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Hello all

I was hoping for a little advice over our Oscar.

He is about three years old and has been with us all of that time. He has been very healthy overall (the odd missing scale or fin rip but always heal fast) but a few days ago his lower "abdomen" became swollen and he is off his food. Instead if going happy mad when one of us passes the tank with the food pot he goes and hides and sulks at the back on the gravel if I lift the lid.

He is due for a clean out this weekend (water perameters still within normal) but he gets so stressed during these times wether I leave him in the tank or remove him to a quiet dark place (Water gets splashed everwhere) and I don't want to place any more stress on him if he is unwell.

We don't know if he is male or female and so wonder if they lay eggs and could it be something like that.
Tried to treat it with peas (in case of constipation) but he wasn't interested.
Nothing new added to the tank (fish/food/ornaments/chemicals) so little chance of parasites
Could he have eaten a pebble and be having trouble passing that??

His problem, aside from the swollen stomach, is more behavioural, like he has lost his sparkle (maybe he has become a teen!) And likes to look out of the tank in a certain direction (nothing to watch there) but otherwise is swimming fine no boyancy issues(so probably not swim bladder)

Anyway...to conclude this long post any advice on what to treat it as or what it might be would be very helpful.

Kim (UK)

Just to add

Tank 55 Gal, inhabitants 13" oscar and 4" BN (healthy)
Temp 25. NH3 - 0, Nirite- 0, Nitrate - 30
Filtration - fitted Jewel and fluval 2+
De-chlorinator - King British (no other additives)
Food- Hikari cichlid but currently Tetra doromin

Help still required, no better but no worse.

It sounds like your Oscar is quite unwell. Due to it's symptoms it shouldn't be Swim Bladder, and I highly doubt that it would have swallowed a rock. I would say it is constipation, but if he isn't accepting peas there is nothing much you can do. Keep trying with the pea, and don't forget to shell it. Give your Oscar a good old water change and check the water and make adjustments if needed. Any diseased fish will definately lose it's sparkle and become quite stressed, but if he gets better, I assure you he'll go back to his normal self. I wish you all the best and I hope your Oscar gets better soon!

Thank you for your reply Jay.

I went to my LFS (the best one, I have 3) for some advice and looked in a book and the symptoms they had down for Malawi Bloat sounded rather familiar. An anti-internal bacteria med was recommended. He seems to be picking up a little but I am still keeping the the info I found on fishy vets till I know he is out of the woods.

Kim

Malawi Bloat is best dealt with using Metrodizanole. If the fish is not eating, you may need to inject it directly into the fish or use a water soluable version. Do a search, there's some tips on this forum regarding mixture for the water soluable metro.

As an alternative to pea's, you can use any food high in spirulina. I've been told recently that feeding of pea's can actually cause bowel obstrustions in some fish. Especially if they are left whole... so be careful of that.

Also as a tip, Nitrates at 30ppm is still pretty high. Do more regular water changes (more than once a week) and you'll find that number will halve in no time.

Sadly after a few days of improvement he took a quick nose dive and passed away. He will be sorely missed.

Thank you for your help

Kim

That sucks. Sorry for your loss

Oh that's awful, I'm so sorry for your loss

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean