Malawi Bloat??

[COG Commando]

One of my 4" Pseudotrophues elegans 'ngara' female recently developed what I believe to be malawi bloat. At first, I though she was just swollen with eggs, but she is MUCH larger today than yesterday. I isolated her today in a 5 gallon tank with a heater and sponge filter. She had been residing in my 150 gallon tank with the rest of my mbuna. She also has what appears to be a "cookie cutter shark attack bite"; a .5" circular gouge just under her operculum on her left side. Also, on top of this, one of my 1" Cynotilapia 'elongatus taiwan' appears to be missing his tail (all that's left is a white, frayed stump), but he's eating and swimming around fine as if he doesn't notice anything. I'm not sure what to make of that, either.
The tank parameters of the 150 are as follows
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 5ppm
pH - 8.1
Temp - 80F

The tank is fed once per day with NLS Thera A 1mm.

I treated both the hospital tank and the main tank with Maracyn Oxy (for the bacterial infections/open wounds) and 1 tbsp/10 gal. of epsom salt (to aid in alleviating the "bloat" situation).

Anything else you can think of that I should be doing would be much appreciated.
Here's some (terrible) pictures of her before I moved her into the hospital tank.

 

[COG Commando]

Well, she died this morning.
Can anyone think of any reason she may have bloated. My water parameters are just about perfect, my fish are fed a healthy diet, and there's little to no aggression in my tank. I just don't get it...

 

[Countryboy]

The only thing I can think of is stress. Could have comprimised the immune system.

 

[RD.]

Marcus .......... the tough part about any type of medical condition with a fish is, unless you have a necropsy performed by a qualified person there's no telling exactly what caused the fishes death. Remember, bloat is a symptom, not a disease, and can be triggered by any number of factors. I think that you can safely rule out water quality, and diet. But that still leaves a lot of other windows of opportunity. It could have simply been a weak fish, with a weaker than normal immune system, and all it took was some minor stress to tip the scales.

While you have stated that there is little to no aggression in this tank, clearly you have two fish that have been recently attacked by at least 1 or more fish, hence the bite mark under the ngara's operculum, and the missing tail on the taiwan. This type of chasing/biting causes stress, and in the vast majority of cases of bloat it is this type of stress that can bring on an incident of bloat. (spironucleus outbreak)

In my last Malawi tank 90% of the aggression took place at night, when the lights were out, when I wasn't around watching the fish. I know that as it would always be first thing in the AM if/when I saw any missing scales, damaged fins, etc. In the daytime, when I was watching the tank, or anyone else, it seemed like a tank of goldfish.

I'm not sure of you have read the following sticky in the African folder, but it covers almost everything & anything that one would want to know about bloat.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?456034-Bloat-Causes-Cures-and-BIG-Myths


HTH

 

[COG Commando]

I understand that bloat is a symptom of underlying issues. I guess it could be a night time attack, I just never considered that possibility because the fish go into "stasis" almost instantly when I turn out the lights.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

 

[RD.]

I just never considered that possibility because the fish go into "stasis" almost instantly when I turn out the lights.

As did mine, but apparently once in a while they must have bumped shoulders and tore into each other - because they would be fine at lights out, and tore up in the AM when the lights came on.

One thing I have been doing with all new fish that I get, is treat them with a 3% epsom salt solution via their food. It cleans them out of any potential spiro/hex, and if nothing else is a good preventative treatment that's easy on the fish.

 

[Countryboy]

As did mine, but apparently once in a while they must have bumped shoulders and tore into each other - because they would be fine at lights out, and tore up in the AM when the lights came on.

One thing I have been doing with all new fish that I get, is treat them with a 3% epsom salt solution via their food. It cleans them out of any potential spiro/hex, and if nothing else is a good preventative treatment that's easy on the fish.

Do you do that while they're still in the LFS bag? Maybe while you float them in your tank?

 

[RD.]

It is administered via their pellets. See link below.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...879-Treating-quot-Bloat-quot-aka-Spironucleus

 

[COG Commando]

As did mine, but apparently once in a while they must have bumped shoulders and tore into each other - because they would be fine at lights out, and tore up in the AM when the lights came on.

Yeah i suppose that is a likely possibility. Her wound was just so severe and in such an odd place that I find it hard to believe that one of my mbuna could do such damage in a single bite. That added with the fact that I've never had so much as a frayed fin in my tank before just seems so strange to me. The little guy (Cynotilapia) is still eating and doing great despite the fact that he is now completely missing his tail.
I guess time will tell what's going on here.
Thanks for all of the help.

 

[RD.]

Her wound was just so severe and in such an odd place that I find it hard to believe that one of my mbuna could do such damage in a single bite.

Is it possible that she got hung on something? Also, how long has this tank been set up with this mix of fish?