Oscar help... possible tumor, lump? Don't know.. help!

[landmineyouth]

Yup. I can tell you didn't read the thread lol. You take some Epsom salt, mix it in some water and soak the pellets in the solution.

My apologies, just finished reading most of it while you were replying to me probably. I hope you are correct and I also hope incorrect at the same time, as internal parasites sound a lot harder to cure than constipation.

As of Tuesday he is still accepting pellets and food in general, still looking to be fed. I will try the 3% solution tomorrow and pray for the best over the weekend.

Recommendations for how many pellets to feed? I saw you said twice daily, but how many pellets? I am using large spectrum brand pellets.

 

[Water]

My apologies, just finished reading most of it while you were replying to me probably. I hope you are correct and I also hope incorrect at the same time, as internal parasites sound a lot harder to cure than constipation.

As of Tuesday he is still accepting pellets and food in general, still looking to be fed. I will try the 3% solution tomorrow and pray for the best over the weekend.

Recommendations for how many pellets to feed? I saw you said twice daily, but how many pellets? I am using large spectrum brand pellets.

Just feed however he can eat. The more Epsom salt he ingests, the better.

 

[landmineyouth]

Just feed however he can eat. The more Epsom salt he ingests, the better.

Unfortunately today he seems unwilling to eat food , he swims around like normal when the tank light is off, but when the lights come on its as if he gets a little spooked and goes to sulk in his corner. He is even docile to the point where I can reach my hand in the tank and pet him. I tried forcing a dropper into his mouth to squirt the solution in directly but he is not too receptive of this method... at best I squirted 5 to 10ml of the solution directly in front of his face once or twice...

I started treating with 'PraziPro', as my LFS was out of Metro currently... I will monitor for any progress over the weekend, and continue to try feeding epsom soaked pellets..

I WISH there was something more I could do...

 

[landmineyouth]

Quick update!

He suddenly looked hungry and came to the top of the tank looking for food, so in a rushed haste, I prepared some more epsom solution and soaked a few pellets in it, maybe for only a few seconds, and horridly tossed them in before he changed his mind.

He ate about 2 or 3! Then returned to his corner to sulk.

BUT he DID eat... hopefully thats good news, and fingers crossed he can repeat this tomorrow. Hopefully the prazipro will work some of his system to a settle as well and make him start feeling better.

 

[landmineyouth]

^ This process repeated itself just now. He would not look for food yesterday however, so he has only eaten the epsom pellets twice...

 

[Water]

If he's not eating, its time to step up to medications. Use Maracyn 1 and 2(optional). Keep trying to feed him the epsom soaked pellets though.. Hows the swelling? Is it going down or getting bigger?

 

[landmineyouth]

He is still eating the pellets, he ate twice today, about an hour apart from each other, and a total of 3 or 4 pellets soaked in Epsom.

His swelling remains but it does look SLIGHTLY better... I will try to post new pictures, but he was so big already that it is sort of hard to tell the difference.

Remember he is also simultaneously being treated with PraziPro since Friday. I was going to purchase some Metro tomorrow as well and possibly start treatment with that on Tuesday after a large water change.

 

[RD.]

I started treating with 'PraziPro', as my LFS was out of Metro currently...

Personally for now I would stop treating with medication altogether, unless you know exactly what you are treating for. Prazipro was designed to eliminate internal worms (nematodes) from fish, which I highly doubt that your fish has if you have only been feeding pellets & he is in his own dedicated tank. Do you have any reason to suspect nematodes in this fishes gut?

Metro isn't going to help either, unless you suspect internal parasites, which I believe is doubtful as your fish would most likely be dead from organ damage by now if IP's was the cause of that much bloating. Using a shotgun approach to medications is never a good idea, and can often times cause more harm/stress than good.

For now keep feeding the 3% epsom soaked pellets, and keeping a good dose of epsom salt in the tank water. Hopefully it's just a serious case of constipation, but I suspect that it's more serious than that.

If he doesn't come around in a few days of epsom treatment, or begins to take a turn for the worse, my advice would be to start considering other options. This may be a serious bacterial infection, or possibly even cancer. (tumour) If it's a bacterial infection then Kanamycin sulfate, Nitrofurazone, or Tetracycline would be your best choice for medication, which may or may not work depending on the severity and the type of infection.

Good luck.

 

[RD.]

Sorry, I missed Water's post above. Maracyn 1 and 2 will also treat both gram positive & gram negative bacteria and can also be used if it comes to that. Just know that most of these meds will knock out some/all of your bio bacteria, so a hospital tank would be best.

 

[landmineyouth]

I really wanna thank both of you guys for taking the time out to help. Your information is invaluable to me right now. I have been keeping fish for the last 10 years now and am not a fly by night hobbyist, so I do truly care about this fish.

Yesterday (Sunday), he came to the top of the water as he usually does when looking for food, and ate a epsom-soaked pellet on THREE separate occasions. This is a drastic improvement from Saturday when he would not eat at all, and even from Friday when he only ate one pellet once. I have also noticed some of his poop in the tank, and its color is returning back to the normal slightly orange tint it normally was, no longer the clear/stringy white coloration I spotted before the weekend. I guess the epsom really is helping, and I will continue to feed the epsom soaked pellets for as long as he will accept them, or til his bloated condition is a thing of the past. As I said before, he appeared slightly less bloated Sunday, definitely NOT any larger.

A question for adding epsom to the water, how long does the epsom dosage remain intact? In other words, how often can I repeat said dosage? Is it only every time per-water change? Can I add daily or every other day to maintain the epsom in the water?


Once again, really appreciate your guys input. Keep your fingers crossed. If he does not keep an upward trend of improvement, I will start considering a treatment of Marycn 1, but I will give epsom more time to work its magic.