Bloat and Cichlids

[thanew]

ok I came home today (from my dorm I live in during the week) and one of johanni's was lying dead on a piece of drift wood with his stomach fatter than anything and a hole in it...

my question is, is this bloat ? I mean I told my mom to feed the other fish (danios) a little bit of blood worms, but I think she might have went overboard and overfed so the cichlids got a hold of some... because I know that is a cause of bloat and i just had a real bad feeling something like this would happen

the water conditions in the tank are perfect - ammonia - 0; nitrites - 0; nitrates - 0....

any help would be appreciated

 

[Menagerie]

All you ever wanted to know about Malawi bloat: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/malawi_bloat.php

Since you did not see the fish before it died, it's hard to tell. What do you mean by, "stomach fatter than anything and a hole in it..."? Fish can bloat due to gases after death. The best thing right now is to feed veggies (article in the Articles section) and watch the fish closely.

 

[thanew]

he was really fat, almost looked like a small puffer, atleast in his stomach area, atleast right in the middle of it.. he had a cm or so sized hole in it and there were intestines sticking out

 

[Menagerie]

he had a cm or so sized hole in it and there were intestines sticking out

Parasites? Worms? Anything unusal in the tank??

 

[FishLover14]

Oh i am so sorry bout your loss Thanew. It might have been bloat but it might have been dropsy or paristues or seomthing.....Are you sure the crabs didnt ctach him and rip him open-they can be quite mean.

Sorry about your loss.

Dan

 

[thanew]

nothing unusual in the tank, atleast not from what I can see, everything tests out to be perfect (0nh, 0nitr-ites/ates), and visually there is nothing wrong with the tank, nothing strange growing on the plants or drift wood or floating around..

the only thing I did notice was that my silvertipped / colombian sharks seemed to have a sign of ich, so they were moved off to a qt tank and treated with maracyn..

 

[FishLover14]

Does he look like he oculd have suffered from ick. Do you know if your crabs are bothering your fish??

I would proabbly guess bloat or parascites if i knew the crabs didnt do it.

JMHO

 

[thanew]

the crabs are scared of the cichlids, they practically stay inside for the majority of the day, and night (they are harassed by the pictus' and the cichlids) although the dead cichlid was near one of their burrows (actually right outside of it) so maybe the hole in his stomach was the crab trying to get some more food.

plus the crabs stay low, while the cichlids are usually in the middle to upper region of the tank

 

[Menagerie]

so maybe the hole in his stomach was the crab trying to get some more food.

Probably, I meant to ask if the others had been picking at it.

As for ich, if one fish has it, often the others will too and it is best to treat the entire tank. If this was my tank, I would remove the crabs and treat the rest of the tank with heat and salt, as described in the FW ich article in the Articles section.

 

[thanew]

well this is the 2nd time ive had ich in this tank and so far its only affected the colombian sharks... which is strange imo... I mean I know they are susceptible as are the pictus, but for some reason the pictus havent caught it yet..

i have since raised the tank temp and added some salt...

im really starting to think the sharks just aren't my thing, they seem too susecptible to ich

 

[FishLover14]

I was jst thinking when we talked before u said u feed sinking shrimp pelelets to your pictus cats-If a johanni found one and ate it then he would get bloat bad.

Do your pictus cats always eat the food.

The crabs proabbly ate on him.

JMHO