dal Posted September 7 Share Posted September 7 I have a discus with a huge belly shes in a hospital tank.. she is 6 years old... water is awesome but 3 weeks ago she looked like she ate a marble.. anyway epsom salt baths always help exept this time... temp raised and shes been on tetriacilene antibiotics and epsom salt... she went back to nearly normal and I stopped the medication...next 2 days she was bigger than ever... she is now on metroplex and tetracyline in the water.. also metroplex in food.. she looks normal no fast breathing.. no clamped fins.. no colour change at all.... temp.is at 32c... ph is 6.8.. I have 7 others they are all fine.. she has always laid eggs but in the community tank so they eat them...I'm thinking a tumor or egg bound? I feel she wants to live but im just not sure what to do next.. I also have no local vet confident to inject her with antibiotics.... but when the first treatment made her smaller im also thinking bacterial infection... I live in Australia so don't have access to furan 2 etc? Please help.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted September 7 Share Posted September 7 Let’s ask @Colu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted September 7 Share Posted September 7 On 9/7/2024 at 1:11 AM, dal said: I have a discus with a huge belly shes in a hospital tank.. she is 6 years old... water is awesome but 3 weeks ago she looked like she ate a marble.. anyway epsom salt baths always help exept this time... temp raised and shes been on tetriacilene antibiotics and epsom salt... she went back to nearly normal and I stopped the medication...next 2 days she was bigger than ever... she is now on metroplex and tetracyline in the water.. also metroplex in food.. she looks normal no fast breathing.. no clamped fins.. no colour change at all.... temp.is at 32c... ph is 6.8.. I have 7 others they are all fine.. she has always laid eggs but in the community tank so they eat them...I'm thinking a tumor or egg bound? I feel she wants to live but im just not sure what to do next.. I also have no local vet confident to inject her with antibiotics.... but when the first treatment made her smaller im also thinking bacterial infection... I live in Australia so don't have access to furan 2 etc? Please help.... Have you got any pictures of the sick fish what are you feeding and how often how often are you water changing 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dal Posted September 7 Author Share Posted September 7 Hey buddy... im doing daily water changes in a hospital tank... ive been feeding brine shrimp and soaking metro in bug bite flake food..will get a photo tomorrow im not home tonight sorry... she is massive ive not seen a fish so big before.. but she is symmetrical to look at from the front not lumpy at all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted September 7 Share Posted September 7 On 9/7/2024 at 11:18 AM, dal said: Hey buddy... im doing daily water changes in a hospital tank... ive been feeding brine shrimp and soaking metro in bug bite flake food..will get a photo tomorrow im not home tonight sorry... she is massive ive not seen a fish so big before.. but she is symmetrical to look at from the front not lumpy at all... Any pineconing or redness to the body 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dal Posted September 7 Author Share Posted September 7 On 9/7/2024 at 10:38 PM, Colu said: Any pineconing or redness to the body None at all that I can see? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted September 7 Share Posted September 7 On 9/7/2024 at 1:39 PM, dal said: None at all that I can see? In most case of bloating diet is the main cause discus in the wild predominantly feed on algae and small insects I would add some repashy solient or super green and good quality spirulina flake like tropicals spirulina flake with 36% spirulina to there diet it could also be egg bound you can do epsom salt baths 1 table spoon for 1 gallon for no more than 15 minutes for 5 days as Epsom salt acts as a muscle relaxant to help your fish reabsorb the eggs 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dal Posted September 7 Author Share Posted September 7 Thanks for the reply.. I did epsom salt baths for 7 days at the beginning.. I have then tried keeping it in the aquarium for a few days at a time at a lower dose...gave her a break for 2 days then tried non iodised rock salt baths and in the aquarium... have noticed since switching to rock salt she seems to have gotten slightly more swollen... was going to start epsom salt again after a few days break but I feel bad keeping on treating her 24/7 with different treatments.. if i stop she will die i feel.. there has to be a solution out there for her just wish i new... other than the big belly shes happy and normal... its been 3 or 4 weeks now... I will try a new diet also.. has me stumped ive owned fish on and off for 30 years and they either die or get better and are never normal during the ilness like she is... I dont have a lot of experience with bloating but ive always managed to sort it with epsom salt... she has always been a small discus she never grew like the others.. id say she's 3/4 of the size of the big ones... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted September 7 Share Posted September 7 On 9/7/2024 at 3:03 PM, dal said: Thanks for the reply.. I did epsom salt baths for 7 days at the beginning.. I have then tried keeping it in the aquarium for a few days at a time at a lower dose...gave her a break for 2 days then tried non iodised rock salt baths and in the aquarium... have noticed since switching to rock salt she seems to have gotten slightly more swollen... was going to start epsom salt again after a few days break but I feel bad keeping on treating her 24/7 with different treatments.. if i stop she will die i feel.. there has to be a solution out there for her just wish i new... other than the big belly shes happy and normal... its been 3 or 4 weeks now... I will try a new diet also.. has me stumped ive owned fish on and off for 30 years and they either die or get better and are never normal during the ilness like she is... I dont have a lot of experience with bloating but ive always managed to sort it with epsom salt... she has always been a small discus she never grew like the others.. id say she's 3/4 of the size of the big ones... Internal parasites can also cause bloating given the fact you have had her for 6 years that would have killed her a long time ago unless you added new fish to the tank recently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dal Posted September 7 Author Share Posted September 7 I use cloverleaf parasite plus on my fish for parasites... I forgot to mention she has been treated about 2 weeks before she got sick? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted September 8 Share Posted September 8 On 9/8/2024 at 12:44 AM, dal said: I use cloverleaf parasite plus on my fish for parasites... I forgot to mention she has been treated about 2 weeks before she got sick? What symptoms other then bloating did you see that made you treat for parasites 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dal Posted September 8 Author Share Posted September 8 On 9/8/2024 at 7:59 PM, Colu said: What symptoms other then bloating did you see that made you treat for parasites Nothing no signs at all but i feed them some beef heart from time to time amd it's just a precaution.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dal Posted September 8 Author Share Posted September 8 I use cloverleaf parasite plus on my fish for parasites... I forgot to mention she has been treated about 2 weeks before she got sick? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dal Posted September 8 Author Share Posted September 8 In the middle of her daily water change... have ended up.going back to epsom salt... also upped the tetriacylene and metroplex to double doses? She's also eating metroplex twice daily in her food? I've dropped the temp from 32 to 29c today? I'm wondering if she needs a light massage to remove fluid.. eggs ... or blockage? Might do more harm than good.... any ideas? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted September 8 Share Posted September 8 Long shot here, since he’s stopped keeping his fish but @jwcarlson was our discus expert 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted September 8 Share Posted September 8 On 9/8/2024 at 11:17 AM, dal said: In the middle of her daily water change... have ended up.going back to epsom salt... also upped the tetriacylene and metroplex to double doses? She's also eating metroplex twice daily in her food? I've dropped the temp from 32 to 29c today? I'm wondering if she needs a light massage to remove fluid.. eggs ... or blockage? Might do more harm than good.... any ideas? Massaging fish to expel eggs can cause internal injuries if it's not done properly I wouldn't recommend it I wouldn't recommend using double the dose of metroplex or tetracycline it can impact the organs of your fish that looks like constipation or egg bound I couldn't rule out an internal mass have you noticed it pass anything recently 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dal Posted September 8 Author Share Posted September 8 Morning... i should have said medication suggested 2 scoops for severe ilness and ive only been using one scoop till now... when she passes its a nice brown colour and solid not pale or stringy at all...its a hard one.. she is eating and happy today again just big in the belly... when you say internal mass your starting to think like me... only thing is it's perfectly symmetrical and not protruding out one way or the other...hopefully it's not but with her being so normal I'm starting to think eventually it will be terminal.... does anyone on here know about removing eggs from egg bound fish? Maybe something similar to epsom salt baths? Poor little discus can see her buddies in the old tank id love to put her back in there where she's much happier....not sure if she contagious so I'll.leave her for now... thanks for your suggestions it's a tricky.one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dal Posted September 9 Author Share Posted September 9 On 9/7/2024 at 10:11 AM, dal said: I have a discus with a huge belly shes in a hospital tank.. she is 6 years old... water is awesome but 3 weeks ago she looked like she ate a marble.. anyway epsom salt baths always help exept this time... temp raised and shes been on tetriacilene antibiotics and epsom salt... she went back to nearly normal and I stopped the medication...next 2 days she was bigger than ever... she is now on metroplex and tetracyline in the water.. also metroplex in food.. she looks normal no fast breathing.. no clamped fins.. no colour change at all.... temp.is at 32c... ph is 6.8.. I have 7 others they are all fine.. she has always laid eggs but in the community tank so they eat them...I'm thinking a tumor or egg bound? I feel she wants to live but im just not sure what to do next.. I also have no local vet confident to inject her with antibiotics.... but when the first treatment made her smaller im also thinking bacterial infection... I live in Australia so don't have access to furan 2 etc? Please help.... Why the sad face jack? A breeder I know worms his fish monthly due to diet? Is that not correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dal Posted September 9 Author Share Posted September 9 On 9/9/2024 at 7:55 AM, Colu said: Massaging fish to expel eggs can cause internal injuries if it's not done properly I wouldn't recommend it I wouldn't recommend using double the dose of metroplex or tetracycline it can impact the organs of your fish that looks like constipation or egg bound I couldn't rule out an internal mass have you noticed it pass anything recently During my research I've noted that fish can hold eggs for a fair while if conditions aren't right... she is paired with a male who is rather lost atm without her... I recently introduced some congo tetras in with the discus... I noticed at feeding time they seem to get the majority of the brine shrimp.. she was cleaning her log ready to lay when i put the congos in there... maybe it disrupted her cycle? Then moving her into hospital tank with treatment shut her down?.. ive decided to put her back with the others and remove the congos...I will keep feeding metro for a day or two but stop the tetracyline all together... still unsure whether to give her 2 epsom salt or rock salt baths during the day....im leaning towards just letting her be its been 4 weeks and she's still happy... tumour is a possibility but I beleive what she has isn't contagious so she will be happier with the others... or maybe put the male in hospital with her where it's quiet? Thoughts? I appreciate the help ive been getting on here thankyou.. just wish there was a magic cure... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 (edited) I wouldn't do more epsom salt baths You could transfer the male and add breeding cone or slate tile to see if she will lay eggs @dal Edited September 9 by Colu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dal Posted September 9 Author Share Posted September 9 On 9/9/2024 at 11:00 AM, Colu said: I wouldn't do more epsom salt baths You could transfer the male and add breeding cone or slate tile to see if she will lay eggs @dal Ok ill let her be and put the male in with her... she has her upright stump she uses everytime... she refuses to lay on anything else but the filter intake or her upright stump lol... continue matroplex in food for a couple of days? I cant decide? Feel she needs a good rest from meds? Thankyou again.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dal Posted September 9 Author Share Posted September 9 I've come home today and she looks slightly smaller but has what appears to be a small prolapse? I feel there's not much I can do.for her now and just hope it heals... she is acting normal and still eating.. she's much happier with the male in there... fingers crossed it goes away... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 On 9/9/2024 at 5:39 AM, dal said: I've come home today and she looks slightly smaller but has what appears to be a small prolapse? I feel there's not much I can do.for her now and just hope it heals... she is acting normal and still eating.. she's much happier with the male in there... fingers crossed it goes away... I would stop all the medication and add epsom salt to the quarantine tank 1 table spoon for 3 gallons for 5 days that will help her reabsorb the prolapse 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dal Posted September 9 Author Share Posted September 9 On 9/9/2024 at 8:22 PM, Colu said: I would stop all the medication and add epsom salt to the quarantine tank 1 table spoon for 3 gallons for 5 days that will help her reabsorb the prolapse On 9/9/2024 at 8:22 PM, Colu said: I would stop all the medication and add epsom salt to the quarantine tank 1 table spoon for 3 gallons for 5 days that will help her reabsorb the prolapse Ok ill put some in next water change... she has the male in there now and they are pretty happy being together.. would you feed her as normal or give them a few days off it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 On 9/9/2024 at 11:32 AM, dal said: Ok ill put some in next water change... she has the male in there now and they are pretty happy being together.. would you feed her as normal or give them a few days off it? I would fast for a couple of days because of the prolapse 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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