endli acting unusual... the follow up

[LeoKhomutov]

First off, thanks to all who replied with useful advice. I don't know what to make of this but my exclusively bottom dwelling endli (1 of 3) is sill floating around at the surface although it does go to the bottm or perches on a rock about half way down the tank for a while. The thing that is starting to worry me is that I still have not seen it eat a bite and its been more than four days. I've tried frozen krill, silversides and bay scallops right by the fish and it shows no intrest. Despite careful and prolonged observation, however the fish shows no external signs of any kind of illness. In my previous post I mentioned that perhaps the endli swallowed some gravel, but I did not hear from anyone who had something like that happen to them so I don't know what symptoms if any (beside not eating) to look for. If anyone out there has had something similar happen to them, I'd love to hear your story.
By the way the other two endlis are acting perfectly normal and so are all the other tankmates.

 

[Cohazard]

Good to hear so far everything is fine.

I didn't catch the part about you suspecting gravel ingestion. If the polypterus ingests gravel, and they are not able to pass it (read that as 'poop it out' ) then it causes a blockage and their body slowly swells over time until they die.

 

[LeoKhomutov]

Okay, but would the fish swell even if it did not eat. Its been five days now since I saw it eat anything. Just now I fed the rest of the crew and I dropped a small thawed silverside right by its nose. Never even stirred till another poly came up and gulped it up. I wonder what are the chances that I would do more harm the good if I took my sick poly out of the water, held securely and pried open its mouth to see if I can find any foreign objects in there? At the same time I could feel down its gut line if there are any hard lumps along the way. By the way, just to be sure, the poop hole on these fish is behind the very last fin and the tail right?

 

[Cohazard]

You don't want to do that because if it is just stress, you will push it further into stress.

I honestly don't know if it would still swell if it wasn't eating. Probably not, but that's a guess.

Opening the mouth wont help because if ingested, all you will see is the back of the bichirs throat.

Yes you do have the placement of the anus correct.

I still say the best treatment is to leave it alone for the time being.

 

[LeoKhomutov]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I hope you're right and I think I'm stressing over this more than I should. I'll just wait a few more days and see how the poly does.
I'll post any new developments as they come up. Thanks again.

 

[Cohazard]

No problem, I feel for you man, I've had this happen to me where a bichir suddenly just doesn't eat.

It's nerve wrecking, but keep your cool, leave the fish alone, and you'll be okay.

 

[Nemesis]

I observed my 6" ornate swallowing 2 pieces of gravel last night like it was food. I don't understand this if I fed it 2 whole frozen silversides in the morning.When I saw this I gave it some sinking pellets, which it ate. It just ate another 2 silversides today. What are the chances that the gravel will just pass? The gravel is a little under 1cm big. I just observed a small bulge in it's stomache that looks like it could be the gravel.

 

[Wildzone]

How big is the poly? if it's a baby it's normal for them to float on the surface, that's what they do in the wild.

Don't worry if you don't see him eat he probably eats at night. Throw in some sinking pellets when you turn off the lights and he will find them.

 

[LeoKhomutov]

I hope your ornate will be able to pass that gravel through its guts. My 12" endli died because it had a 3-4mm diameter piece of gravel stuck int its gut. I found it after an autopsie. My best advice is change your gravel to sand.

 

[Nemesis]

Yeah I have been wanting to change it, but have been scared of a mini cycle. At this point my ornates life is more important, so I'm going to do it tomorrow armed with some prime.