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!!
.
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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