Swollen Golden Panchax

[78xtc]

Yesterday when I came home I noticed one of my golden panchax has a VERY swollen upper belly region (doesnt extend past halfway down its body) and it was sitting on the bottom of the tank . The other one was doing it's usual thing at the top of the tank - about a half hour later I noticed that the 'skinny' panchax had swum down to its tank mate and was rubbing itself and pushing the other panchax and then it gave up and went back to the top. I didnt feed the mob last night or this morning however the panchax is still down the bottom looking very swollen. The scales arent lifted so i dont think it's dropsy. I fed them frozen blood worm yesterday for the first time to try and tempt my bumblebee and my panchax are absolute gutsess and I think it may have eaten too much??? If this is the case is there anything i can do to move it along? I"m very worried about my panchax!!!

Also, I bought the paradise fish home yesterday (after being assured by my LFS that they would be ok with my other fish) and within 20 mins I had a dead hatchet fish - both its eyes had been eaten out!! Would this have been the paradise fish and is this normal behaviour? I've noticed that since putting them in the tank my teeny albino barbs are now hidden in the plants where as before they would be swimming out and about all the time.

Tank size is 280litres (minus a few ornaments and an inch of free space below the lid )

Ammonia = 0 ppm
Nitrate = 40 ppm
nitite = 0 ppm
PH = 7.0
KH = 40 ppm
GH = 180 ppm

tank temp = 26C

tank mates are as follows:

4 peppermint plecos (babysitting 3!)
1 bumblebee catfish
1 teeny weeny baby bristlenose
1 khuli loach
1 clown loach

2 flame guraumis
4 giant danios
1 pearl danio
2 zebra danios
1 leapord danio
4 glass catfish
2 hatchet fish
2 paradise fish
4 itty bitty teeny weeny albino barbs
2 albino tinfoil barbs
1 betta

and

2 golden panchax!

cheers
Maranda

 

[BigC]

First off I would not recommend putting Golden Panchax in with smaller fishes, They may be fine when juve's but as they mature they will make a meal of smaller inhabitants. Paradise fish can be quite boisterious too. The swolen belly of the killi may be due to over eating but I've never known one to sit on the bottom of the tank for any length of time unless its a female hiding from an over advancing male. Keep an eye on the situation. Hatchets share the same water strata as the killis and the paradise fish and it could well be either as the culprit.
Personally I think the both the Paradisefish and the Golden Wonders were a wrong purchase in your position.
Regards
BigC

 

[78xtc]

Thanks for the response! Although I wouldnt call myself a novice nor a professional fish keeper I do sometimes rely on the advice given to me by LFS owners. This is what aggravates me the most because it seems they are either so hell bent on making a sale or so clueless about what they sell that they will tell you it's ok to keep this with that and then you get them home and find out otherwise. I did mention to them yesterday that I thought the Paradise fish were too aggressive for my tank however I was assured (by more than one - owner included) that they would be fine!

I've had the hatchets and panchax together for some time and they both keep to their own 'halves' of the tank and I have plants sitting on the surface which give the hatchets some protection and I've never had any problems with them together. I figured that if I did start to have problems when the panchax got bigger I would just transfer them over to my other tank.

Back to the issue at hand - I did some research and am I correct in assuming that the female looks different (colour wise & size) to the male? Both of my panchax look exactly the same - golden tail & red edging etc so I came to the conclusion that they were both male???. When I left for work this morning the poor thing was still sitting on the bottom of the tank (now wedged behind my roman column) and it looked to me like it was breathing hard if that makes sense? If anyone has any advice on what I could actually do to help him I would appreciate it!!

cheers
Maranda

 

[BigC]

Probably too far gone to do anything at this point in time. Float a plastic container in the tank an place the sick/harassed fish in this for a while. Have a look for any immediate injury marks or disease. Personally I think it's too far gone if its injured in some way either disease or harassment.
Pet shops and some (not all) LFS are looking to make a sale, full stop. They dont care what you have in your tank already.
You mention in your post that you have 4 itty bitty teeny weeny albino barbs, well to me that would mean the barbs are very very small and selling you a fish with a predatory nature is surely going to spell disaster somewherre down the line.
Regards
BigC

 

[fergalthefish]

paradise fish can be very aggressive, i personally wouldnt call them community - i had 2 once and had to be very careful with them, i put in a dwarf gourami once and the paradise fish swooped down and bit its eye out exactly as yours did!!! not nice!!!! i'd get rid of them.

 

[78xtc]

Well my panchax is still kicking on... still swollen... still sitting on bottom of tank.... still breathing hard I guess all i can do is wait and hope that he gets better I fed them all for the first time in two days - just brine shrimp but I didnt see him eat anything (not that I expected him to-but I was hoping).

As for the darned Paradise fish - well they finished off my hatchets by the time I got home yesterday I turned off the tank light and left them in darkness all night and this morning there were no more casualities I am taking them back to where I bought them today and telling them where they can put their fish!!!
cheers
Maranda

 

[78xtc]

Sorry to keep annoying everyone but I've just read that peas or a salt bath can help constipation/bloating - however they were referring to other types of fish and I couldnt find anything that mentioned killifish. Would it be ok to try either/both of these remedies on my panchax?
cheers
Maranda

 

[BigC]

Hi,
I dont think either of those remedies would do any good. Peas I dont think these killies would appreciate. If its not taking any food now its certainly not going to be enticed by a large green pea. Salt baths was an old remedy and not for constipation/bloating. Bring the fish off the bottom into a net breeder or similar and keep an eye on things. This could be any one of a number of things or combination of which sometimes is hard to diagnose. Being on the bottom suggests something is wrong with the fishes deportment which could relate to the swim bladder. If the fish does make it try feeding a varied diet.
Regards
BigC

 

[fergalthefish]

my panchax actually loved peas!!! half a pea eaten in one go!!! yum yum lol

 

[BigC]

Well you learn something new every day... But they're not included in my food larder.