Hi first off Polypterids are egg layers there is no internal fertilization alsot appears to be a male and yes its bloat.(shoulda checked the stickies)
Bloat
It's not certain what the exact trigger is that causes this. But, it seems to occur with infrequent water changes, lower temps, and undiverse feeding regimens.
There's a product called Metronidazole. Use of this med along with the salt addition and frequent water changes have been successful in beating bloat.
Perform at least a 30% water change, treat with the med, and don't try to feed the poly for the next several days. On day 3 of the treatment, perform another water change and retreat with the med at full strength. Repeat this plan for a third treatment. During the treatment, watch your poly for waste elimination (sign of kidney function) and check your ammonia level. As the poly kicks the bloat, it'll dump a huge amount of waste to clear its system so, additional smaller water changes may be needed to keep ammonia levels down. A couple of days after the 3rd treatment, you can offer your ornate some food. Increasing plant protein in its diet will help in flushing its system and can be achieved by stuffing algae wafers or spirulina into non-living food or by gut-loading live food items prior to feeding them to the ornate.
Once the bloat is long over, keep up a regular schedule of water changes. Continue to offer foods that contain animal and plant protein (gut-loading is the easiest way). I also recommend keeping a trace amount of rift lake salts in all poly tanks to help maintain proper kidney function and osmotic regulation. Rift lake salts differ from sea salt in that rift lake salts are a calcium chloride derived salt instead of sodium chloride derived salts from marine mixes.
I maintain close to 40 polys and have followed this plan since my last bout of bloat over 8 years ago with no reoccurrances of this disease. Good Luck.Oddball
To treat Bloat, the plan of attack is:
Metronidazole and water changes, water changes, water changes!!
1. Remove carbon/resins from filter.
2. Perform a 30-50% water change (reduces free-floating bacteria population)
3. Add salt (teaspoon to a tablespoon per gallon) to aid the fish's osmotic regulation processes.
4. Treat with 250mg/20gallons of Metronidazole (Flagyl)
5. Leave for 3 days and do not feed.
6. After 3 days, perform another large water change.
7. Replace the salt.
8. Add full dosage of Metronidazole.
9. Wait another 3 days. During this phase, the bloat should be decreasing in appearance. In large fish, the water may take on an ammonia odor from the high volume of urea the fish should now be producing due to reducing the bloat and recovering renal activity.
10. 3rd day, another water change. Also, replace the salt and redose the metronidazole (full dose). If the fish looks to be well on the road to recovery you can offer a small feeding each day.
11. Another water change on the 3rd day. No meds but, I'd recommend the salt. You should be clear now.
This is the treatment I use on my africans, puffers, and my lungfishes/polypteridae. Knock on wood that it's worked every single time.
An old school method of treating bloat is with the use of epsom salt at the rate of 2 tablespoons per 10 gallons of tank volume. This method has been successful but, takes longer to treat than by using Metronidazole.oddball
