fish with swelling (not dropsy)

[Blue Gourami]

A few weeks ago, I noticed that one of my female pearl danios had a
swelling in her belly. It looked as if she had swallowed a little ball
the size of a pea. Her behaviour was still normal (swimming around,
eating). I put her in quarantine and stopped feeding her, in case it
was constipation. I also added some Epsom salts to the water (although
not the full dose recommended in the fish health book I checked).
Nothing happened. I started feeding her again. She was still behaving
normally; however, the swelling seemed to be getting worse and I
euthanized her.

A couple of weeks later, another female pearl danio showed the same
thing. Again, no other symptoms beside the swelling. I left her in the
community aquarium. After about three weeks, the swelling seemed to be
getting worse and I euthanized her too.

Then a few days later, I noticed that my biggest Siamese algae eater
had a bulge on the right side of its flank. Again, it looks like there
is a pea-sized ball in the fish's belly.

There are other fihses in that tank and, so far, they look fine.

Any idea what is going on?

[NetMax]

"Blue Gourami" > wrote in message
m...
> A few weeks ago, I noticed that one of my female pearl danios had a
> swelling in her belly. It looked as if she had swallowed a little ball
> the size of a pea. Her behaviour was still normal (swimming around,
> eating). I put her in quarantine and stopped feeding her, in case it
> was constipation. I also added some Epsom salts to the water (although
> not the full dose recommended in the fish health book I checked).
> Nothing happened. I started feeding her again. She was still behaving
> normally; however, the swelling seemed to be getting worse and I
> euthanized her.
>
> A couple of weeks later, another female pearl danio showed the same
> thing. Again, no other symptoms beside the swelling. I left her in the
> community aquarium. After about three weeks, the swelling seemed to be
> getting worse and I euthanized her too.
>
> Then a few days later, I noticed that my biggest Siamese algae eater
> had a bulge on the right side of its flank. Again, it looks like there
> is a pea-sized ball in the fish's belly.
>
> There are other fihses in that tank and, so far, they look fine.
>
> Any idea what is going on?

What I would do is get my razor blade out (or a sharp exacto knife) and
open them up (welcome to the world of forensic science). There are
several fish books on diseases which show colour pictures of dissections,
so that you can differentiate between some of the types of parasites,
bacterial infections and ulcers. Once identified, you will have a better
idea of method of transmission and how best to medicate. Did you lose
any other fish (common method of transmission is through ingestion). You
might need to brush up on making medicated foods if there is none
available where you live, but first you have to know if it's bacterial or
parasitic in nature. Isn't this fun ? (personally the very worst part
of my job is medicating fish).

NetMax

[Cris]

NetMax, will you recommend one of those books? I haven't found one
with dissection pics. In fact, I haven't found a good book for
diseases, either.
Thanks,
Cris


On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 23:27:37 -0400, "NetMax"
> wrote:

>There are
>several fish books on diseases which show colour pictures of dissections,
>so that you can differentiate between some of the types of parasites,
>bacterial infections and ulcers.

[Graham Broadbridge]

"NetMax" > wrote in message
.. .

> What I would do is get my razor blade out (or a sharp exacto knife) and
> open them up (welcome to the world of forensic science). There are
> several fish books on diseases which show colour pictures of dissections,
> so that you can differentiate between some of the types of parasites,
> bacterial infections and ulcers.

Only problem with those books, is that either a multitude of pictures look
like the growth in question,
or none or them do :-)

> Once identified, you will have a better

Good luck.

Graham.

[NetMax]

I use a few books, but for the serious stuff, I use the Handbook of Fish
Diseases (Dieter Untergasser), 155 pages TFH TS-123 which has a good
diagnostic chart for disease identification and lots of colour pictures,
and Textbook of Fish Health (Dr. George Post), 282 pages TFH H-1043,
which is more detailed and technical, also with a section of colour
sheets. For both, a microscope would be handy tool, and more is covered
in greater detail than you would probably need.

I don't know how these two books compare with others on the market. They
were the best of the selection available to me. hth

NetMax

"Cris" > wrote in message
s.com...
> NetMax, will you recommend one of those books? I haven't found one
> with dissection pics. In fact, I haven't found a good book for
> diseases, either.
> Thanks,
> Cris
>
>
> On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 23:27:37 -0400, "NetMax"
> > wrote:
>
> >There are
> >several fish books on diseases which show colour pictures of
dissections,
> >so that you can differentiate between some of the types of parasites,
> >bacterial infections and ulcers.
>

[Blue Gourami]

"NetMax" > wrote in message >...
> "Blue Gourami" > wrote in message
> m...

> What I would do is get my razor blade out (or a sharp exacto knife) and
> open them up (welcome to the world of forensic science).

I did that, but I waited too long. I kept the dead fish in the fridge
for 2 days before doing the post-mortem. Every thing inside was more
or less mush. The only thing I positively recognized was the
swimbladder.

> Did you lose
> any other fish (common method of transmission is through ingestion).

Not so far. As you can read in my answer to your message on books,
even the SAE seems to be better, but I discovered Camallanus worms and
I am treating for it with foods soaked in Discomed.

> You
> might need to brush up on making medicated foods

What is even harder than making the medicated foods, in my opinion, is
to make the fish eat them! Apart from the golden wonder killies who
gobble up anything I put in front of them, the other fishes turned up
their noses at the Discomed-soaked bloodworms at first. This morning,
the danios and the rasboras started to waver and to go for it. I hope
the rest will eventually get hungry enough to change their minds.

Perhaps you have a good recipe for medicated-food-no-fish-can-resist
to share...

Blue Gourami

[NetMax]

"Blue Gourami" > wrote in message
m...
> "NetMax" > wrote in message
>...
> > "Blue Gourami" > wrote in message
> > m...
<snip>
> Perhaps you have a good recipe for medicated-food-no-fish-can-resist
> to share...

You can bet that as soon as I have one, I will share it here. In the
meantime, perhaps someone over at http://www.aquameds.com might have some
recipe ideas.

NetMax

> Blue Gourami

[mindmeld]

are you sure they aren't ... constipated? bound up? one of my white cloud
minnows had a very swollen belly... swam funny... couldn't stay down...
next, couldn't stay up... someone (thankyouthankyouthankyou) suggested
peas. frozen peas (thawed and skinned) are a perfect supplement. no more
swollen bellies. my fish love them. (for that matter, so do my cats...
and the humans here... must be a multi-purpose legume :)

mindmeld

Blue Gourami wrote:

> A few weeks ago, I noticed that one of my female pearl danios had a
> swelling in her belly. It looked as if she had swallowed a little ball
> the size of a pea. Her behaviour was still normal (swimming around,
> eating). I put her in quarantine and stopped feeding her, in case it
> was constipation. I also added some Epsom salts to the water (although
> not the full dose recommended in the fish health book I checked).
> Nothing happened. I started feeding her again. She was still behaving
> normally; however, the swelling seemed to be getting worse and I
> euthanized her.
>
> A couple of weeks later, another female pearl danio showed the same
> thing. Again, no other symptoms beside the swelling. I left her in the
> community aquarium. After about three weeks, the swelling seemed to be
> getting worse and I euthanized her too.
>
> Then a few days later, I noticed that my biggest Siamese algae eater
> had a bulge on the right side of its flank. Again, it looks like there
> is a pea-sized ball in the fish's belly.
>
> There are other fihses in that tank and, so far, they look fine.
>
> Any idea what is going on?

[RedForeman ©®]

> I got the powder and not the bolus. I think those are suppositories that
you
> stick up a cow's ass.

Thanks, now I'll never get that picture out of my head!!!!!!