Overfeeding NLS = Bloat?

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08trdoffroad

Candiru
MFK Member
Jul 16, 2009
313
2
48
Utah, USA
Hey all,
Yesterday before I left for work (I work swings) I fed my silver dollars tank with 2 mm sinking NLS. I was in a hurry and accidently dumped far more pellets in than I intended. I figured that the fish would eat what they wanted of it and the rest would be cleaned up by the filter and I would just rinse out the filter and perform a water change today. When I got home last night I noticed a couple of my silver dollar had huge bloated stomachs like they had eaten way too much. I figured they would poop and be good to go, I didn't think anything of it and off to bed I went. This morning when I got up I noticed two of my six silver dollars (about 4") struggling to stay upright (like they had no equilibrium) and occassionally floating upside down at the top of the tank, their stomachs still just as bloated as they were last night! I immediately did a 75% water change and added salt and melafix to the tank. After about an hour I noticed long stringy brownish clear poop floating all over in the tank (I am not sure if it came from the two affected fish or if it came from the others in the tank) I suspect I will go home tonight to two dead fish, But I did all I could for them in the time I had before going to work.

Did my severely overfeeding the tank cost these to fish their life?

Should I avoid feeding them NLS in the future? (I was under the impression that NLS was one of the highest quality foods on the market...)

Is there anything else I can do in the future other than what I did to treat bloat more effectively?

I am confused as to why this happened, and frustrated, and angry with myself for being so careless with the food yesterday... :(
 
why would you add salt? to many water changes what is the point of a water change if your params are fine you are just going to stress your fish out more. just leave it be they should be fine unless you dumped the whole bottle in NLS is the best food out their.
 
I doubt my water parameters were okay due to the substantial overfeeding the day before. The water was cloudy and had a brown tint to it that it did not have prior to my overfeeding of the tank. (which I could not see last night when I got home due to the lights being off)

I added salt as it is one of the remedies that I see consistently used (with success) and recommended for bloat, or "float" as it is referred to in the Tang world.
 
Salt (sodium choride) should never be used to treat bloat, it can actually make the condition worse. Magnesium sulphate (epsom salt) would have been a far better choice. Magnesium sulphate reduces the tension in the intestinal tract allowing proper bowel movement, and assists the intestines in retaining water, which is also necessary for proper bowl function.

Silver dollars are gluttonous pigs, and will gorge themselves until they are almost ready to explode, which is exactly what it sounds like happened in your situation. Don't blame the food, blame yourself, this is a classic case of operator error, not dietary issues.

Chalk it up to experience, learn from your mistake, and move on.
 
^Thanks for making me feel even worse about the situation, I am fully aware that it was my stupidity that put them in this predicament. I am in no way blaming it on NLS. I posted simply for help in trying to correct my error and save my fish...

Small update, Got home from work. The two fish are still alive, and their condition may have improved slightly, but they are still bloated and are having a hard time keeping themselves upright. If they are alive in the morning I will do another water change (to remove the salt I added today) and pick up some epson salt to continue treatment...I don't know if they are going to make it.
 
I hope they pull through. Best of luck.
 
They were still alive this morning, but it doesn't look like their condition had improved. I will update again when I get home tonight.
 
Update:

One of the fish seems to have made a full recovery. The other is showing signs of improvement, but it is still not able to swim correctly. I am hopeful that the second will still make a complete recovery!

I am still fasting the tank as a precaution.
 
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