bloated fish - bloodworms

[jemmyw]

the local aquarium centre said that my fish would enjoy bloodworm, so i bought a pack of frozen ones. After eating them all three of my platys and two of my white tipped tetras developed swollen abdomens very quickly - have they caught some disease or something?

 

[WILDER]

Doubt it could be the frozen bloodworms, how long has it been since they had eaten the bloodworms, as some can look bloated after eating but it disappears after time.

 

[jemmyw]

they bloated within half an hour of eating it. that was four hours ago and they've not gone down.

 

[WILDER]

Rather strange, how much bloodworms did you feed them, try some shelled peas, are they maintaining there balance in the water, no prutruding of the scales just making sure, do you have any daphnia as that helps the fish to digest there food.

 

[jemmyw]

we put in quite a lot (i thought) although its the amount they told us, which was one of the frozen blocks. I actually removed most of it as the fish lost interest and these ones looked sick. Here is an image of one of the fishes

 

[WILDER]

Don't feed anymore keep them in the freezer, they do look bloated, are they in distress, look for when they go to the toilet,try some shelled peas for now, wan't to give them a good flushing through.

 

[jemmyw]

they did seem distressed, very still and getting near the top of the water, but now they seem to have recovered a little and are swimming around as normal, but still bloated.

 

[WILDER]

Has this affected every fish in the tank, take some picures and get the worms tested at the lfs, i would do a water change as well to be on the safe side, get some peas down them, do you have any daphnia.

 

[jemmyw]

no, it's only affected the 3 platys and 2 tetras. the 1 tetra is fine, so are all the loach and lampeyes. unfortunately the affected ones aren't eating the peas (presumably because they stuffed themselves on the bloodworm?). i don't have any daphnia, no.

 

[WILDER]

Just a waiting game i'm afraid, keep an eye on them, try and watch out for when they go to the toilet, keep us all updated, good luck.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

One block of bloodworms is way too many for that many fish, you should try only to feed 2-3bloodworms max per fish and one block can have hundreds...I would do a 50% water change with dechlorinator as such high protein foods can play havoc with water quality, try to remove as many uneaten bloodworms as posible and do not feed the fish any food for the next 2days apart from some cooked de-shelled peas as your fish are constipated.
Did you give the worms frozen or thawed out to the fish? Frozen foods should always be fully thawed out before being given to the fish as a fish's body temp is controlled by the temp of the water around it and frozen food can make them very sick.

Bloodworms are good and healthy for fish but only in the right quantitys, for fish like yours you should only be feeding them bloodworms once every 2days max as they are high in protein and too much can make them constipated.

 

[jemmyw]

i have 6 lampeyes, 1 yoyo loach, 2 zebra loach, 1 gold sucking loach, 3 white tip tetras and 3 platys. i took out the bloodworm right after they swelled up, so not that much was eaten. i've not fed them bloodworm before, and it was in the tank for about 10 mins before they ate any. they are starting to look a bit better now, the tetras have gone down a bit. everyone is more lively though as it's nighttime and i seem to have nocturnal loach that disturb everyone.

about the loach, any suggestions for sinking food? they don't eat the stuff i got them, and nearly all my snails are gone. i don't want them to starve!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Your gold sucking loach is more commanly known as the Golden Chinese algae eater, i must warn you that these fish can become very agressive when older and despite being primarily vegetarian, will readily kill and eat its own tank mates when older. They grow to about 10inchs and by the time they are about 7-8, will not eat algae anymore. You must consider getting this a tank of its own in the future.
Yo Yo loachs do best in groups of at least 3 as they are sociable fish that like to hang out in little groups together and yours will be happiest with some friends; The same is also true for Zebra loachs, they will also both eat catfish pelets and algae wafers/tablets. If your loachs are not eating these foods i would check out your ammonia, nitrate and nitrite stats via testing the tank water with test kits you should be able to buy from your lfs(local fish store) and post us your stats .


For more info on your loachs, check out these links;

CAE(chinese algae eater)

http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/algeater.htm

Yo Yo loach

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile79.html

Zebra loach

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile65.html

 

[jemmyw]

the yoyo loach seems to be quite happy with the 2 zebra loach, he's dancing away and shares his wood space with them ok. we wanted more yoyos but the shop only had the one. they warned us about the gold loach, but hopefully time will see us moving to a bigger house and having enough cash for another tank!

my test kit has been showing fine results although i did wonder if the temperature could do with being higher for the loach? it's 26 at the moment and i don't want to heat it further because of the others. i'll post water stats tomorrow if that's ok, i'm not being ungrateful but i'm really knackered.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thats cool, good night