Lupin;2736378; said:
They aren't espeis. These are hengelis considering the golden line above the triangular patch. Where did you get these fish? Were they in good condition when you got them? How did you acclimate them?
If there is no more swelling, leave it but continue monitoring them closely for unusual signs. Did you inquire your seller over this matter? The prolapse can be corrected.
They are indeed espei, as the orange bronze color is not restricted to the outer outline of the black mark on the body as it is in T. hengeli, who are more transparent overall.
Your can see that quite plainly here with T. hengeli center and T. espei in the background.
http://millia.aqua-web.org/kuvia/kalat/karppikalat/trigonostigma_hengeli.jpg
These new ones are still young with the biggest just shy of an inch, and obviously not in the best condition but their color will continue to come in should they fully recover.
I bought them from a shop. They were in a tannin stained holding tank filled with wood and potted plants. I did not critically look them over when I purchased them, I simply saw the metallic rust color of T. espei at a steal of a price and asked for 20, wanting to make my old shoal which has dwindled down to 3 over the years a nice big one again.
It wasn't till I got them home and pulled them out of the bag that I noticed that several of them had this problem. I floated them to temp adjust them and chucked them into the new tank. I don't tend to bother with pH or hardness adjustments for fish I've purchased locally but the fish came with the problem, they did not develop it in my tank.
It looked like prolapse and just in case I decided to dose with Levamisole hydrochloride the day after I got them in and not right away in case I noticed any initial die-off. I planned on dosing with prazi but since dosing with Levamisole I've lost only those I expected to lose over the course of a week, those with the obvious prolapse, and those who had swelling initially have seemed to have gotten better. I honestly don't think it was the Levamisole treatment either, more likely better water conditions.
So far all I've heard recommended to treat prolapse is epsom salt and going off food for a while so I'll try that but I was also hoping to learn what
caused it, since I plan on mixing these fish with my other fish, I do not want to risk infecting my other fish and I do not want to merely treat the symptom and not the cause.
Thanks for your time.
Edit: I actually did consider calling the shop and asking the owner if he knowingly sold me fish with swollen a**holes but considering that they didn't bother labeling half the fish and didn't even know what kind of "tetras" they thought they were selling me I decided not to bother.
