Severely Bloated Male Platy

[luckyd]

I have a male platy in an established tank with good water parameters. Several days ago he started to lay around the bottom a lot, and became increasingly bloated in the abdominal area. He has now been moved to a one gallon hospital tank. He refuses to eat. Every now and then he rises to the top but just settles back to the bottom almost immediately. He doesn't appear off kilter or unable to balance. He just seems to want to lie around. I haven't seem him poop recently. I don't think there is "pine-coning" at this point. I've read epsom salts can help the bloating. Do you think it's worth trying? How would that work? Also, I had to add a danio with entirely different symptoms to the same hospital tank yesterday. Could epsom salt treatments hurt a fish without bloating symptoms? Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[fluffycabbage]

I have a male platy in an established tank with good water parameters. Several days ago he started to lay around the bottom a lot, and became increasingly bloated in the abdominal area. He has now been moved to a one gallon hospital tank. He refuses to eat. Every now and then he rises to the top but just settles back to the bottom almost immediately. He doesn't appear off kilter or unable to balance. He just seems to want to lie around. I haven't seem him poop recently. I don't think there is "pine-coning" at this point. I've read epsom salts can help the bloating. Do you think it's worth trying? How would that work? Also, I had to add a danio with entirely different symptoms to the same hospital tank yesterday. Could epsom salt treatments hurt a fish without bloating symptoms? Thanks for any help you can give.

Ok so you're obviously aware of dropsy then. As far as i know its marine salts you use, but someone else will give you advice on that im sure. Im new to fishkeeping but learning a lot every day being on here! Have you tried daphnia, bloodworm etc? How long has it been since he ate? Have you tried a cooked and deshelled pea? Whats wrong with the danio? Are there any other fish with bloating?

 

[luckyd]

Thank you! Sadly, I just looked up dropsy and now I'm thinking that could be it. The pictures and symptom descriptions are similar to those of my platy. The danio is suffering from a strange danio-only disease that I've dealt with before in this tank. It has reddish lesions and has wiped out most of my danios once before. This time, I'm hoping I separated it before it can infect the whole tank. None of the other fish have bloating. I will say, though, that the sick platy may have been stressed by bullying from another male platy.

 

[fluttermoth]

It's worth giving epsom salts a try. The dosage is one tablespoon per 5 UK gallons (6 US) of water. Keep the fish in there for 15 or 20 minutes; you can do this twice a day.

 

[WILDER]

Epson salt baths.
Feed some shelled peas. No other foods for a few days.
If you can isolate also try a bacterial med.

Lost any fish to looking skinny, or bent spines, or sunken in bellys.
Check the fish anus to see if it's enlarged or red and inflamed.
What does it look like when your fish go to the toilet.
What do you feed the fish?