This was posted on another forum a week ago. I have since tried some suggested remedies which haven't helped. Hopefully, you guys can help out.
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To avoid too many questions and what not, I'll be as thorough as possible.
I have a 5 yr old Flowerhorn. Please overlook whatever personal views you have regarding hybrids/flowerhorns and help out a fellow fishkeeper and his beloved pet fish. (thank you in advance). His/her name is Oscar (lol). O is about 13" in length and is housed in a 60g tank. I do 70-90% water changes religiously every 3-4 weeks since I've had O. Housed alone. 2 canister filters. Moderately fed once a day (about 10 med hikari pellets quantity wise). I feed a variety of foods from Hikari cichlid gold, Kens color flakes (once in a while as it's messy)Wardley med pellets, culled convicts, shrimp chunks and bugs. O will eat just about any commercially produced fish food.
Well, I ran out of Hikari a couple weeks ago and ordered some HBH cichlid floaters along with several pounds of flake from Ken. I thought I'd try out something new and got them since I had to get the flakes anyway for my other fish and wanted to save on shipping. I didn't feel like paying full price locally for Hikari and wanted to wait until I needing something from bigals or drfs to save on shipping.
Well, I started giving O the HBH about 10 days ago. Perhaps I went overboard on the intro and gave O about 15 pcs which was devoured in seconds. The HBHCF are the largest pellet I have feed O so far. There are some smaller sized pellets mixed in but I gave mostly the larger ones. As usual, I heard O loudly crunching the pellets as they were consumed.
The next evening I noticed O's belly was still "full". Thinking I maybe just gave too much the day before, I gave O just 4 pcs. And the next day, same "full" look so only 3 pcs. And it's been 3 pcs daily for the next several days until a couple days ago I gave 10 pcs. O's belly is now a bit WIDER and it's disdended even further on O's right side! So I haven't fed anything the past 2 days and the belly is still disdended.
I 80% WC'd 11 days ago. I just did another 80% prior to coming here.
I don't think it's bloat as O's still very active, acts hungry and has been acting the way O always acts. Always moving looking for food and attention. Also none of his scales are flaring out. I've had a couple fish over the years die of bloat and O's not showing any such symptoms other than the tummy swell. Even then it's confined to O's belly region and doesn't look like the entire body's been blown up with air like previous bloat victims.
So I think the HBH has caused some sort of blockage. What can I do??? Is there such a thing as Exlax for fish?
I've also been feeding a 6" GT the HBH and he has no problems consuming the food. I've been feeding him about 3 large and 5 smaller pcs every day. Also this is NOT a knock on Ken as I've been using him for years. I only get Hikari and Tetra color bits from other vendors.
Please help out Oscar....
I'll try to get some pics but it's hard as O's always moving.
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Someone suggested peas and epsom salt but it didn't help.
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Kmuda, thanks for stepping up and trying to help out.
I have tried the epsom salt (1 tbsp per 5gal) dosing a couple days ago (monday) and he's still in the same state. Before dosing with epsom, I tried feeding him peas since your reply last week. But each day I tried, he would just spit them out. I tried garlic, fish oils and shrimp with peas inserted in them but he just won't eat them. I also tried raising the temp a bit to around 84 degrees. Its normally around 80.
So basically, he's been w/o food for more than 16 days now (other than the 1/2 piece of shrimp).
With regards to water changes, I am going to bump up the frequency to every 7 - 10 days. I should have done that last year when I noticed how much bigger he was getting. He's been alone in the 60g since he was about 4" long.
Anyway, I feel so helpless since everything I've been trying thus far hasn't worked.
On a side note, does anyone know how long magnesium sulfate stays in the water? Does it need to be WC'd out? In other words, if I'm dosing the tank, do I need to remove the epsom at a certain time?
To the casual observer it may look like Oscar's just full. But normally, his belly shrinks within 24hrs. I haven't fed him in 16 days!
PLEASE help out Oscar!
-------
To avoid too many questions and what not, I'll be as thorough as possible.
I have a 5 yr old Flowerhorn. Please overlook whatever personal views you have regarding hybrids/flowerhorns and help out a fellow fishkeeper and his beloved pet fish. (thank you in advance). His/her name is Oscar (lol). O is about 13" in length and is housed in a 60g tank. I do 70-90% water changes religiously every 3-4 weeks since I've had O. Housed alone. 2 canister filters. Moderately fed once a day (about 10 med hikari pellets quantity wise). I feed a variety of foods from Hikari cichlid gold, Kens color flakes (once in a while as it's messy)Wardley med pellets, culled convicts, shrimp chunks and bugs. O will eat just about any commercially produced fish food.
Well, I ran out of Hikari a couple weeks ago and ordered some HBH cichlid floaters along with several pounds of flake from Ken. I thought I'd try out something new and got them since I had to get the flakes anyway for my other fish and wanted to save on shipping. I didn't feel like paying full price locally for Hikari and wanted to wait until I needing something from bigals or drfs to save on shipping.
Well, I started giving O the HBH about 10 days ago. Perhaps I went overboard on the intro and gave O about 15 pcs which was devoured in seconds. The HBHCF are the largest pellet I have feed O so far. There are some smaller sized pellets mixed in but I gave mostly the larger ones. As usual, I heard O loudly crunching the pellets as they were consumed.
The next evening I noticed O's belly was still "full". Thinking I maybe just gave too much the day before, I gave O just 4 pcs. And the next day, same "full" look so only 3 pcs. And it's been 3 pcs daily for the next several days until a couple days ago I gave 10 pcs. O's belly is now a bit WIDER and it's disdended even further on O's right side! So I haven't fed anything the past 2 days and the belly is still disdended.
I 80% WC'd 11 days ago. I just did another 80% prior to coming here.
I don't think it's bloat as O's still very active, acts hungry and has been acting the way O always acts. Always moving looking for food and attention. Also none of his scales are flaring out. I've had a couple fish over the years die of bloat and O's not showing any such symptoms other than the tummy swell. Even then it's confined to O's belly region and doesn't look like the entire body's been blown up with air like previous bloat victims.
So I think the HBH has caused some sort of blockage. What can I do??? Is there such a thing as Exlax for fish?
I've also been feeding a 6" GT the HBH and he has no problems consuming the food. I've been feeding him about 3 large and 5 smaller pcs every day. Also this is NOT a knock on Ken as I've been using him for years. I only get Hikari and Tetra color bits from other vendors.
Please help out Oscar....
=======
Someone suggested peas and epsom salt but it didn't help.
---------
Kmuda, thanks for stepping up and trying to help out.
I have tried the epsom salt (1 tbsp per 5gal) dosing a couple days ago (monday) and he's still in the same state. Before dosing with epsom, I tried feeding him peas since your reply last week. But each day I tried, he would just spit them out. I tried garlic, fish oils and shrimp with peas inserted in them but he just won't eat them. I also tried raising the temp a bit to around 84 degrees. Its normally around 80.
So basically, he's been w/o food for more than 16 days now (other than the 1/2 piece of shrimp).
With regards to water changes, I am going to bump up the frequency to every 7 - 10 days. I should have done that last year when I noticed how much bigger he was getting. He's been alone in the 60g since he was about 4" long.
Anyway, I feel so helpless since everything I've been trying thus far hasn't worked.
On a side note, does anyone know how long magnesium sulfate stays in the water? Does it need to be WC'd out? In other words, if I'm dosing the tank, do I need to remove the epsom at a certain time?
To the casual observer it may look like Oscar's just full. But normally, his belly shrinks within 24hrs. I haven't fed him in 16 days!
PLEASE help out Oscar!
