HELP! FH can't swim after force feed with epsom salt solution

[Fr21]

Hi guys, I'm freaking out right now. My first time in this forum

My flowerhorn got hex because I saw some stringy white poop that is very long. He has not been eating and I wanted to give a 3% dose of epson salt with some food in it via 1 mL syringe. My flowerhorn is about 7 inches and this is my first time doing this.

He was swimming slowly fine and have no bouyancy issue before this proceedure.

I got the fish out and proceed to gently push the syringe into his mouth and wait for him to breath and push it in. but I heard some sand paper noises while pushing it down, thought it was it stomach and decided to injected the epsom salt solution. since he was a big fish, the whole syringe should be in his stomach area (90% of the syringe got inside of his mouth)

Note: my sister was with me and she told me afterward that there are some bubble in the syringe, I didn't notice (stupid me)

I put him back in the water and saw that he was having trouble with swimming. like he would do 360 and then go upside down. Now I'm wedging him between the rock and the tank laying in that spot.

Now I'm asking you guys, it is normal for him to swim like this after the procedure? did I puncture his swim bladder while going down his stomach? or did the bubbles in the syringe is now in his stomach causing him to swim like this? I'm very nervous and anxious that I can't type right, so sorry if my grammar is really bad.

Please enlighten me.

 

[Fr21]

Updates, after 30 minutes of agonizing anxiety strike, he can balance himself now.
Holy sushi, that is scary. But he does flip his tail up sometime, but look like he can manage and doesn't do a cartwheel every single time now.

Another thing I didn't mention is that he got some odd swelling on his left side, behind near the tail (The red marked circle). It look like dropsy, can dropsy be from hex too? I ordered "clear" medication for him already. Can clear help with the dropsy too? or should I buy dropsy meds and also use "clear" later when it arrive?



I want to clarify some info about the Flowerhorn. He was a healthy little dude when I first got him 3.5 inches. He lived in a small hexagonal 20 gallon aquarium tank by himself until he outgrew it. He was healthy in his own tank, digging and doing his thang everyday.

I decided to moved him when he reached about 5 inches to a 120 gallon with other chilids. 3 angel fish and 3 blood parrots. They all get along well, I got lucky to received this gem of a fish. Until he decided to dug the heck out of the tank making the 120 gallons aquarium's decorations to be different everyday.

He got sick with hexamita about a week of digging and rearranging stuff. No other fish in my tank has ever have hex so that's why I didn't know what kind of illness did my flowerhorn acquired.

He didn't eat for 2-3 days and saw some floating white stringy poop with pearls-like thing attached on it. So i researched it and found out it is hexamita. On the 3rd day I bought epsom salt and tried to get metronidazole (Local pharmacy only sell it with a prescription) on the way home from school, so I went home with an oral syringe and epsom salt. The flowerhorn was fine on that same day and he started to eat again.

So I didn't treat him or anything, he deficated fine with normal brown poop and no white poop. (and yes, I did sat down and observed his pooping habit, no life I know )

A week went by with more rearranging the gravel fill with poop and he became lethargic out of nowhere. Float in a corner and white stringy poop again. (So guys, if you saw some stringy poop, treat it immediately and not like me, seeing my fish all good in the hood and decided not to treat the dude). So I moved him back to the 20 gallon tank with heater cranked up to 84 degree F.

I do a regular once a week water maintenance and I have no problem with the 120 gallons for 5 years.

Sorry for a long introduction, but could the hex get transmitted from the other cichlids I got in the tank (which never have hex before), or hex could caused by stress? My flowerhorn is pretty happy with everyone in the tank and love to play with my hands, so I can't believe if he ever get stress out.

Thanks guys

 

[duanes]

Looks like columnaris (duck lips) a gram negative bacterial infection.

 

[Fr21]

Looks like columnaris (duck lips) a gram negative bacterial infection.

If you're talking how his lips look like, that's his normal lips. I read into it too, there's no fungus (white spots) anywhere, no mucus or slime coat shedding.

Thanks for the reply

The flowerhorn is still having problem keeping his body straight as I mentioned about his buoyancy. Have not spin 360 yet, but his tail is pointing up.

 

[Ihsnshaik]

Swim bladder issue. You can take a syringe and expel air out. Look on YouTube how to do this.

 

[convict360]

Are you keeping the water parameters in check, I.e. Around 10ppm nitrate?

 

[Fr21]

Swim bladder issue. You can take a syringe and expel air out. Look on YouTube how to do this.

Update, the flowerhorn can swim normal now. Look like a case of bubble in syringe injected in his stomach, he probably poop it out already XD.

Are you keeping the water parameters in check, I.e. Around 10ppm nitrate?

As for my water parameter, I've ran out of test strips. It should be fine since both of many has a regular20-30% water change and has been going for years. He's in the smaller tank currently with a fully cycled filter and everything.

Right now, look he he developed some type of dropsy but on a single spot on his back (in the picture from a above). It has gotten bigger and it's not a full body dropsy since it only swollen from that spot. Any ideas?

 

[convict360]

Update, the flowerhorn can swim normal now. Look like a case of bubble in syringe injected in his stomach, he probably poop it out already XD.


As for my water parameter, I've ran out of test strips. It should be fine since both of many has a regular20-30% water change and has been going for years. He's in the smaller tank currently with a fully cycled filter and everything.

Right now, look he he developed some type of dropsy but on a single spot on his back (in the picture from a above). It has gotten bigger and it's not a full body dropsy since it only swollen from that spot. Any ideas?

I'd get a test kit and confirm. Only way to be sure of water parameters