. Lesson learned. A 10g is plenty for a qt tank and you just have to keep extra media in your filter or run a sponge filter and transfer to qt tank when you need it. And a heater of course if the fish are tropical. I would keep separate equipment and don't put your hands in the tanks unless you have to and wash in between tanks. If you use bleach just rinse really well in a lot of fresh water and then use a large dose of prime in fresh water to rinse and allow to air dry.

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I dont use a quarantine since i dont really have a place for the third tank, small as it is, and my previous attempts at doing the other biomedia idea still ended with some ammonia in the QT tank. Although my tanks werent as established at that time. But considering my tank is fully stocked now and would take a considerable amount to restock if the worst were to happen, maybe i need to figure something out. For my tank im hoping the larger stomachs were because of the new food and not something critical, but we will see :/

 

[brennae]

You maybe could get away with a 5g. I've got a problem now where I could have a sick pleco. It was purchased in July I think. I didn't purchase the fish and it was put in one of my tanks. Anyway I have all my qt tanks full. I have spare 10g tanks but I don't really want to set up on a cold concrete floor. So really I didn't follow my own rule of having a qt open. Marina makes a little kit with a filter and its a plastic 3g I think. I have a couple of them that I got on clearance for less than $10. That could be a possibility for you. A plastic tank and you could keep it in a closet, garage wherever. Not heavy like a glass tank and less likely to get cracked.

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[Matt68005]

Seems like this is caused by a nematode called callaprai. It has been going around lately. I had to take my tank down and stearilize it awhile ago, as i couldn't beat it. Also, it can be callamunus worms. Can you get levimisole or fenbendazole?
Observe any paintbrush like red things coming out of the fish's vents? Even without that observation, still it can be nematodes, as callaprai is miscoscopic.

 

[Daven]

Idk where to get it. Would a LFS stick it usually? I treated with that food and they appear to not be quite s bloated. Still big though. Tetras and guppies seem fine now. And they still all eat. So I fed peas last night and was planning to try and day or two off food entirely and see if it's just bloated before trying again


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[Matt68005]

You can order them online, like amazon . com
I have a hard time believing that the entire tank would be constipated at the same time, but not feeding them anything or just deshelled peas is a good idea, as feeding a bloated fish can kill it.
Most LFS or chain stores do not have de-wormers.

 

[Daven]

It's not my tank, so I haven't been watching how she feeds for a while. Maybe she fed them too much the one day before I looked at them because I've seen the guppies over indulge on peas while we were trying to figure out how much to feed and their stomachs were big for the afternoon and fine after. I'm just hoping now. The majority of the rasboras look fine now too, but one or two are bigger still. But we are skipping today and probably tomorrow too so if that doesn't do it I'll have to figure something else our


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[Daven]

If fish are bloated, I thought they stop eating?


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[Daven]

Another possible symptom... Of the 3 remaining corries, one has its tail ratted up pretty bad and is always hiding. Two other corries are usually around and seemingly well, especially the one. Shouldn't be any fish that would attack its tail unless it's the guppies going after an injured fish. But maybe it's fungal? Does this + swollen stomach ring any alarm bells?


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[Matt68005]

Another possible symptom... Of the 3 remaining corries, one has its tail ratted up pretty bad and is always hiding. Two other corries are usually around and seemingly well, especially the one. Shouldn't be any fish that would attack its tail unless it's the guppies going after an injured fish. But maybe it's fungal? Does this + swollen stomach ring any alarm bells?


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No, absolutely not. The tattered tails are secondary bacterial infection, from stress. The root cause here, is worms/intestinal nematodes.
You need to get the dewormer.

 

[Daven]

Ok and there's isn't usually a dewormer that can be purchased locally?


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[Daven]

Here is a picture of the rasbora as they seem to be shrunken back to normal now. I took a good look at everyone and found something disturbing with a neon tetra. It seems to have a peice of its head missing, like its gil rotted away or something. I hope you guys can tell from the picture. And the guppies do seem to have ratted tails a bit. So my thoughts now go to a bacterial infection and chalk the bloated bellies up to either bloating or being treated from that food. We switched her over to a new flake food, Nutrafin Max colour enhancing flakes that dont seem to have any dyes or etc and i have her timing it for 30 seconds a day and feeding more sparingly

I love fish, but this is exhausting :/ I hate the possibility of losing what we built up just because im not a fish doctor and havent even dealt with anything before :/ My fish store doesnt seem to know much other than whatever his newest big fish medicine addition is

Should i treat for bacterial infections? What should i look for in the hundred of medications out there? Dose freshwater salts?

 

[brennae]

I can't tell on the neon. Guppy tails is fin rot or poor water quality. I'd skip the salt for now. I'm leaning towards a combo med for parasites and bacterial infection. I want someone else's opinion on the meds though. I'd hold off on salt because if you aren't sure what meds and how they will react with salt best to wait. Salt won't do much for parasites if they are internal I don't think. I have to agree with Matt68005.

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[Daven]

I can't tell on the neon. Guppy tails is fin rot or poor water quality. I'd skip the salt for now. I'm leaning towards a combo med for parasites and bacterial infection. I want someone else's opinion on the meds though. I'd hold off on salt because if you aren't sure what meds and how they will react with salt best to wait. Salt won't do much for parasites if they are internal I don't think. I have to agree with Matt68005.

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I know medications sometimes require additional doses, but the food i fed them was for parisites. That tank doesnt seem to have stringy feces. Fins could be from poor water quality before, but it has been good for a while now. She occasionally missed water changes before but has been good recently. Plus we also changed the substrate to pool filter sand so most of the water is new as well now.

The neon looks like it is missing a chunk of where its gill is. I see red, like flesh from underneath. From what ive read it would apear that is caused sometimes by a form of bad bacteria infection, and the fin rot tends to be another. Is there a good bacterial antibiotic or something to use?

 

[brennae]

How long ago did you change the substrate. Alot of your bb would have been removed then and created a mini cycle which increases ammonia etc causing fun rot and red gills. You could try Furan 2


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[Daven]

How long ago did you change the substrate. Alot of your bb would have been removed then and created a mini cycle which increases ammonia etc causing fun rot and red gills. You could try Furan 2
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Just last night and i know about that. I meant currently water is very low in nitrates and i tested water before and have been testing regularly since this all began to make sure. Never any ammonia or nitrites readable as even when i added fish i adding a filter from my main tank with more than enough bacteria already built up (Upgraded my main tank so this will be the permanent for this tank, old filter will one day go to a new tank one this is dealt with). Has been under 20 nitrates for the last 2 weeks at least that ive been watching and currently has close to nothing as ive been changing alot more. The tank is well established at that bioload and has alot more filtration and bio-media than actually needed so i shouldnt have issues from the gravel changeout.