BLOAT - Photos & Treatment

-Asianguy-

Feeder Fish
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Dec 30, 2006
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awe this is great!! My fighting fish was getting a marble size belly. but the rest of him looks good. I thought he was just eating well.

I never thought fish could bloat.

I'll be isolating him and trying to find meds to run treatment. thanks oddball man.

this may be stupid but what's epsom salt? and where do i buy it? is it the same type that treats ick?
 

Tokis-Phoenix

Feeder Fish
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Jun 9, 2007
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Somerset, England
IMHO, there are many things that can cause bloating, constipation and dropsy being the main two.

Dropsy;

The problem with treating this disease is that there are a number of "potential" causes: bacterial infection, parasites, cancerous tumors, virus', internal fungal infections or sudden temperature drop of more than 3 degrees.

If the cause is bacterial, the swelling typically comes on pretty rapidly. If swelling is gradual then one or more of the other potential causes are more likely. Unfortunately, treatment is most often useless at this point due to the advanced state of the disease process. When the illness, whatever the cause, has progressed far enough to cause internal swelling, the concomitant internal damage is usually too extensive to be repairable.

The latest research has shown that if the disease cause is bacterial and if the disease process is caught early enough, treatment with Romet B, a broad spectrum antibacterial, *may* be effective when used concurrent with an increase in water temperature to 84-86ºF for 2 weeks minimum.

BE CERTAIN to maintain HIGH OXYGEN LEVELS during such treatment since at these temperatures, water holds significantly less oxygen at these higher water temperatures. One of the suspected bacterial precursors to the disease process -- Aeromonas, is killed at these temperatures.

Concurrently add 1/8 teaspoon of EPSOM SALT -- per 5 gallons of water. Feeding foods soaked in ERYTHROMYCIN will kill the second suspected bacteria, Mycobacterium. In rare cases popeye has been found to be caused by Edwardsiella etarda. This is found *only* in fish that have been bred in outdoor ponds -- the functional bacteria in this case is carried by frogs. While fair to good results in treatment have been found by feeding Romet B., even better results have been found using injectable chloramphenicol or amakacin. This is best done by your veterinarian.

If parasites are a known cause, treat for them first for 3 days increasing the temperature to 86ºF as fast as possible.

EPSOM SALT may help reduce the internal pressure caused by the swelling. Extremely good aeration is necessary here due to the use of such high temperatures.

NEVER USE SALT (sodium chloride, a.k.a. aquarium salt) for treatment of dropsy. This will KILL your fish in a very short time. The affected fish are already having a difficult time getting rid of salts due to kidney dysfunction. This causes the blown up appearance and concurrent scale standing. The osmotic imbalance caused by addition of sodium to your tank water will make this condition far worse.

EPSOM SALT on the other hand, does not pass through the walls of the gut or gills and will extract water OUT of the surrounding tissue into the gut where it *may* be excreted.


So oddball i do not think it is good advise to advise "salt" to treat "Bloat" in the case of dropsy. Salt does not aid the fish at all when it comes to the osmotic functions of freshwater fish, see here for scientific/fact based explanations of what it does to true freshwater fish;

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86298



I've personally been able to successfull treat dropsy in the past with an anti internal bacterial med made by Interpet.
 

Oddball

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Check the list of fish I described using my treatment plan on. All of them have salts in their native waters. Whether sodium or calcium chloride. I don't maintain any true freshwater (aka sweetwater) species.
 

ChileRelleno

Candiru
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Nov 14, 2005
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Oddball, perhaps a edit to make sure anybody reading your piece understands the type of fish this treatment is formulated for, and why they can handle the common salts.
 

ch08

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Is this artice relative to both saltwater and freshwater fish? I would like to know how to treat/prevent infections inside of a saltwater fish--particularly desmoholacanthus arcuatus (bandit angelfish). I catch them and sometimes need to pin them since they caught in 100+ ft. deep. How can I prevent bacteria infection in these? Furizone Green perhaps? Any help would be appreciated.
 

aquariumguy2300

Feeder Fish
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Oct 21, 2007
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How can I tell what kind of dropsy my fish has? The stupid thing is so fat, he got stuck in the plants and nearly ripped off his fins. He did get temperature drops in the water about room temperature, but none of my other fish have it, so how can I tell?
 

ChileRelleno

Candiru
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Nov 14, 2005
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Mobile, AL
aquariumguy2300;1271051; said:
How can I tell what kind of dropsy my fish has? The stupid thing is so fat, he got stuck in the plants and nearly ripped off his fins. He did get temperature drops in the water about room temperature, but none of my other fish have it, so how can I tell?
Dropsy is a catch-all term for various actual infections/infestations, it isn't a actual anything in its own right.
Outside of having some actual test done for various pathogens/parasites & etc... There is no way to tell exactly what the problem is.

Your best bet is to treat very aggressively for internal bacterial infection, as it seems to be the predominant illness.
I recommend a wide spectrum antibiotic to cover both gram negative/positive bacteria.
 

Armadillo

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 26, 2007
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Delft, The Netherlands
Not adding much info here, but just thought I'd join you in saying: I sooooo hate dropsy. I hate that it's so tricky to determine what the deal is. Anyways, thought I'd share.
 

bauer

Feeder Fish
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Jun 12, 2007
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Brazil
I used the teatment like the first post in three goldfishes. It worked very well for me!
Thanks oddball!
 
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