I just noticed a couple days ago that one of my angels is very fat and she is now having problems swimming properly. Her swimming behavior is similar to swim bladder/constipation issues. She looks fine otherwise. I have done 2 water changes to try to induce her to spawn if she is laden but that hasn't helped. A couple photos are below. Side view looks good but the best shot I could get showing the "fatness" was the shot from behind. Any help would be appreciated.

Tough call. Eggbound females are 50/50, for either condition add epsom salt to the water, 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons, increase by a teaspoon daily for a maximum of 3 teaspoons per 10 gallons. This will often relieve constipation, and sometimes induce spawning. If she is eating, but has abnormal stringyish feces it probably is constipation, a tiny bit of epsom salt sprinkled on some frozen brine shrimp will help with this issue.

If she has normal feces, good chance she is eggbound. The only real hope for this is to fast completely for 4 weeks, in the hopes that this extended starvation will cause the eggs to be absorbed back into the body. If this is the case, and she makes it, her breeding days are over.

It could also be a cyst or tumor. I've encountered this as well, there is a medication called Clout that can be helpful with this. This is similar to cysts or tumors in dogs, in that even if you solve the first one it tends to be a recurring problem.

Thanks for the info. I will move her to my Q-tank and add the Epsom salts. I know cooked peas work for constipation. Would it be a good idea to fast her for a few days and then try a pea? I guess it couldn't hurt. I don't breed them so if it does turn out that her body absords the eggs, that's not a problem.

EDIT: I have moved her to the q-tank but she is having problems swimming (was in the big tank too). To cut down on water flow, I have turned the filter off and will just do water changes daily to make sure the ammonia doesn't climb. I'm afraid it's a swim bladder constipation issue. Hopefully, the epsom salts will relieve that in a couple days.

If you don't have a cheapie box filter pick one up, add some cycled media, or even mature gravel. Quick bio filter, you can even make one ala the stickie in the DIY section. This will cause very little water flow or turbulence.

Still no change in her condition although she seems to be swimming better. To compound the problem, my heater went out and when I checked this afternoon, it was 76.7 instead of the low 80s which I was trying to get it to. I did a water change with some warmer water to get it back up to about 78 and then replaced the heater. Hopefully, it will work this time.

She will not be fed for at least 3 more days as I will be going out of town tomorrow morning and coming back on Sunday. I never worry about feeding while I'm gone but I will have my son stop by to check on her.

UPDATE: We were gone from Friday morning uptil this afternoon. She looks to be swimming fine now. None of the swim bladder type symptoms from earlier. Unfortunately, she still is very fat although my wife seems to think she looks smaller.

Another problems has arisen now. She has a sore on her side and what looks to be some type stuff hanging from her fins. Unfortunately, I can't get a clear photo but hopefully, you can see it well enough from these to help me determine is this is another problem or if possibly she just got up against the heater and got burned. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

I think tolak will have to help you with the bloat issue . I would only recommend that when you start feeding him/her you start with a good veggie or veggie supplement. This will help with the digestion issues assuming what it is. As far as the film hanging from his/her fins, I have only seen this once. It was when a pacu jumped out of a tank in the aquarium I work at. After we got him off the floor and back in the tank, he developed that same slime on him after about 15-20 min. I figured it was a stress related issue. I used Melafix and it took care of it in about 2 days. This will also help with the open sore on her right side in pics 1 and 2. Also salt is a very good remedy IMHO for alot of the symptoms that he/she is showing, although I never use the salt and melafix at the same time. Remember time and patience are key . I hoped this helped a little. Tolak and the guys can probably hook ya up better than I can. Good luck!


-PoPoV

Thanks for the reply. This morning, things are totally different again. Today, it appears that the bloat is almost gon but she is tail swimming and the sore seems to be larger. I had added the epsom salt to the water as Tolak had suggested but now I'm wondering if I need to do water changes to get it out since the salt could burn the sore and make it worse. Below are 2 photos I just took. One of her left side ond one of the right. The sore has definintely gotten worse overnight. SHe looks fine from the other side. As you can see by her orientation though, she is struggling to swim properly.

It could be a case of hiding behind the heater, which is not very common at all with angels, more a problem with plecs. I would think that it is more a case of the bloating situation having become an infection. In either case extremely clean water would be called for, and judging by the redness, antibiotics would be needed. Maracyn & Maracyn II would be your best bet, being Memorial day it is going to be tough finding this until tomorrow.

Without a doubt water changes are called for, not so much to remove the epsom, which is different from regular salt, but to insure as clean an environment as possible. Keep the temp around 82F no higher, which is a good balance between warm enough to keep metabolism up if it is constipation which is moving along, while not being so warm as to increase any bacterial growth in what may be an infection.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Unfortunately, she has passed on. I did a water change about 10:15, the second one today. She was still laboring to swim. I went back in about 10 minutes ago and she was gone. I made better photos of the sore on her side. I don't know if that was the problem or if it was from the original bloat. It's hard to believe she went downhill so fast from what she looked like yesterday afternoon. Such a major change overnight. I had her a little over 3 years since she was about the size of a quarter. Tough to lose one of the angels.