Last week I noticed this little demasoni hiding under a rock and not coming out to eat with the others. He's just a little thing, probably not even an inch in length.

This is only my second experience with what I think of as bloat and it never occurred to me that fry could show these symptoms. This guy is one of the two bigger, bossier demasoni in the 10 gallon fry tank.

I separated him in a breeder box, but treated the whole tank with Jungle's Parasite Clear, a heaping tablespoon of sea salt added slowly throughout the day, and another tablespoon of epsom salt for good measure.

You can see the bloated belly and stringy poop. He also seemed to be gasping and breathing heavily.




Now he's looking much better. When I feed the rest of the tank, he tries to get at the food. He's much more active and getting his fire back!




He's looking a little skinny now. Do you think it would be safe to feed him a little light feeding or should I wait a little longer. I was going to start him on something like small bits of frozen peas or spinach - something light.

Aura, how many treatments of the JPC did you do?

You should fast the fish for at least 7 days and then try
to very slowly get the fish to eat small amounts.

He looks like he's doing much better, thankfully!

You are fortunate that you were able to save this fish. Most of the time,
it's too late with one that looks this bloated.

I thought he was a goner for sure, but he has really turned around.

I treated twice with the JPC. I was going to do three treatments, but he was so much better after two that I decided to hold off.

It's been eight days since I started the treatment. I've kept the salt levels up, but am going to bring them down with water changes soon.

He's really anxious to get out of that hospital room! I was planning to keep him in there until I see him eat and do some normal poop. Good Job

Sounds like your plan is working, Aura!

Good Job and I hope he makes a full recovery!

How are the rest of the fish doing?

Thanks preacherboy. The rest of the fry look and act fine. I'll keep an eye on them, but they did go through the same treatment the sick one did, so hopefully that will help keep them from coming down with the same symptoms.

Aura, looks like he's fine to me...

I normally do 3 full treatments of the JPC, but fish seem to be like humans in the respect that younger ones are more resilient than older ones. He may have just gorged himself and you may not have been dealing with true bloat at all. Whatever it was, it looks like it's over!

I would feed him very lightly and keep an eye on him for returning symptoms.

Do you normally feed the peas and veggies? If not, I would go with my normal food for them. If so, that should be fine!

Sorry I didn't see this thread earlier!

Kim

I don't normally feed veggies to the fry, but I was thinking that I should start him out gradually with something that would pass through easily. They usually get NLS pellets which are pretty dense.

Throughout the time he was in the breeder box, the only poop I saw was the thin white stuff. He must have had a lot of fluid building up in there. He looked like a little balloon about ready to pop. yikes

How is the little guy now, Aura?

Fine, I hope!

Kim

He's doing fine - thanks for asking.

He wasn't interested in the peas, but took flake and then his normal pellets. The poop was a little strange before it returned to a normal look and I let him out yesterday.

Now I can't even tell which one he is anymore. Hmmmm

Great news, Aura! ayeaura

Good Job! Good Job

I've heard alot of talk about Malawi Bloat being Contageous? is this true?

BTW congrats Aura on ur fish recovery u gotta pat ur self on the back he pulled through especially at that young stage!! RARE.. or are they subosto be tuffer on purpose at a younge age? lol

Melafix fix!

It sure seems that way to me. With my first fish that had bloat, I had removed him to treat in another tank and a day or two later, I noticed another one starting to show the same types of symptoms so I ended up treating the whole tank to try and stop any further spread.

I've read that it can be spread by fish mouthing the poop of infected fish, but it's really all a mystery to me. idunno

Even the main cause of bloat is still some what a mystery many say protein OD lol or Poor water conditions + Protien OD.

Much debat on this topic, But i've noticed my self in the past when any of my cichlids came down with symptoms shortly after a few others joined in...

Hmmmm

Thanks again Aura for the post :)

I agree that a discussion on causes and treatments of "Bloat" oftens
leads to a heated debate!

I believe many digestive disorders are too often labeled "bloat"
when that might not be the case at all.

I do believe that bloat is highly contagious and very sneaky in how
it slowly spreads through an aquarium.

When I first started keeping Mbunas back in November of 2006, I
was a newbie and I may some mistakes in feeding that caused me
to battle bloat.

After Kim got me through that mess, I had to battle another case of bloat due
to aggression and stress among the Mbunas. Kim got me through that mess
and I have slowly learned to watch my fish very carefully for any signs of
withdrawal from the group or spitting food out or simply not eating at all.

Overall, I believe the key to success against bloat is keeping a very close eye on
your fish and reducing stress factors as much as possible.
In addition, I'm a firm believer in fasting my fish one day a week.

Bouncy

Agreed PB after all fish in the wild do not have a Consistant food source "us" keepers so it doesnt hurt them to miss a day or 2

We all learn the hard way in life PB unfortionatly...