Help save my flowerhorn...

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wutangben

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 28, 2009
30
0
6
Chicagoland
Hey guys, looking for some help diagnosing my flowerhorn. His stomach has swelled up pretty large, I'm thinking he has bloat, but I am not sure.

The tank he is in always seems to get algae blooms for some reason. (the water turns green for a week or two, then clears up) Even after I moved him into a new tank in a new location (my office at work), the algae blooms still happen. I have another 125g tank at home filled with chiclids, and I never seem to have that same problem.

The fish is about 3 years old, he's in a 125 gallon tank that gets regular water changes. His only other tank mate is a pleco. There's no gravel. I've got an emperor 400 filter with functioning bio wheels, which I just put plain white filters in (no carbon) and a heater. The tank is normally at 80 degrees. I just added some carbon for the first time today actually.

I feed him spectrum pellets only, since he's been at my new office (haven't brought the frozen food over yet). He gets fed every day, mondays through fridays, and fasts over the weekends.

Anyway, He has been acting a little different for the past 2-3 weeks. He hasn't been eager to eat his food as usual. I actually was out of town all of last week, and didn't realized he was sick until I got back into town this week, when I noticed that his stomach/lower half had blown up. I had done a water change before I left on vacation, and did a water change just now. He's pretty lethargic, but will still chase the magnet around here and there. He is not eating at all anymore.

Here are some pictures of what he looks like.

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his head looks seems to be very pruney.

As you can see in some of the pictures the water is very green. Other pictures were taken after I did this evening's water change. I tested the water with some dipsticks that expired 7 years ago, so I'm not sure how accurate they are.

Amonia appeared to be 0.25ppm

Nitrate 40ppm

Nitrite 0-0.5ppm

Hardness was 120

Alklalinity was 80

pH appeared to be low 6.4-6.8

I add water conditioner after water changes, since I am using tap water. I also usually add a fair a mount of aquarium salt, which I've added recently, since I heard it could help for bloat.

I've read to turn the temps up to 90 degrees, treat with epsom salt, and metro for bloat. However, my LFS just told me I should turn the temperature DOWN to 70 degrees, and they say they never treat bloat with medicine.

I'm not sure how I can tell if this is a parasite or a bacterial infection, can anyone lend some advice? Not even sure what to keep the temp at, so I guess I will leave it alone for now....

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.
 
WOW and OW! He needs to poop badly. Could have some IP too.

Ok, to summarize what I'll explain below, I'd keep temp at 82-85, do a 75% water change, add Seachem Stability according to the directions for a new tank, and I'd dump in 2 2/3 cups of epsom salt, and start feeding him food soaked in 3% epsom salt solution.

I don't know about your water tests there. If they are accurate you have issues. A cycled tank should not have any ammonia or nitrite reading and the lower the nitrate the better, 5-20. You said it was a 125, and you had an Emperor 400 on it - are you running any other filters? I run an XP4 and an Emperor 400 on mine, and it's minimal in my mind. If you are only running the one Emperor 400 you really need to go out and pick up something else to add on, if money was no object for a filter, I'd say a Rena XP4 or FX5 (both cheaper on Amazon than almost anywhere else). If you had to go less, even picking up a used Penguin 350 or Emperor 400 again. Before I got the XP4 running I had two Aqueon 75 and the Emperor 400 on my tank. Running a better filter will also help with your algae blooms a little, running a UV on it will really help (if you have the money to spare). The first thing I'd be doing on the tank would be a 75% water change and getting a bottle of Seachem Stability and treating the tank as a new tank according to the bottle directions. Don't change out your filter pad, let the bb grow, but do keep up on 25% weekly water changes at a minimum adding epsom salt back into the new water each time.

You can soak the pellets in the salt solution and then let them dry again and feed them to him. The epsom salt will help him poop and help clear out IP. Although fish do not drink in water much unless they are eating and the epsom salt in the tank will not cure him by itself, I have noticed with my green terror that as he picks through the gravel he is inhaling gravel and exhaling and I'm sure some small amounts are swallowed in this process. Since my green terror was not eating at one point I figured it was worth a shot at putting the salt in the tank. A week later he was eating and starting to poop normal again, I kept treating until his poop was completely normal and his eating was normal and then I quit adding salt and it was removed as water changes were done.

good link - http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...9362-Treating-Hexamita-aka-Spironucleus/page7

Has he been pooping? Has the poop looked normal or is it white and stringy? White and stringy poop is likely IP. Soaking food in a solution of 'metro' seems to work too, epsom salt has as well and is cheaper and easy to get.

His head indicates he isn't feeling good which is why it shrunk, also it is fatty like a camel's hump so if he isn't eating then his body will use it as a resource. When he starts eating again and feels better his hump should fill out again. Good luck with him, hopefully you caught it early enough he clears up in the next few weeks.

Just to note - my green terror was being treated in a 56g tank, I had to bump the total epsom salt in the tank to 2 cups before he responded to treatment, at least he was fat (look at his fat self in my avatar) before he got sick and he lost quite a bit weight during treatment while he wouldn't eat, in the end he didn't look bad but I think being a pig all the time before saved him this time.
 
well, i'm back at the office. couldn't get to see him all day yesterday. i re-tested the water with some non expired strips and the water is fine.

currently treating with metro, but i think it might be too far along. he's losing his color now, and not doing so great..
 
It's really though to treat bloat with medication - surgical is your best option with bloat. And I only know one guy who is able to give advice upon this type of syringes treatment with flowerhorn that I rely on such expertise advice(others on the board may know as well). PM me if you fish to know that particular person that I can pin point to seek advice from for future reference dealing with bloat. Now on the second picture, I see pop eye issue as well. Pop eye treatment works best with dead banana leaves that are used for bettas IMO. Browse around about bettas with dead/dried banana leaves and you'll get the idea of it. Sorry to see him move on...
 
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