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Bloated fish

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AquaBarb

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Whats the best cause of action for a bloated fish?

Is it deshelled Pea's?
 
It depends on what is causing the bloating. If it's an internal bacterial infection, the fish needs anti-biotics immediately. However, by the time the fish has swollen up and is showing symptoms, it's usually too late because internal organ failure has occurred.

If it is caused by an internal protozoan infection, metronidazole can be used and might help.

If it's caused by bad food, fasting the fish for a day can help or feeding the fish some plant matter can help by pushing the bad stuff out of their digestive tract.

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What symptoms are the fish showing?
 
Starting to think im cursed with fish keeping Colin tbh :( im not sure what the problem is but bloating was my first thought but saying this i dont over feed.

Only symptoms so far are 2 of my rainbows have put on some extra weight.

Thought at first i might have a female pregnant but then i spotted a male with a bigger belly. Was thinking fasting for a couple of days then try peas if nothing changed.
20190718_213645.jpg 20190718_213621.jpg20190719_164610.jpg
 
Are they still pooping?
If yes, what is it like?

Rainbowfish do carry Tuberculosis (TB), however when their organs fail, they bloat up overnight, stop eating, do a stringy white poop, breath heavily under the surface or near a filter outlet, and die within 24 hours of showing these symptoms.

If the fish are still eating, it's unlikely to be an internal bacterial infection or TB.

How long did they take to swell up?
Female rainbows do develop eggs and get fat over a couple of weeks when producing them. However, the male shouldn't be getting fat like that.

What are you feeding them?
If they are eating, give them plant matter and lots of it.
Do not feed rainbowfish on frozen bloodworms. Freeze dried are fine but some brands of frozen bloodworm tend to cause internal problems.
 
I would do exactly that. Good clean water, 2 day fast, and then feed a deshelled blanched pea. If that doesnโ€™t help then you may need to treat with an antibiotic such as Furan-2 or Kanaplex. I actually use them both together. Good luck!
 
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Are they still pooping?
If yes, what is it like?

Rainbowfish do carry Tuberculosis (TB), however when their organs fail, they bloat up overnight, stop eating, do a stringy white poop, breath heavily under the surface or near a filter outlet, and die within 24 hours of showing these symptoms.

If the fish are still eating, it's unlikely to be an internal bacterial infection or TB.

How long did they take to swell up?
Female rainbows do develop eggs and get fat over a couple of weeks when producing them. However, the male shouldn't be getting fat like that.

What are you feeding them?
If they are eating, give them plant matter and lots of it.
Do not feed rainbowfish on frozen bloodworms. Freeze dried are fine but some brands of frozen bloodworm tend to cause internal problems.
Thereโ€™s not much nutrition in freeze dried foods though.
 
Freeze dried foods have more nutritional value than cooked foods. The freeze drying process only removes moisture and leaves virtually all the nutrients in the food. They use freeze dried food on the space station and in field rations for the armed forces.
 
Are they still pooping?
If yes, what is it like?

Rainbowfish do carry Tuberculosis (TB), however when their organs fail, they bloat up overnight, stop eating, do a stringy white poop, breath heavily under the surface or near a filter outlet, and die within 24 hours of showing these symptoms.

If the fish are still eating, it's unlikely to be an internal bacterial infection or TB.

How long did they take to swell up?
Female rainbows do develop eggs and get fat over a couple of weeks when producing them. However, the male shouldn't be getting fat like that.

What are you feeding them?
If they are eating, give them plant matter and lots of it.
Do not feed rainbowfish on frozen bloodworms. Freeze dried are fine but some brands of frozen bloodworm tend to cause internal problems.

I feed them goldfish flakes and tetra mirco sticks ( freeze dried foods every now and then) frozen bloodworms are a big NO from me.

Pooping im not sure because i only spotted them last night but no signs of white stringy poo on ground. Ill monitor this tonight after i finish work.

Ive just gone through some pictures i took last weekend and they look a little plup then so id probably cross TB out.
 
Freeze dried foods need to be thoroughly soaked in water before placing in the tank to feed. If these foods are being fed here this could easily be the issue. I never feed FD because the high quality flake foods are (so marine biologists tell me) better. That's good enough for me.

Bloodworms are not nutritious or healthy foods in any form, according to a microbiologist I discussed this with, and should only be fed once a week as a "treat," and the fresh frozen as opposed to freeze-dried is apparently better.
 
Freeze dried foods have more nutritional value than cooked foods. The freeze drying process only removes moisture and leaves virtually all the nutrients in the food. They use freeze dried food on the space station and in field rations for the armed forces.
Interesting. Everything Iโ€™ve read says theyโ€™re fine for occasional snacks but not for daily diet. Freeze drying is suppose to remove some of the nutritional value in the drying process.
 
Oh its the frozen cubes i use. But i dont feed them these very often at all. Just every now and then. 20190719_175853.jpg
 
I had a betta sorority that all came down with columnaris. Horrible experience. A close friend of mine who does a lot of aquatic research with universities told me the columnaris could have come from the frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp I fed. I have stopped all frozen foods since then.
 
I had a betta sorority that all came down with columnaris. Horrible experience. A close friend of mine who does a lot of aquatic research with universities told me the columnaris could have come from the frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp I fed. I have stopped all frozen foods since then.

This was and is a concern with validity. The Hikari brand is supposedly free of any such risk. I'm not saying it is, I am not a microbiologist, but enough biologists have given them a clean bill of health that I do feed this brand of frozen daphnia and bloodworms once a week, a couple hours after the water changes as a treat for the fish having tolerated my interference in their space!
 
I had a betta sorority that all came down with columnaris. Horrible experience. A close friend of mine who does a lot of aquatic research with universities told me the columnaris could have come from the frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp I fed. I have stopped all frozen foods since then.
Im ok with not feeding mine frozen foods if they dont need it for their diet.
One of my rainbows died minutes after eating frozen bloodworms so ive vowed not to use them again in any of my tanks
 
On the subject of foods.

Ive got a bit of variety of flake, micro sticks and sinking pellets. Is a certain brand best to get? (A few ive got below)20190719_191403.jpg
 

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