can any one help ?

[bexter]

just come home to find my male ( I think ) angel fish face down in the sand with a very swollen tummy ! I have done a water change and thought he was dead so I put him a jug when I realised he was still alive I squeezed his tummy gently and he released what I'm thinking was sperm. ive pu him back in the main tank but hes still face down! is this possible ? what can I do ? don't want to loose his as its a mating pair
anyone have any ideas ?

 

[Demeter32]

Try taking a few pics for us.
The most common thing that causes bloating is constipation. Not feeding the fish for a couple days, epsom salt baths and feeding deshelled peas can help clear out the intestines. From the sound of it your fish might be too far gone already. I'd go ahead and do a water change first and not feed the entire tank for a day or two.

What temp do you keep the tank at and is it cycled?
What do you feed and how often?
Do you have a way to measure the water parameters (nitrites, ammonia, nitrates)?
How big is the tank?

As a side note, are you sure this fish is a male? Egg binding isn't very common but it happens from time to time and causes the female to hold the eggs and become bloated. I recently had an African die of it and it was terrible.


Edit: just re-read your post and saw you already did a water change, so you can skip a second water change provided that the water parameters are stable.

 

[Munroco]

I had a similar experience with a female angel. I took it to be a swim bladder disorder. I put her in a small tank I had with a few inches of water and treated her with King British swim bladder control.
She lay on her side for about 3 weeks and I was close to giving up on her but one day she was half upright and within another day or two she was more or less upright. I gave her a couple more days then reintroduced her back to the main tank. She looked a bit unsteady for a week or so but she seems to have recovered 100%.
This was about 9 months ago I think and she seems totally over it. I don't know if the cure helped or if she recovered naturally.

Just a thought... was the water you used in your water change the same temperature as your tank? A sudden change could cause a swim bladder problem.

 

[Munroco]

You're very welcome, happy to help.