balloon belly

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
salt was added a while back about a few teaspoon during my weekly water changes. i only added salt to help prevent parasites and infections with in my tank. i later found out it was not the best thing to do. since then i've stopped adding salt.
If what you say is true what should i do and is there any thing that can be done? i would have never added the salt if iknew it would effect my fish. in this case the article i was reading did not widely cover the types of fish it would have cause an ill effect to. i only later found this out from ready up on salt and how it can affect my tanks.
Please help me save my pleco.
 
Yes the salt use in the past could have contributed to the fishes current condition.

The problem with treating this disease is that there are a number of "potential" causes: bacterial infection, parasites, cancerous tumors, virus', internal fungal infections or sudden temperature drop of more than 3 degrees.

If the cause is bacterial, the swelling typically comes on pretty rapidly. If swelling is gradual then one or more of the other potential causes are more likely. Unfortunately, treatment is most often useless at this point due to the advanced state of the disease process. When the illness, whatever the cause, has progressed far enough to cause internal swelling, the concomitant internal damage is usually too extensive to be repairable.

The latest research has shown that if the disease cause is bacterial and if the disease process is caught early enough, treatment with Romet B, a broad spectrum antibacterial, *may* be effective when used concurrent with an increase in water temperature to 84-86ºF for 2 weeks minimum.

BE CERTAIN to maintain HIGH OXYGEN LEVELS during such treatment since at these temperatures, water holds significantly less oxygen at these higher water temperatures. One of the suspected bacterial precursors to the disease process -- Aeromonas, is killed at these temperatures.



I've personally been able to successfull treat dropsy with an anti internal bacterial med made by Interpet, unfortunately i don't think this medicine is available where you live in your part of the world.
 
i just checked in on him and the food is still there he did not eat. just motionless in the middle of the tank. im not sure what to do...leave him and try my best to cure or if he suffering way past the point to just let him go.

im calling the lfs to see in they have the meds you referred or something close to help. still not sure what to do.
 
Its always worth trying to save the fish, there is still some hope even at this stage :thumbsup: .
Meds-wise, i would advise any med that treats internal bacterial infections but does not damage the beneficial filter bacteria in your filter (as some meds can do this).

It would probably be pretty pointless to try feeding the pleco at this stage, his internal organs are probably too swollen or compacted to really give him any easy digestion anyway- pleco's like yours can go for many weeks without any food, so him not eating for a week or too shouldn't cause a problem.
 
after trying all that i was advised my pleco saw his last. it seem like the more i did the worse it got today.

not sure i want to try a pleco anymore at least not right now.

Thanks for you tokis phoenix ... it just a lil too late on my part but great advise.
 
calicichlid;1154186; said:
after trying all that i was advised my pleco saw his last. it seem like the more i did the worse it got today.

not sure i want to try a pleco anymore at least not right now.

Thanks for you tokis phoenix ... it just a lil too late on my part but great advise.
Click to expand...



I'm sorry for your loss :(, i'm glad i could help though, at least now if you ever encounter this problem again you will know what symptoms to look out for and how to treat the problem early on :thumbsup: .
 
Sorry to hear your Pleco died. After seeing the pics I thought he looked very poorly. I hope you have more luck with any you might get in the future. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom