my cichlid has a distended belly

[sunsplash76]

Hey All~
Well, I've noticed in recent days that my peacock has a very large belly. He looks like he swallowed a marshmallow. I don't remember him having that large a belly before? I'm perplexed as to why he is so fat. I'm not overfeeding that I can see. I hope he doesn't have some kinda fishy disease or something. Has anyone ever heard of a bloated belly on a fish? I am gonna try and find something on-line, but thought I'de see if anyone here knew anything. I got a pic so you can see it. Let me know if you can tell by looking at him what may be wrong or not wrong. Here he is:
~Melissa~

[EMS503]

This is hard to tell from the picture. Try to look down on the fish if the scales are sticking out it most likely is Dropsy. If it is this is a bacterial infection brought on by poor water quality (even though your tank looks very clean) If caught early there are medicines (Maraycn) to treat this. My brief expereince with this disease unfortuanetly always led to death of the fish. But I may not have caught it in time. I hope this is not the case for you. Good luck

EMS503

[sunsplash76]

Thanks EMS503~
I did a search for dropsy and looked at the symptoms; they seem to match up pretty good unfortunately. I moved my poor fish to a 6 gallon bucket with a dose of Maracyn 2 broad spectrum anti-biotics. I also threw a dose into the 55 tank itself for the other two fish in case they were going to develop it. My sick fish is still alive... I'm kinda amazed as I thought he'de be dead by now. I didn't think I caught it in time... He still doesn't have an appetite, so he aint better.

I sorta don't know what to do with him if he is still alive after the five day treatment of anti-biotics? I don't know if I should put him back in the 55 or not? I don't want to re-contaminate the tank if he still has it. I can't let him live in a bucket for that long either. Why do these things happen to me? I am a bad fish keeper. I try so hard to make them happy. hmmmmmm
~Melissa~

[EMS503]

Hi. im glad to hear your fish is still alive.
As far as you being a bad fish keeper don't you belive that.
Things happen. Your tank looks very good and you were smart enough to see your fish was sick, that shows you care enough about your fish to seek help. I would keep your fish isolated for at least a week after the medicine. I know a bucket is not a great place, Maybe you could purchase a 10 or 15 gal. tank to keep as a hospital tank they don't have to be decorated a bare bottom and something to hide if the fish needs to. Keep an eye on your fish I think there is a section on the Maracyn box or paper that goes over this. Also the chart inside the box is well worth hanging onto as there is a diagram that helps diagnose fish ailments. I would also run tests on your tank & a water change with carbon. Maybe this will show what happened to cause this. Keep us posted and good luck.

EMS503

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

is this fish a new fish to your tank , or have you had him awhile? as far as a small hospital tank, i am not sure what your biggest fish is, but they sell these little 5 gallon setups at walmart here for around thirty dollars and they come with a little power filter, light, even a small bit of food! they are acrylic so they are pretty light....
his belly looks huge, i have only seen dropsy once , on one of my guppies and she was huge like that, but unfortunately i coudnt' save her...if his scales are sticking out, it should be very noticeable--at least it was on this gup...let us know what your water readings are, and maybe we can help a little more...best luck for your sick one!

[sunsplash76]

I lost my fishy today He was to far gone I guess. I washed the inside of the tank glass and cleaned the filter up-take and changed about 50% of the water in the 55. I want the remaining two fish to survive and be happy. They both still have an appetite and look good, so hopefully they will remain healthy, but only time will tell. By talking to aaron, it seems I may have been an over-zealous tank cleaner, so I am slowing down on that now. It seems the only fish I can keep alive are bettas and plecostemus Am I learning anything? Dangit... I'll be back, something is always going wrong here.
~Melissa~

[EMS503]

Sorry to hear your fish did not make it.
Unfourtanetly my fish with Dropsy did'nt make it either.
All we can do is keep trying. Yes you are learning, now you have a better idea of what to watch for,even though Dropsy has only reared it's ugly head twice in my tanks and hopefully never again. Don't give up. We all are still learning and will have both good and bad experinces.

EMS503

[RadHoth]

Iam sorry to here about your loss.But I am interested was this a new fish or had you added a fish recently.My concern is that im wondering if this can be a spontaneous disease or does it need to be brought into the environment.I am relatively new to this hobby ...and loving it,so the more i know the better.Thanks and again sorry for the loss

[michealprater]

hes in a better place now. sorry to hear of your loss.