Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => The Emergency Room => Topic started by: Fiona on January 11, 2016, 12:27:17 PM
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I swear I have seen my incredibly fat cory pass wind. It was at the front of the tank in an area where the sand it regularly churned up, so no gas pockets. It hadn't been up to the top of the tank for a gulp of air either. Suddenly air bubbled up from it's rear end! First time I thought I was seeing things then as I watched the same thing happened again. I must confess I burst out laughing, who knew fish could do that!
On a more serious note, I have been concerned about this cory for some time because it really is hugely fat compared to it's tank mates, other than that it's eating fine and seems happy. It eats the peas I put in twice a week as well as bloodworm, daphnia and pellets.
Could this bottom burp be a sign of some underlying internal infection?
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I will be honest and say I have no idea :-\
I've seen my cories 'burp', usually after they've dashed to the surface for a gulp of air, but I have never noticed bubbles coming from the other end.
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I think it's perfectly plausible.
In all the years I had my goldfish, and all the time I spent watching him (a lot!), I don't think I ever saw him pass wind - there were a few occasions of bubbles but I thought they had originally come from his gills and just happened to have travelled vertically towards the rear end of the body before rising. However, what I thought was probably the equivalent of that was when he was constipated and a long string of poo was brown in some sections but seemed to be clear and almost bubble-like in other sections.
However, I definitely saw one of the cories (RIP) pass wind on a couple of occasions during its short lifespan - definite bubbles coming from that area. The cories unfortunately didn't do well - the whole saga between May-Sept is somewhere on this forum - which may or may not be connected with that. I'd definitely advise on keeping a close eye on this one but, if you do ultimately decide to medicate, I'd advise going very easy on the medication as mine didn't seem to fare very well with it.
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I've got some antibiotics, maybe I should use those
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I would hold off the antibiotics till you have definite symptoms. Those are not chemicals to use lightly.
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I try to limit their use on a personal level. I'll try get a piccy of Fatty,like I said before apart from the wide girth and the recent flatulence she's a-symptomatic
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I have just discovered that cories do pass wind.
I already knew that cories dart to the surface to gulp air because they swallow it and absorb oxygen straight to their bloodstream from their intestines. What I didn't know until a couple of minutes ago is that when they take a gulp of air, they pass the last gulp out of the other end.
I know Fiona said her cory hadn't been to the surface recently so this might not be the reason for its flatulence, but it is worth other cory owners bearing this in mind.
And Fiona's cory might just take its time about passing the 'old' air.
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Where did you find that out Sue?
It would take a while for air too pass through the gut and I do have suspicions that her gut doesn't work as quickly as the other cories, her poo is eye wateringly large compared to the other female and from my nursing background I do know the same thing happens with people.
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I read it on another forum. The thread was someone worrying about his cory darting to the surface and was that normal. The chap who replied with that fact about cories expelling swallowed air is an expert - he writes profiles for Seriously Fish, so I tend to believe him.
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her poo is eye wateringly large compared to the other female
Just another thought to add into the mix on a possible explanation. My goldfish had a tendency to swallow gravel, so I converted his substrate to sand; he started ingesting it when foraging, developed "pouches" on his side and passed very thick poo, until I realised that the only option was to convert to a barebottom tank. I wonder if there's any possibility that your cory could be ingesting sand which might account for this and also the bloating? Keep an eye on the poo's consistency and signs of sand in it - you may need a magnifying glass for this. Although I wouldn't recommend putting the fish through the stress of being quarantined unnecessarily, and I know your QT is out of commission at the moment anyway, but if the problem worsened and she were to be quarantined, it would be really interesting to see if the problem resolved with a few days in a barebottomed QT.
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Cories do take up sand when they eat - they filter it for food and the sand grains come out of their gills, even the dwarf species. It's quite fascinating to watch. So this could well be a possibility.
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She does struggle to reach the top of the tank, so maybe she is full of sand.