URGENT - Bichir with blockage

Hello,

I have a 165L tank with three fish which I have had for 5 years - a black ghost knife, albino bichir and a spotted climbinb perch. I usually feed them a diet of ox heart, peas, blood worms etc. Recently I bought a small can of freshwater shrimp (not dried) from animates and it said on the can you can feed them to fish. They all loved eating them, but now my albino bichir has a serious problem. He is the smaller of the bunch and now he has a blockage.

I'm guessing that the tail/exoskeleton on a shrimp has gotten caught in his digestive tract and it seems to be pushing very hard against his side and very nearly piercing his scales. There is quite a lump and the scales are poking out - yesterday there was a small white bit of "fluff" attached but it has since fallen off. I fasted him for a day, then fed him peas a few days ago. I increased the temperature to 29 - 30 degrees and this morning I bathed him in an epsom salt bath made with aquarium water and 1 tbsp of epsom salt/3.8 litres (1 gallon) for 15 minutes. I can do the epsom salt baths twice a day for the next day or so and see what happens... But I'm very worried and don't see how the shrimp can break down in his gut now, or be excreted. He is hiding more than usual but is still relatively active. I have not fed him for a few days. I contacted my cousin who is a vet and he is not sure that his gut is perforated as he would be looking very sick if this was the case. Has anyone had similar experience? The inflammation is quite severe and I don't know what else to do. There aren't really any fish vets where I live. HELP!!


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Thanks for your feedback.

Yes - well, my cousin the vet also said that it seems strange that the shrimp would pass so far through his system only to get lodged at the end. The other thing is he often gets gravel in his mouth and spits it out but could have swallowed a bit (I need to change the substrate eventually). But the thing is, this lump came up very quickly - like I noticed the lump, and within 24 hours it was red and inflamed. This tank has never had any diseases before in five years. The other two fish are happy and healthy. Why would a parasite suddenly pop up like this?

Strangely enough Ickis (that's his name) is still swimming around the tank frequently and isn't looking all that sick... But the area is looking very swollen and painful. I really don't know. I did a big 50% waterchange today (took him out and put him in a bucket during) and also gave him another epsom salt bath. I will feed him some shelled peas tonight to break the fast and give him some oxheart tomorrow night. I dont think I'll feed him the shrimp again...

If I were to treat for parasites, would I have to isolate him from the ghost knife and perch? I know BGK can be quite sensitive. What would I use as a first line treatment? I have melafix, would that be effective?