Baby Firemouth slightly bloated

theedge634

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 6, 2015
14
0
1
Orange County
I've got a baby firemouth, got him around 6-7 days ago along with a myriad of other cichlids. The moment i brought him home i realized he looked a bit off, his stomach is slightly swollen, it doesn't look ridiculous like most bloat pictures, but has remained a bit big. He was eating every now and again, but then just stopped, and I haven't seen him poop at all.... until tonight, he pooped about 1/2" white full poop, it was segmented in the middle though.

Fins are fine, color is great, scales are normal, kind of seems pretty lethargic. Swimming may/may not be normal, it's not noticeably off, he doesn't tilt harshly up/down to either side. Tank is properly cycled with reading of 0 on ammonia, nitrates, nitrites.

I'm not sure what to do, just getting back into the aquaria hobby 10 years after being a kid in love with his fish.

I can post up a picture and any more specifics, but what am I looking at here?... Bacteria?.. Tapeworm?... Dropsy?.... Bloat?.... or just constipation?... I isolated him in a very large acclimation box for the night (don't have a emergency tank yet), and deshelled and chopped up a pea, I'll see if he eats any by tomorrow morning.
 

theedge634

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 6, 2015
14
0
1
Orange County
Oh.. to add to the original information, his breathing seems perfectly normal, and the other fish have shown no signs of illness at all.
 

JakeH

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Mar 17, 2009
1,961
1
66
Houston, TX
Sounds like an internal parasite to me--Soak food in metro or dog de-wormer (which is usually metro-based) & add a drop of garlic extract to make sure he eats it. Add some metro to the main tank & be vigilant for a few weeks, as those big white turds can be loaded with more worms/parasites.
 

theedge634

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 6, 2015
14
0
1
Orange County
I've got him relaxing in an epsom salt bath for now, his poop is neither long nor stringy, and it is not segmented either. I'm thinking more now that it may be constipation, from high stress (really long move from fish store) combined with a possible change in diet (who knows what they were feeding him). I have some metro plus on hand and we'll be keeping an extremely close eye on the situation though.
 
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