Jack dempsey

[onedayaway]

Hey guys, recently got back into the hobby after getting away for about 10 years.

Can anyone tell me what's going on with this young jack? In the last say 6 hours his belly has become very swollen.

Thanks for any help!

 

[fug202]

Is your fish breathing heavy, refusing food, and producing stringy whitish poop? If so it is likely bloat - a bacterial infection in the gut brought on primarily by stress. Bloat is relatively common in cichlids, and very difficult to treat unless you get on it right away. At the very least you might want to do a water change and add some salt.

Alternatively, has your JD just been pigging out? They seldom know when they've eaten enough.

Ian

 

[onedayaway]

Not breathing heavy, very active, and eating every single piece of food it can get its hands on. Picking through substrate for any crumbs even etc. Only weird thing it's doing is I have a large flat rock in the tank and it keeps going across it on its side ever couple minutes.

He/she took a monster crap, but now I noticed it's got another one hanging out but it's completely clear and see through, not white with a little ball of orange here and there..?

 

[onedayaway]

They're all digging through the substrate looking for crumbs as if they're starving. Sometimes I wonder if they're not eating enough. I've been feeding them floating pellets and flakes, but very sparingly waiting for the tank to completely cycle.

Tanks only been running for about a week now. Used prime when first filled, along with 10 table spoons of aquarium salt for fresh water fish in a 55 gallon tank.

Still showing no signs of ammonia or nitrites. Ph 7.6 and a water temp of 80.

 

[fug202]

My guess is that your fish is just eating a lot of the food that's lying around. JDs are gluttonous and will eat as much as they can find - they act as if they're starving, even when their profiles say otherwise. Wouldn't hurt to scale the portions/frequency back a bit, at least until its belly deflates. Starvation is not an immediate risk to health, whereas overfeeding can pollute the tank and cause problems.