problem with it's ass.

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If it's not improving and adding salt had no effect, then chances are it's not some sort of blockage.

Nobody knows for sure what the bulge is (harmful or not), so figuring it out is a process of elimination. For all we know, it could be a benign tumor.

How long were you adding the epsom salt to the food?
 
DON'T put salt in the bichirs food.

In fact DON'T feed the bichir at all. I'm not sure why anyone didn't mention that. STOP feeding the bichir. You are only going to make it worse if he can't poop.

If you MUST feed him find a very high vegetable content food. High protein foods, such as shrimp or meaty pellets made for carnivores are only going to make him more constipated. Usually we want to feed our carnivores meaty foods because it's their natural diet, but in this case you want to stop doing that until he recovers, if he recovers.

Your bichir can go a week or more without being fed, during which you should observe to see if he is recovering and not give him any food.

It may or may not be a blockage, however if it IS, you are only making it worse by feeding often. Unfortunately if he has a blockage he may not recover whether you add salt (to the water) or not.
 
ShadowBass;1266311; said:
DON'T put salt in the bichirs food.

In fact DON'T feed the bichir at all. I'm not sure why anyone didn't mention that. STOP feeding the bichir. You are only going to make it worse if he can't poop.

If you MUST feed him find a very high vegetable content food. High protein foods, such as shrimp or meaty pellets made for carnivores are only going to make him more constipated. Usually we want to feed our carnivores meaty foods because it's their natural diet, but in this case you want to stop doing that until he recovers, if he recovers.

Your bichir can go a week or more without being fed, during which you should observe to see if he is recovering and not give him any food.

It may or may not be a blockage, however if it IS, you are only making it worse by feeding often. Unfortunately if he has a blockage he may not recover whether you add salt (to the water) or not.
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Epsom salt is a laxative that is commonly used to alleviate gastric blockages in fish. In the small quantities advised (a few grans inside each shrimp) no problems will come from that.

What kind of fish food has 'high vegetable content'? Spirulina is not a vegetable btw.



Xander, you really have to separate the sen so you can monitor if it is passing waste or not. You can't be sure it's a blockage without that info.

I would hold off on the epsom salt in the meantime until you make more observations on the fish.
 
i've only used epsom salt bath. But since it's *epsom* salt, like cohazard said, i would think that adding small quantity in food will not hurt. But again, no personal experience doing it this way.

i also agree you should stop feeding it for a week and see what happens. feeding vegetable matter is another story, its worth a try, but the problem is to get the bichir to eat it in the first place. perhaps you could try this after you fast it for a week, if fasting doesn't seem to do anything.

anyway its not guarantee that the epsom salt will work in all cases and all fish species. i have used it several times before on bloating bichirs, no negative effect, but unfortunately no positive effect either.
 
i also agree you should stop feeding it for a week and see what happens. feeding vegetable matter is another story, its worth a try, but the problem is to get the bichir to eat it in the first place. perhaps you could try this after you fast it for a week, if fasting doesn't seem to do anything.
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When I had senegals they would eat anything, including sinking algae wafers put in for the other fish. So that's worth a try.

I guess you could try putting peas in his food or something, that's generally recommended for constipated fish, but I haven't ever thought about how to get a bichir to eat peas, lol.

I agree I would try fasting it for a week first though. There's no need to feed so often even with a healthy bichir.
 
Hi Xander,

Was just surfing around mfk and came across ur unhappiness with my advice. If i had somehow given u inaccurate info which u felt was not useful to the bichir, my sincere apologies :)

but by adding a small amount of salts/dewormers in the food definately will not cause any harm. every possible try is worth it to finding a cure for a sick bichir.

So how is the senegal now? any updates?

cheers
BK
xander13;1260663; said:
unfortunately, the bichir has not taken a ****. so it seems like he ain't right. anyone?!?!
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xander13;1262729; said:
well if someone told you to feed your pet monkey something to get rid of it's tummy ache and then everyone suddenly tells you NOT TO DO IT!!! after you've already done it and the stupid monkey still has it's ache how would you feel.
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