Really FAT/Bloated Fish....

[SHOGGY]

My fish are really really fat/bloated....any ideas on what is wrong and anyway to solve it .

i have 4 platys 2 of which are fat/bloated, (one female) the male is not that bloated/fat maybe just big fish?
6 zebra fish 3 of which are fat/bloated, i have no idea the gender
2 dwarf gouramies 1 of them is fat/bloated, dont know gender of it,
10 neon tetras 2 of which are fat/bloated, dont know the gender of them either
also have 3 plecs in the tank but they are just the same as ever,

and also a goldfish in the tank always had the goldfish in the tank though, still happy as ever going along the bottom of the tank nom nom nom.....

i was considering selling the tank a while back so it got TOTALY cleaned out and gave the fish away apart from goldfish he went in small 6 gallon tank. Then my mum wanted to keep the tank so we got the tank up and ready again. then we got those fish and had them for 2 months now and i just noticed the bloating just less than a month ago so i searched everywhere online looking for what was wrong so i decided to post here.

i dont know the pH,amonia or the nitrate levels as i gave the test kits away and my mum doesnt bother with it. i did noticed when she fed them she fed them 4X as much as i do in one day everyday maybe they are just REALLY FAT?
Since my mum was the one who wanted to keep the tank she is in controll of cleaning, feeding ect dont know if she even bothers changing water or that .

what about them all being pregnant?

i have told her not to feed them yesterday for 48 hrs but she gave in this morning and claimed she fed them just a nibble

but will try the pea trick tonight (will try get some pics later)

any comments and replies welcome

[dkpate]

What size is the tank now?

I am sure your mom is overfeeding, and that is probably why the fish are bloated, not to mention you don't know when the water was partially changed last. Fish only need to be fed 1-2 times a day, and only as much as they can eat in 5 minutes.

Since you have that many fish in the tank, I would change part of the water every day, start with 25% and work your way up to 50%.

I would bet that since you cleaned the whole tank out, you started your nitrogen cycle all over again, and bad water conditions are not helping the bloating.

Try the peas, and if that doesn't work, NO FOOD. When you are feeding the peas, make sure that is all they are getting also. Hide the food from your mom, or if that doesn't work, tell her that she is making the fish sick, and put food in little plastic baggies, rationed out for each feeding. Fish will always act like they are hungry, but they aren't. Some people on here only feed their fish every other day.

Also, goldfish like fresh veggies, like cucumbers and zuchinnis. Blanch them first (boil for a little bit, but not too soggy).

Sorry for the late reply!

Go Scotland!

[siva]

+1 on rationing the food out for her, that's a great idea. You might even want to use a little pill container labeled with the days of the week

[SHOGGY]

Thanks for the replies

Its a 300 Litre tank (i dont know gallons) (4 ltrs to a gallon?), i starved them for 48 hrs and then tried some pea's and not ONE of them even looked at a pea so in 72 hrs all they have had is 1 flake of food each. 3/6 of the zebra fish are still big i think they may be carrying eggs? and the female platy is certainly not constipated as every time you watch her she is doing her buisness pregnant? (il TRY get some pics) the male platy is still big but not as big as before. i did tell my mum to get a oxygenating plant (Elodea) and we got it, but they just...well found it as food? could that be making them bloated? and how long can you safely fast fish for?

[SHOGGY]

Whoops forgot to mention that gourami is still bloated aswell and that they are still all swimming normaly and their scales are not sticking out and showing no other signs of....that thing...lol forgoten the name dropsey? drospey? aff yeah something like that >.<?

[SHOGGY]

i just checked on the fish now and noticed that one of the zebra fish and one of the neon fish have really open gills and its all red. its almost like their head and body is seperate and its all red in between help??

im running about looking for a camera right now

[SHOGGY]

here are some pics of the 2 big platys, just noticed that the female one (white and orange) has got that weird thing with the gills aswell its weird though cause its only on one side

[Mr. Limpet]

Originally Posted by SHOGGY

i just checked on the fish now and noticed that one of the zebra fish and one of the neon fish have really open gills and its all red. its almost like their head and body is seperate and its all red in between help??

im running about looking for a camera right now

What are your water parameters? Red (inflamed) gills is one sign of ammonia poisoning. I'd suggest a 50% PWC right away.

[siva]

If your mum wants to keep this aquarium running, advise her to get a master test kit asap. At this point she's likely going to lose her stock, so hopefully she'll find it a worthwhile investment. Also a bottle of Seachum Prime, or any dechlorinator that says it detoxifies ammonia and nitrite. Your fish are likely suffering from ammonia poisoning.

[SHOGGY]

Thanks again,

lol managed to talk to mum and get on to the topic of her fish and said we NEED to do a water change NOW. She tried to only get away with 25% water change ha but managed to make sure we did a 50% water change as instructed lol, plus i managed to rake out a bottle of the detoxifying ammonia and nitrite suppliment stuff . so hopefully all goes well thanks for the help so far.

and will keep you all updated on what happens

(also how long will it usualy take for the fish to get better from ammonia poisoning? aslong as water changed frequently?)

[siva]

They may be too far gone, it's hard to say. It's impossible to say w/o ammonia test results, not too mention nitrite, exactly when the problem is resolved.

[SHOGGY]

done 50% water change yesterday (150 litre water change) and doing another 50% water change now (mum doesnt know ) hopefully they will get through this