Today I noticed that the belly of my favorite fish in the tank had a distinctly larger than usual belly. I’m pretty new to keeping cichlids but I’ve of course heard of the dreaded Malawi Bloat so I practically dove for the keyboard to look up more details. I really fear that my initial thoughts are correct and that this is advanced stages of bloat but I thought I’d come to the boards and ask some far more experienced that myself. Is it bloat? Is there any hope of saving him or is it too late already? I’m really hoping it’s possible to save him.
Yesterday or the day before he looked fine. I was fairly busy yesterday so I admit I didn’t do as much aquarium gazing as I usually do but like I said, this guy is my favorite so he catches my eye a bit more than the others. He still seems pretty active, isn’t hanging on the bottom at all does go behind the rocks a tad more than usual. Also, he’s not quite as graceful as usual when he moves. I read that could be his swim bladder affected by the bloat? His appetite also doesn’t look affected as he bolts to the surface with the rest of them any time I get near the tank.
Here are my tank parameters, habits, and activity of the last few days.
• 75 gal, Aquaclear 110 HOB and Marineland C360 Canister
• 20 juveniles 2-2.5” with this affected one being the largest at closer to 3-3.5”
• pH – 7.6 / Nitrite – 0 / Nitrate – 5-10 / Ammonia – 0.25-0.5
• 25-30% Water changes 1-2x per week
• Food is New Life Spectrum Grow fed 2x/day what they eat in 30-40 seconds. On Wednesdays as a treat I give them 1 small brick of frozen krill. On Sundays I don’t feed them at all
• I do not have a hospital tank
Friday 12/16 – Fed them as usual in the morning. Later in the day I tried giving them cut up zucchini for the first time. They seemed to find it interesting and poked at it for a while but I removed most of it from the tank an hour or so later. At that time, I noticed the bellies of a few of my new fish that I’d just gotten earlier in the week from a LFS near work looked a little concave so I looked up sunken belly. Fed them as usual that night.
Saturday 12/17 – Fed them as usual in the morning. Later went a different LFS near my house and he recommended Seachem SulfaPlex mixed with their food. I mixed 14 units + what I normally feed them + a little bit of water for about 30-60 seconds and then dumped it in the tank. All the fish, including this one, went to town on the medicated food. About an hour later I remembered to remove the carbon from my HOB filter.
Sunday 12/18 – Everyone seems more perky than usual, making me quite happy. Did not feed at all, performed a 30% PWC.
Monday 12/19 – Fed them this morning as usual and when I came home from work, tried feeding them shelled peas for the first time. Wow they loved that. About an hour later I realized I forgot to remove the Purigen from my canister filter and removed it. That’s when I noticed my fav with the bloated belly . I won’t be feeding them tonight.
Video taken tonight while writing this: https://youtu.be/txPMN3vCUXQ
Yesterday or the day before he looked fine. I was fairly busy yesterday so I admit I didn’t do as much aquarium gazing as I usually do but like I said, this guy is my favorite so he catches my eye a bit more than the others. He still seems pretty active, isn’t hanging on the bottom at all does go behind the rocks a tad more than usual. Also, he’s not quite as graceful as usual when he moves. I read that could be his swim bladder affected by the bloat? His appetite also doesn’t look affected as he bolts to the surface with the rest of them any time I get near the tank.
Here are my tank parameters, habits, and activity of the last few days.
• 75 gal, Aquaclear 110 HOB and Marineland C360 Canister
• 20 juveniles 2-2.5” with this affected one being the largest at closer to 3-3.5”
• pH – 7.6 / Nitrite – 0 / Nitrate – 5-10 / Ammonia – 0.25-0.5
• 25-30% Water changes 1-2x per week
• Food is New Life Spectrum Grow fed 2x/day what they eat in 30-40 seconds. On Wednesdays as a treat I give them 1 small brick of frozen krill. On Sundays I don’t feed them at all
• I do not have a hospital tank
Friday 12/16 – Fed them as usual in the morning. Later in the day I tried giving them cut up zucchini for the first time. They seemed to find it interesting and poked at it for a while but I removed most of it from the tank an hour or so later. At that time, I noticed the bellies of a few of my new fish that I’d just gotten earlier in the week from a LFS near work looked a little concave so I looked up sunken belly. Fed them as usual that night.
Saturday 12/17 – Fed them as usual in the morning. Later went a different LFS near my house and he recommended Seachem SulfaPlex mixed with their food. I mixed 14 units + what I normally feed them + a little bit of water for about 30-60 seconds and then dumped it in the tank. All the fish, including this one, went to town on the medicated food. About an hour later I remembered to remove the carbon from my HOB filter.
Sunday 12/18 – Everyone seems more perky than usual, making me quite happy. Did not feed at all, performed a 30% PWC.
Monday 12/19 – Fed them this morning as usual and when I came home from work, tried feeding them shelled peas for the first time. Wow they loved that. About an hour later I realized I forgot to remove the Purigen from my canister filter and removed it. That’s when I noticed my fav with the bloated belly . I won’t be feeding them tonight.
Video taken tonight while writing this: https://youtu.be/txPMN3vCUXQ