Bichir ingesting gravel

[Dwarfs]

My 6" bichir has had this lump in his stomach for about 4 days now, and he isn't eating much. I think he swallowed a piece of gravel

Is this fatal, and is their any way to help him out?
I can only hope that it can be passed naturally

 

[Black_Ghost_Guy]

If he can't pass it, he'll regurgitate it. Don't worry about it too much... if it's still there a few days from now, then you may want to start considering something a bit more drastic.

 

[Dwarfs]

If he can't pass it, he'll regurgitate it. Don't worry about it too much... if it's still there a few days from now, then you may want to start considering something a bit more drastic.

What would you consider drastic, surgery? I hope he can get rid of it on his own, the other bichir seems to like company

 

[SirMinion]

This is one of the reasons all of our fish are on sand.

But don't worry, he'll almost certainly bring it back up.

 

[astroboy]

ahahha, thats funny,i think mine did too.

I suspect my albino swallowed a chunk of gravel (during feeding, pretty voracious). No outward signs of stress yet, and i'm hoping he'll upchuck it soon (i don't he'll be able to squeeze it out of his anus). Looks quite similar to your lump. Hope yours gets better soon. No more gravel in my tanks.

 

[Paul_MTS]

and thats 1 of the reasons all research sources will tell you to keep them on sand.

I suggest you take this as a warning and change over ASAP.

 

[Dwarfs]

Can I add sand on top of the gravel, after I take as much gravel as I can out? Say a half an inch or so left in the tank I'm sure the other fish won't mind, and the geo can sift like never before

 

[beblondie]

Smaller sand particles will work their way to the bottom, its better to swap out all the gravel if you're going to do it -Anne

 

[Dwarfs]

There goes my weekend

 

[beblondie]

Has the lump moved at all?-Anne

 

[Black_Ghost_Guy]

and thats 1 of the reasons all research sources will tell you to keep them on sand.

I suggest you take this as a warning and change over ASAP.

Many people keep them on gravel, and not all resources say not to do so. Take it easy there, he's asking for help, not to be badgered.

 

[lucky62]

Thanks for that BGG , the kid gets his habits from me , I started keeping fish in January................................................................................................1971 , not much sand going in tanks then , or 20 years after for that matter , now it is very popular , don't know how people did it with gravel all that time . Anyway after my 9 year olds baseball evaluation this Saturday out goes the gravel and in goes the sand to my 13 year olds tank , I hope just 1 for now , he's wanted to do it for a while now anyway .

 

[Black_Ghost_Guy]

No problem.
I've kept small bichirs with gravel substrate several times, with no serious problems. Gravel got swallowed once or twice, but nothing critically bad happened.

 

[Dwarfs]

Anne-No, it hasn't moved much

Yeah, I really want to try sand It looks nice and I think most of the fish in that tank (Pictus, severum, geo, mugurnda goby, ropefish, bichirs) would like that change I doubt the african butterfly will care though

 

[Paul_MTS]

and thats 1 of the reasons all research sources will tell you to keep them on sand.

I suggest you take this as a warning and change over ASAP.

Many people keep them on gravel, and not all resources say not to do so. Take it easy there, he's asking for help, not to be badgered.

didn't really seem out of line to me. I put the facts down and didn't bother dressing them up at all. ahven't seen any badgers recently.

all souces I'ved seen and read say "sandy substrate"

I wouldn't even keep geo's without sand.....they need it to do alot of there feeding.