J. Marlieri Bloated

[mdfisher]

Hi Everyone,

I discovered one of my adult J. Marlieri this afternoon in a really painful looking bloated condition. This is one of the smaller of the adults I have, and I believe it is a male. It seems to be getting around okay, but is kind of slow, and wasn't interested in food this evening.

Does anyone have an idea what might cause this fish to be in this kind of condition. It's really swelled up, and has to be in a lot of pain. If anybody has any ideas for treatment, I would welcome them.

Thanks in advance.

[armthehomeless]

Re: J. Marlieri Bloated

Food is the first thing that comes to mind. What have you been feeding? Not bloodworms by chance? I'm not really good at answering questions... just gifted at asking more :)

[eklikewhoa]

Re: J. Marlieri Bloated

Is it bloated or does his scales flip outwards?

Try and quarantine it and dose it with some aquarium salt and keep a close eye on him if its just bloated.

[wvgdiscus]

Re: J. Marlieri Bloated

epson salt works good for bloat. If you can try to mix in their food so they will eat it.
It helps my discus to pass the poop out when they get stopped up.

[Tiapan]

Re: J. Marlieri Bloated

i've heard that a diet with a higher ash content helps them pass their food more easily. at least thats what scot said at the last LHA swap, i tend to listen to people with more experience then me. particularly with cichlids.

[mdfisher]

Re: J. Marlieri Bloated

The fish is just "fat" looking. The scales are not standing out straight from its body. I know that means something, but I can't remember what.   :?

I am feeding all my Tanganyikans flake food. It's a combination of Nutrafin Max Color Enhancing and Spirulina Algae. They have been fed this for six months without any problems, and this is the first instance of bloating I've seen. They all eat it eagerly, and have remained healthy since I put them in together in January.

I recently returned from vacation, and found one of my Cyprichromis floating. It fouled the surface of the water pretty badly, and smelled up the place. I did a water change and everything seemed right for several days before this occurred. I was using an Eheim autofeeder while I was gone, and could have set it for too much food. I tested it a couple of days before hand, and the amount of food it was putting out looked about right.

Thanks for all your replies.

[Tiapan]

Re: J. Marlieri Bloated

scales standing out is typically dropsy, but if they are not it wont be that. guess all you can do is separate and observe. maybe melefix, might be interanal infection, or ad some salt that might get whatever it is. maybe both.

[JLawson]

Re: J. Marlieri Bloated

Does this information apply?

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/malawi_bloat.php

[mdfisher]

Re: J. Marlieri Bloated

Does this information apply?

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/malawi_bloat.php

I want to thank everybody who wrote in with suggestions. The Malawi bloat seems like the most likely thing, although if that's what it is, the fish is still alive. I have hesitated putting medicine in my tank because I don't know what the impact of using Clout or something like it would have on healthy fish. Any ideas? I have tried catching the sick fish, but it's not sick enough I can grab it and put it into another tank.

I now have at least one other marlieri that appears to have the same problem, and is not eating. Outwardly, it's kind of hard to tell if they're acting different, because marlieri are kind of strange fish anyway.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: J. Marlieri Bloated

I would dose the whole tank