Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Health => Topic started by: archer3005 on July 19, 2014, 03:27:49 PM
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Hi. Can anybody help me identify the problem with my Convict Cichlid. I've had her for a few months, when she was 2cm long and until recently noticed nothing out of the ordinary with her. She'd been happily bullying tank mates, eating everything that came near with lightning speed and rearranged the gravel - typical woman!!
However, I've noticed over this last week that she's become extremely bloated. She tries to stay out of sight and has gone off her food. When I watched her swimming earlier today, she doesn't seem to be struggling to stay upright and she gets to her favourite hiding place with no apparent effort... apart from the fact she's constantly opening and closing her mouth, as if gasping for air.
Is there a problem?
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It is possibly a problem.
Look down on her from above - do her scales stick out like a pine cone?
If they do, she has dropsy. This is a symptom of several diseases rather than a disease itself, and the sticking out scales occur when the kidneys fail and the fish can't remove water from its body. The underlying disease could be bacterial (potentially curable) or viral (impossible to treat).
Some people claim to cure dropsy by using epsom salt baths (ie make up a tub of epsom salts and put the fish in that, don't add epsom salts to the tank) or by using eSHa 2000. However in most cases it is incurable and by the time the kidneys fail enough to produce dropsy there is nothing that can be done to save the fish, I'm afraid.
If the scales don't stick out, there might be something you can do. Bacterial infections can cause swelling, which has an effect on the swim bladder which causes swimming problems. These are more difficult to treat in the UK as we don't have access to over the counter antibiotics; the medications we can get aren't nearly as strong as antibiotics. Look for Interpet anti internal bacteria or eSHa 2000. If you are not in the UK, see what antibiotic your fish shop recommends.
And overeating has been known to cause swelling and swimming problems. In this case, fast the fish to see if there's an improvement. If you don't have a quarantine tank, you'll have to fast the whole tank for a few days, which isn't a bad thing to do.
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Thanks Sue,
Yes, the scales are sticking out. I knew it wouldn't be a good sign, but I wanted to make sure.
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I'm sorry to hear that.
You do have a choice. You could try epsom salt baths and/or eSHa 2000 to try and save her. Or if she looks to be suffering, put her to sleep.