Balloon ember tetra

[MattW]

I've had a group of ember tetras over the last two years with only a few remaining now. I've had 3 die to the same problem. Each time this has happened I've used either the salt method or feeding peas to try and reduce the size. I did this as each of the fish that has had this problem always had long stringy white feces so I assumed it was an intestinal problem however I never could make the size of the fish shrink or keep it comfortably alive (clove oil). I still have no idea what causes this hopefully someone here can find an answer to this problem thanks.

 

[seangee]

I have not seen this and have no idea if it is even treatable, I suspect not.
How hard is your water - specifically GH? Ember tetras are from soft, acidic water. Studies on other species have shown that soft water fish kept in hardwater eventually suffer organ failure and die prematurely. I ask because my tap water is rock hard. I did notice that when I switched to using RO water (some years ago) that my soft water fish lived much longer and seemed much healthier. I Bought 20 ember tetras in 2020 and I am not aware that any have been ill or died in 3 years. (Of course I may be wrong on this because I now have about 35 - so it is possible that it is simply a case of more fry survive than adults die of old age.

 

[MattW]

I have not seen this and have no idea if it is even treatable, I suspect not.
How hard is your water - specifically GH? Ember tetras are from soft, acidic water. Studies on other species have shown that soft water fish kept in hardwater eventually suffer organ failure and die prematurely. I ask because my tap water is rock hard. I did notice that when I switched to using RO water (some years ago) that my soft water fish lived much longer and seemed much healthier. I Bought 20 ember tetras in 2020 and I am not aware that any have been ill or died in 3 years. (Of course I may be wrong on this because I now have about 35 - so it is possible that it is simply a case of more fry survive than adults die of old age.

I've had a few more looks at the fish and it seems to be either air or liquid as the belly of the fish is somewhat see-through. Also the previous aquarium this fish was kept in did have a large amount of lava rock which may have caused the parameters to also change my water quality. The screenshot shows my tap water quality by my local water company as I don't have GH test kit atm.

 

[MattW]

I've had a few more looks at the fish and it seems to be either air or liquid as the belly of the fish is somewhat see-through. Also the previous aquarium this fish was kept in did have a large amount of lava rock which may have caused the parameters to also change my water quality. The screenshot shows my tap water quality by my local water company as I don't have GH test kit atm.

 

[seangee]

4.69 clarke is indeed soft water so ignore my post. Sorry

 

[MattW]

4.69 clarke is indeed soft water so ignore my post. Sorry

It's okay I'm just amazed at how large this tetra is compared to the others it acts perfectly fine but just has a bent-ish tail and large belly

 

[Essjay]

Just for information, that 4.69 Clarke converts to 3.7 dH and 67 ppm. That's soft not moderately soft.

 

[GaryE]

I have looked at that photo a few times, and I am completely unable to say I've seen that before. I've been keeping fish for 56 years, checking out all sorts of info on diseases, and that look is new to me.
At first I thought egg binding, common enough with amandae tetras like that. But never like that.
The poor fish.
You could look up the dosages for an epsom salts bath and see if that muscle relaxant lets the liquid out. I would suspect something affecting the kidneys is at work as that looks like fluid retention.

 

[MattW]

I have looked at that photo a few times, and I am completely unable to say I've seen that before. I've been keeping fish for 56 years, checking out all sorts of info on diseases, and that look is new to me.
At first I thought egg binding, common enough with amandae tetras like that. But never like that.
The poor fish.
You could look up the dosages for an epsom salts bath and see if that muscle relaxant lets the liquid out. I would suspect something affecting the kidneys is at work as that looks like fluid retention.

Its weird how I've had it happen to 3 others. These other fish however I'm certain were female as this one is so maybe it may have something to do with egg production? When I look close up at the fish the inside of the fish is visible and I can't see anything out of the ordinary just a pocket of either air or fluid

I may have to try salt again and see if it is fluid retention or I will have to use clove oil if it gets worse