aswebothshook

That’s what I was thinking it was is just the slow decline of internal organs. Other than being swollen they are still continuing to eat and school normally but it seems it could just be old age. Thanks for confirming what I thought it all was.

Hey there, I need some help with 2 of my black neons that have very swollen bellies. Last October I had one black neon that become so swollen and was starting to become disfigured and unable to swim so I decided it was best to euthanize it. After it passed I exasperated it and clear fluid was released so it wasn’t an egg bound female. When it first started to show signs of a bloated belly it was very slight so I did a course of Paraclease and nothing changed. I did an epsom salt soak and it just seemed to get worse. I was never able to figure out what it was and everything has been fine in my tank since then. Now I have 2 that seem to be going through the same thing and I’m starting to think maybe it is just old age and there isn’t anything I can do. My tank is a 20 gallon long that has been set up for 3 years and my school of black neons have been in the tank the entire time which maybe puts them at 3-4 years old. Could this be just early signs of organs starting to shut down? The pictures of the fish by itself in a cup is the fish that passed last year. The 2 in the tank are the ones that are currently bloated. I took pictures of my water parameters for reference too. Thanks all in advance.

Hi Chick-in, how is Hank doing? Were you ever able to move him out of the hospital tank? I have some black neons in quarantine right now and noticed the same thing with one of mine. I initially treated with Maracyn because I thought it was some kind of infection but looking closer I think it is just missing a gill plate after all. From what I’ve read it could be a birth defect, the fish eats and acts completely normal. Just proves how hardy these little fish can be.

I had this happen with one of my mystery snails a few years back too. I also tried taking it out of the tank and then returning it after a few minutes to see if the bubble would go away but it didn’t. I decided to humanely euthanize it since I knew it was suffering. I’m sorry about your snail..