Sometimes it just won’t go away. Doesn’t effect the fish as long as control the food. It looks off but as long u don’t overfeed it’ll be ok.
Bulge in stomach
- Thread starter Nim Dibbley
- Start date
was the poop stringy / white-ish / greenish? if so, i suspect some sort of internal parasite / infection in which case treat it with deworming medication.
I would also treat for internal parasites. That bulge does not look healthy. Something is going on in there if the epsom salt is not helping. Possibly developed a tumor. Hopefully this ornate can lead a long life in your care.
logically I can't see it being parasites. i haven't added anything to the tank in years and i don't feed anything live. and if it is parasites i'd have to treat the main tank. I do have some prazipro and tetra parasite guard on hand from a bichir worm outbreak a few years ago. i might give the parasite guard a shot as i believe it also treats bacterial infections.
I think i'm going to give the epsom salt one more week. after getting a better look at her, maybe the bulge is smaller.
For the purpose of helping others with this issue, I am posting another update. Nothing I tried worked and the fish did not eat anything the entire time in quarantine.
I treated with epsom salt for 5 weeks and even without eating, the bulge has not gone down. However the fish does look thinner if I look at her from above.
This last week I treated with tetra parasite guard. Since the fish was already in qt and nothing else was working I figured I’d give it a shot.
I think I’m doing more harm than good by keeping her in qt so I returned her to the main tank this morning.
I treated with epsom salt for 5 weeks and even without eating, the bulge has not gone down. However the fish does look thinner if I look at her from above.
This last week I treated with tetra parasite guard. Since the fish was already in qt and nothing else was working I figured I’d give it a shot.
I think I’m doing more harm than good by keeping her in qt so I returned her to the main tank this morning.
It’s likely a tumor that’s causing this bulge. Bloat typically swells from front to back, and not a golf ball type bulge. Glad you updated this post. Hopefully, ornate can live a lengthy life without any issues.
One final reply to this thread. The fish passed today. She never recovered and the bloat/tumor/ whatever never went away. I had her for about 7 years.
Sorry at least one more post. I was going through my old posts to find old pics of the Bichir and I found something probably unrelated but interesting. This same fish had eaten a plastic plant five years ago. Could that be the cause? It just took five years to surface?
