AJK

I accidentally overfed my fish the other day and had to do a water change and use a gravel vacuum to clear the excess food off of the bottom. The problem is now that one of my neon dwarf rainbow fish is acting strange. For the past few days it has been at a 45 degree angled gasping at the surface of the tank with a slightly swollen belly. All the other fish appear fine, I don't know what to do. Water tests are all normal since I did a water change upon realising that I had overfed.

Shawnie

oh no im so sorry! what were the test results when you did them?
dont feed the tank for a day or two then see if you can feed the sick baby and others with a piece of thawed, shelled, frozen pea the size of its eye for a couple days....that will help them pass the excess food..

peacemaker92

Hi AJK, I'm so sorry to hear about your sick fish. If he is gasping for air, it's either there's not enough aeration in the tank or it's internal organs are damaged somehow. Shawnie has got you covered with giving them the peas. Other than that, just keep a good eye for that boy. Hope he gets well soon!

AJK

Ok well I don't think it is a lack of aeriation as all of the other fish are fine. He is hanging on but there is no change. It's my fault for over feeding and I really don't know what to do.

Shawnie

can you post your readings when you tested the tank? what test kit are you using? he could be constipated and bloated and have a major belly ache from being over fed...fasting him and the pea method after a few days will help if he does well in the next few days

kloseo

Aj maybe your rainbow is suffering from flatulence. sounds funny i know but when rainbow fish devour large amounts of dried food, they can occasionally deveop flatulence. this is recognized by the fact that the fish try desperately to swim to the bottom without success. The buoyancy caused by the gases is so great that the backs of the fish rise up and they have problems with equilibrium..If this is the case, the gas usually escapes within a short time and the fish will be back to normal
are any of your other fish acting odd? If not hopefully this is all it is
Hope this helps and good luck with your rainbow

peacemaker92

Don't blame yourself, AJ. You didn't mean to right? So all you can do now is help him get better. Keep us updated

AJK

It's not good, my two honey gourami's are basically dead. They are floating on their side at the top and are almost finished. The readings are nitrate 0, ammonia 0.25, pH 8.0

peacemaker92

Your tank isn't completely cycled. You still have a bit of ammonia in the water. Is nitrites 0 as well? It could be a mini-cycle. Wait for the other members to help you with this, I'm not too sure. I'd do a 50% water change or start the cycle all over again. But I know you don't want to start the cycle again. The other members might give you better suggestions than mine. haha sorry. Hope everything gets better soon. Good luck!

AJK

OK well the 2 gourami's and the 1 rainbow fish all died. One of my wag tail platy's is also gasping at the surface of the water. All the readings are normal. I am not sure if the ammonia was 0.25 it is hard to tell, the colours looked very similar. I am using the API master liquid test kit. I just don't know what to do, it's taking my fish out one by one. The rest of the fish are currently fine.