Is This Belly Normal?

[Lysytsya]

Good Morning All,
I haven't posted in quite sometime, but I guess no news has been good news. Until now. My FH, Bubba seems to have recently gained a pot-belly. I noticed he looked a little "fuller" a few weeks ago, but chalked it up to growth because his chins are fairly new. But I'm noticing one side (Could not capture it in photo) seems to be even bigger than this side. I only feed him 3 times a week and smaller meals since he's so large now, and his appetite is currently really good and mood is normal, however I haven't fed him since Friday cause I'm worried about this belly. There's no white poop, no other fish in the tank or any other changes that I'm aware of. I'm hoping it's just constipation, but I don't know how to treat it. Should I not feed him for the week? Or longer? Should I increase his tank temp? Any help is appreciated!

 

[Melwin]

Hi bro! Don't worry we will try and do our best for your FH. I know some things that will work but before that I need to know the size of the fish and have you noticed anything similar like this when the fish was a juvenile. ​

 

[HybridFinatic]

Good Morning All,
I haven't posted in quite sometime, but I guess no news has been good news. Until now. My FH, Bubba seems to have recently gained a pot-belly. I noticed he looked a little "fuller" a few weeks ago, but chalked it up to growth because his chins are fairly new. But I'm noticing one side (Could not capture it in photo) seems to be even bigger than this side. I only feed him 3 times a week and smaller meals since he's so large now, and his appetite is currently really good and mood is normal, however I haven't fed him since Friday cause I'm worried about this belly. There's no white poop, no other fish in the tank or any other changes that I'm aware of. I'm hoping it's just constipation, but I don't know how to treat it. Should I not feed him for the week? Or longer? Should I increase his tank temp? Any help is appreciated! View attachment 1504328

I would resume to normal feeding of once a day or every other day. Since there is no other cause for concern then it is most likely just genetics. This is not uncommon for many Flowerhorn to have a big belly and one side appearing a bit bigger may just be a slight deformity to his big belly. Nothing of concern. Just cosmetic.

 

[Melwin]

No bro , if it's genetic it should have begun at when the fish was a juvenile. The bloating on one side can also make the fish loose it's balance in time. Tell me the details I asked bro I'll tell u what needs to be done.

 

[Lysytsya]

Hi bro! Don't worry we will try and do our best for your FH. I know some things that will work but before that I need to know the size of the fish and have you noticed anything similar like this when the fish was a juvenile. ​

I appreciate your reply! He's about 15"-16", 3 years old and he's never gotten this pot-belly before. His behavior is 100% normal, he's not stress itching or anything. I showed him his bag of food this morning and he went nuts, so I know his appetite is still good as well, though he hasn't eaten since last Friday. Both sides are swollen, but the opposite side looks more bulgy than he other. Even with no feeding for almost a week I'm seeing no changes. No scales have lifted either, I'm keeping a close eye on that.
I'll attach another photo I got this morning of his more concerning side, though it's still a little hard to see. His tube is also protruding more than normal, or maybe I'm just overly paranoid at this point.

 

[HybridFinatic]

No bro , if it's genetic it should have begun at when the fish was a juvenile. The bloating on one side can also make the fish loose it's balance in time. Tell me the details I asked bro I'll tell u what needs to be done.

Wrong. That’s like saying if it’s genetic, then a huge hump, double chin, other adult traits should have begun at juvenile. He mentioned his FH has had recent development of his chin and a bigger belly at around the same time. This seems to be normal development. 3 years old is moderately old for a flowerhorn these days but in general for central American cichlids 3 years old is still a relatively young adult and they are still developing into these years. With no other cause for concern OP is good for being aware but is becoming paranoid and may cause more serious symptoms by mistreating. Lysytsya Return to normal feeding, and keep high water quality as usual, moderate temp of 75-80F……..and just keep an eye on it.

 

[Melwin]

Hi ! cool ..nothing to worry cuz we kno now that it's not a genetic problem as this dint start when the fish was young. So it can be a internal parasitic problem which is not serious u need not worry much we will do a few thing and get the fish back to normal.

Ok
1) first let's take out everything that's in the tank and do a 80 percent water change only tank and fish no gravel and decors ( bare bottom tank)
2) normal temp for flowerhorn is 28°C we will raise the temp only now till the fish gets alright lets keep it 34°C.
* FH are not fishes that eat rarely , they are cichlids and they are always ready for food so it wrong to not feed them everyday
3) until the fish gets alright don't feed any pellets, feed only 3 to 4 boiled green peas everyday( wait for the peas to get cold after boiling)
* Soak the peas in seachem garlic guard before feeding for fast results
* Don't feed the fish every Saturday and Sunday
4) No matter what size tank you have do a 10% water change everyday and 70% every sunday.
If ur too busy everyday to do 10% water change ..u can do 50% on Wednesday and 70% on Sunday.
* Use seachem - prime , stability and * paraguard* after every water change as per instructions on the products.

That's it bro, u can do this, the fish will start to become normal ..once u see the changes slowly reduse the temperature every week.
Even after it gets turns normal don't feed it rarely and don't feed the fish pellets, feed it 1 *freshwater* prawns everyday before u go to sleep this will give the fish more relaxing time in the night for digestion, feed medium size prawns not too big for it mouth. Prawns are the best for fish health and immunity.

After the fish is normal u can add in decors and gravel and you can do 50 % water change on Wednesday and 50% on Sunday.

U have an awesome fish and don't worry it's gonna be alright.

 

[Lysytsya]

Wrong. That’s like saying if it’s genetic, then a huge hump, double chin, other adult traits should have begun at juvenile. He mentioned his FH has had recent development of his chin and a bigger belly at around the same time. This seems to be normal development. 3 years old is moderately old for a flowerhorn these days but in general for central American cichlids 3 years old is still a relatively young adult and they are still developing into these years. With no other cause for concern OP is good for being aware but is becoming paranoid and may cause more serious symptoms by mistreating. Lysytsya Return to normal feeding, and keep high water quality as usual, moderate temp of 75-80F……..and just keep an eye on it.

Thanks for your feedback. I will take both of your advise and baby this for a while, but it sounds like I'll need to increase the temp for a bit and change his food up.! I appreciate it!

 

[Melwin]

Hi Bro! What u said is right but Im not talking about normal genetic growth , I'm taking about genetic disorder. FH genetically don't get pot bellies with one side more than the other unless there is some genetic disorder or some internal parasite causing over constipation or liver damage ...and genetic disorders usually start to reflect when the fishes are juveniles / young.

 

[Lysytsya]

Hi ! cool ..nothing to worry cuz we kno now that it's not a genetic problem as this dint start when the fish was young. So it can be a internal parasitic problem which is not serious u need not worry much we will do a few thing and get the fish back to normal.

Ok
1) first let's take out everything that's in the tank and do a 80 percent water change only tank and fish no gravel and decors ( bare bottom tank)
2) normal temp for flowerhorn is 28°C we will raise the temp only now till the fish gets alright lets keep it 34°C.
* FH are not fishes that eat rarely , they are cichlids and they are always ready for food so it wrong to not feed them everyday
3) until the fish gets alright don't feed any pellets, feed only 3 to 4 boiled green peas everyday( wait for the peas to get cold after boiling)
* Soak the peas in seachem garlic guard before feeding for fast results
* Don't feed the fish every Saturday and Sunday
4) No matter what size tank you have do a 10% water change everyday and 70% every sunday.
If ur too busy everyday to do 10% water change ..u can do 50% on Wednesday and 70% on Sunday.
* Use seachem - prime , stability and * paraguard* after every water change as per instructions on the products.

That's it bro, u can do this, the fish will start to become normal ..once u see the changes slowly reduse the temperature every week.
Even after it gets turns normal don't feed it rarely and don't feed the fish pellets, feed it 1 *freshwater* prawns everyday before u go to sleep this will give the fish more relaxing time in the night for digestion, feed medium size prawns not too big for it mouth. Prawns are the best for fish health and immunity.

After the fish is normal u can add in decors and gravel and you can do 50 % water change on Wednesday and 50% on Sunday.

U have an awesome fish and don't worry it's gonna be alright.

Thanks for all your great help! I'll change up to the peas for a few days and monitor, if it goes well then I can switch him to the prawns. He's been getting NorthFin Carnivore for a long time with no issues. I'll increase his temperature as well. His water change schedule is already 50-60% once a week with a major vac, but I can double up as suggested above. He's technically my works fish, but I'm his sole caretaker so I'm used to coming in on weekends for him (long back story behind why we have him here, lol) so my only issue is bare-bottoming the tank. I usually have his gravel vac'd VERY clean. Is that going to break the bank if I DONT take out his substrate? I tried bare-bottom with him before about a year ago and he was extremely unhappy/stressed with it.