HELP! RTC stomach is huge! (he didnt swallow OR eat anything)

[Temjin]

My RTC is about 11" long. I feed him 2 frozen fish (silver sides) yesterday morning. After he ate his stomach was normal sized. By the night it was looking like he was pregnant. Now this morning it looks like he swallowed 2 small golf balls. He seems to be swelling up quite a bit.
There is nothing for him to eat in the tank as it has no gravel. Im not missing any filtration pieces or anything like that. Also he ate all his tankmates about 1 month ago so he didnt eat any more fish while I wasnt looking. Do fish get gas? Or maybe he's constipated? I really dont know. Please provide me with some advice because I think he might be really sick or something and I dont want to lose my beloved RTC!

Also I switched to silver sides about 3 weeks ago. I dont know if that helps.


THANKS!!!

 

[Bgonz]

I had a similar problem about a year ago with a 24" RTC. He became bloated and stopped eating after about 2 weeks. All summer long he didnt eat and retained his enormous stomach. He looked healthy, just fat and didnt eat. I tried every med out there, litterly spending hundreds of dollars and in the end he died.

I almost didnt want to respond to this thread because i dont want to sound negative, or ruin your hopes but i figured you should know.

I've kept RTC's for years and they also swallow stuff for no reason, but will usually regurgitate it in a few days.

Best of luck and keep us posted, I wish you and your fish the best.



bob

 

[Zoodiver]

Sounds like an air issue. If you can get it calm and on it's back, use a syringe to bleed air out by inserting it into the ventral side of the body cavity, then slowly massaging the air out. If no bubbles come out, you have other issues.

 

[Mentzer]

Sounds like an air issue. If you can get it calm and on it's back, use a syringe to bleed air out by inserting it into the ventral side of the body cavity, then slowly massaging the air out. If no bubbles come out, you have other issues.

I would agree with Zoodiver but would add I also have experience similar to Bgonz, where a young 12" Hemibagrus wyckii died. Personally I would go along with Zoodiver's recommendation but would add that it could be a acute severe bacterial infection. I have used the services of a vet before successfully for this (with a £700 / $1260 Brachyplatystoma tigrinum) which involved two pre-dorsal injections of two different antibiotics - one short term specific compound and another longer general compound. Don't even waste your time (and money) with "off the shelf" products with hyped-up claims. The vet won't be cheap buit they mave save your RTC. Yes there is stress and trauma with two injections but the antibiotics are within the bloodstream and working in minutes as opposed to a bath or something in the tank, which should be a no-no in any event as the compound/s would wipe out your filter bacteria too. Unless you have experience of injecting large fish I would leave it to your vet to try Zoodiver's suggestion first then mine as a follow-up. You shall probably need to see the vet anyway to get the anti-biotics. Time is of the essence and I would not delay. Good luck with him, let us know how you get on.

 

[Temjin]

Well I dont know if it was gas or what but it went down. He also threw up a bunch of fish particles. (heads and tails and what not) He seems to be doing a lot better. I think I will switch back to the krill i was feeding him!


Thanks for all the quick replies. Makes me glad to be a part of this community.

 

[BIGgourami]

my irridencents do the same thing whenever they eat. is it the same thing? cause i think that's just excess water being swallowed. it usually goes away in a few hours.

 

[Mentzer]

Well I dont know if it was gas or what but it went down. He also threw up a bunch of fish particles. (heads and tails and what not) He seems to be doing a lot better. I think I will switch back to the krill i was feeding him!


Thanks for all the quick replies. Makes me glad to be a part of this community.

Glad he's ok