New Fish Not So Good (malawi Bloat)

[Nick Sw]

One of my new fish (Pseudotropheus sp. "Elongatus Mpanga" Female) is not looking so good infact has been like this since I bought it on Friday.
The symptoms are
Lack of Colouring/Darker than normal.
Staying out of the way in the top corner of the tank.
Long white stringy excrement hanging for time.
Noticeably sunking belly.

Despite the above the fish is still swimming and eating but is obviously not well.
At first I put this down to the stress of moving the fish / new conditions etc. despite in the back of my mind I new it was not right.
I`ve posted on the MK forum about this and as I thought it`s most definately Malawi Bloat and have had suggested to me a course of anti-biotics (octozin) or euthanize the fish. I really think this is all correct but I just wanted to know if anyone else had any experience about this sort of thing and any general opinion on what to do.

First I think catching the fish might be a task I tried this morning, I don`t really fancy having to remove the rocks if possible and a course of A-Biotics for the whole tank would be about £18.00 which I`ll do if I have to but don`t really fancy the prospect.

I`d just like to point out the fish came from a breeder with a good rep. and there is no blame there.

It`s stressed me out a bit myself ! but I`m trying to think the experience will somehow help in the future.

Pic of Ill Fish (rubbish I know)

 

[Cheffi]

Awwww nick thats awful, what a bad start. I don't know anything about these diseases but assume all your fish came from same place?

 

[Ferris]

Doesn't look good mate, i've lost 3 fish to bloat over the years and successfully treated 1, using a Nutrafin treatment if i remember rightly.

I doubt she'll survive ( ) but on the bright side, it shouldn't have any affect on the other fish.

 

[Nick Sw]

No I think I`ll get her out ASAP this evening.
Hopefully it`s not affected any of the other fish but I may try the octozin (if I can get it) anyway.
No more fish for a while to be on the safe side and I now know to check a few things.

Yes Cheffi its not good I think I`ll be bathing in the octozin this eveing as well , stress, off my food

 

[brewyn]

It can be awfull for us guys when our prized mbuna fall ill, I think your doing the best thing by trying to treat it, as knowing about various illneses and how to treat is probably one of the biggest learning curves you will go through with regards to your fish.


hope it pulls through for you m8

 

[Nick Sw]

Thanks Brewyn Ferris Cheffi
I don`t think it will make it and I won`t be too upset as long as the others are ok.

 

[RedZebra]

Hi Guys, Sorry to but in but

It's very difficult to say from the photo but it does not look like bloat to me! As I put my head on the block!

Are you sure that it's not a fungus or the start of white spot?

Paul

 

[Ferris]

I agree its not neccessarily bloat, but it is definately an internal problem such as a bacterial/parasitical infection. Either way, survival chances are not good but you never know........

 

[brewyn]

Sorry guys but never suffered any serious problems with any of my fish, they dont seem to get ill, just eaten, so sorry that I,m not much help when it comes to illneses. It just looks very under nourished to me!!!! I would put it into quarantine and feed it up.

 

[RedZebra]

If you only brought the fish on Friday, it's highly unlikely to have developed bloat in 4 days, the most common disease in newly introduced fish are white spot and fungus and the like.

It could well be an internal bacterial / parasitical problem; it's hard to say from the photo, but if you look closely the faeces they look a light brown to me.

I would defiantly remove it from your tank and put it in a quarantine tank filled with the water from your tank if possible.

Paul

 

[denis coghlan]

Hey Nick

I had a similar problem about a month or two back with one of my m. aurora, it began to get very thin, and had long white faces that stayed for ages before they broke off, maybe two or three times the length of the fish. The fish had this condition when I purchased it from the LFS. I didn't really know what to do so I tried various types of roughage (vegetables) to try and clean out its system but nothing worked. In the end, I had to euthanize the fish as its life had turned into a miserable existence of lying sideways on the bottom of the tank and being shredded by the other fish.

I don't really know a great deal about medication and internal fish problems but it is sometime I must brush up on, hopefully not for my own personal future reference.

 

[RedZebra]

That's defiantly a photo of a fish suffering from intestinal parasites, a 5 -7 day course with something like Flubendazole should have cleared it up. If anyone needs this medication contact me for more details, you can also get a wormer from Plymouth Discus that would also do the trick.

Paul

 

[Nick Sw]

Just to re-iterate I got the fish in this condition Friday , I just brushed it off as shock from the move.

Thanks Guys for the help, this is an update of what I`ve done today -
Did a water change and removed the carbon from my filter.
Tried catching it to monitor/quarantine and possibly euthanise. (took half the rocks out and still couldn`t get it after ages so decided to leave it.
Added salt as recommended dosage for medical treatment.
I`m going to add Octozin nowish and do a 6 day treatment at normal dosage, I`ve been told to go for 3 times but for now I`ve only got a few tablets.

It still trys to eat but either spits/coughs it back up or almost immediately excrement hangs from her,which doesn`t sound good. It`s almost like she eats then it comes almost straight back out the other end.

Although now she`s sort of back in the "mixer" with the other fish. and still ok.
I think it will be a minor miracle if it survives I will try and catch her again later.

(octazin treats parasites and bloat)
http/www.waterlife.co.uk/seaquariums/octozin.htm

Yeah Tanks thanks for posting I knew you`d had a problem it`s sounds similar ish.

 

[brewyn]

octozin, sterazin and protozin are all superb treatments, I dont think the salt will do much and personaly I would leave it out. add some xtra filtration to your tank, ie a powerhead or air pump as quite a lot of treatments deplete the oxogine levels in the water.

 

[Nick Sw]

Ok thanks Brewyn I`ve got a small air pump it may help.