What’s wrong with my cave tetra

Rtc/tsn · Sep 14, 2021

Rocksor said:
That's not just fat. Getting fat due to food would take longer. Something is going on if it doesn't go away after a couple days of no feeding. It could be egg bound, bacterial infection, increase parasitic infection, are the ones that could think of that occur over a period of days.

What should I do?

Rocksor · Sep 14, 2021

You'll have to rule out that the fish is egg bound first before any treatment should be done. Start researching what those tetras look like when they have eggs. You could stop feeding for 1 week as well to see if it gets smaller.

FJB · Sep 14, 2021

I don’t know what it is either, but in my mind something is not consistent with egg bound - you have a group, including males and females; they are always courting and spawning, generally eating the eggs just as fast. So in a group setting, egg bound is unlikely. Something else may be going on, including possibly a bacterial infection, or some feeding-related thing. I would try epsom salt for the feeding situation. It may not help but it will not hurt either. Good luck.