Denison Barb - Obese Or Pregnant

[Cameronb_01]

I have in my Tropical Freshwater Tank at the moment amongst other fish a shoal of six Denison Barbs. One of them, however is bloated. It is the second attached picture, the first is a normal sized one and the third is the bloated one next to one of the normal ones. I have had very few casualties in my tank and none of the other fish are displaying signs of having been over fed so I would be surpris d if it was that. Why is she bloated? Is she pregnant? If so is there anything I should know about the breading of Denison Barbs? Thanks for your help in advance - Cameron
Sorry the first picture is the bloated one next to the normal one, the second is the bloated one and the final one is a normal sized one.

 

[LyraGuppi]

Is the fish pineconing?

 

[Cameronb_01]

Yes.

 

[Cameronb_01]

It's scales on her belly have stretched due to the size increase and also gone a much lighter colour. The stretching of the scales, does produce a sort of pinecomb effect.

 

[attibones]

If the fish is pine coning then it has dropsy which is often fatal. It's usually the result of water quality problems or internal problems. Dropsy is not contagious, though the circumstances which cause dropsy (as it is a secondary disease in most cases) can cause further issues.

Some people report salt baths help, but most fish die a few days after the pine coning takes place.

 

[Cameronb_01]

From the picture would you say it is pine coming? I hope not then but it has been like this for the best bit of 3 - 4 weeks so if it is Dropsy it has lived for a very long time. Also none of the other fish are displaying such conditions.
Symptoms not Condotions

 

[Akasha72]

by 'pineconing' we mean are it's scales coming away from the body so it takes on a pine cone effect? If it's scales are sticking out then as the others have said it's probably dropsy.
As attibones said - you could try a salt bath
 
To do this: Add some tank water to a seperate vessel - a jug or pot large enough to contain the fish. Add some salt (I use epsom salt, not sure if you can use table salt? maybe someone else can answer that) then add the fish and leave it in the jug/pot for a good 5-10 minutes then you can return it to the tank. DO NOT add salt to the tank. 
 
It may have internal worms and if the salt bath doesn't help then consider worming the fish 

 

[Cameronb_01]

Ok then thats it

 

[LyraGuppi]

How's she doing?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Dropsy
    Symptoms: Bloating of the body, protruding scales.    
 
     Dropsy is caused from a bacterial infection of the kidneys, causing fluid accumulation or renal failure. The fluids in the body build up and cause the fish to bloat up and the scales to protrude. It appears to only cause trouble in weakened fish and possibly from unkempt aquarium conditions.
     An effective treatment is to add an antibiotic to the food. With flake food, use about 1% of antibiotic and carefully mix it in. If you keep the fish hungry they should eagerly eat the mixture before the antibiotic dissipates. Antibiotics usually come in 250 mg capsules. If added to 25 grams of flake food, one capsule should be enough to treat dozens of fish. A good antibiotic is chloromycetin (chloramphenicol). Or use tetracycline. If you feed your fish frozen foods or chopped foods, try to use the same ratio with mixing. As a last resort add at most 10 mg per liter of water. Also, if unkempt conditions are the suspected cause, correct it.

from http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm#Dropsy
 
or
 
http/badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_palace/tropicalfish_disease_identification.html#Dropsy

 

[Cameronb_01]

Thanks so much TwoTankAmin she survived. Still alive today, (2 years later)