DSwofford

I noticed my Blue Paradise was bloated and hanging out at the bottom of the tank this morning and afternoon. Tonight he has lost all of his color and is hanging out at the very top in the corner, he is even more bloated than before. I have included a pic of him below.

All of his tank mates are fine, it is just him. I'm afraid he won't make it through the night. Any thoughts as to what this is or what caused it?

ammonia 0
Nirtite 0
nitrate >2 PPM
pH 7

agabr123

what are you feeding him and how much? i'd try feeding him a small piece of cut up, deshelled pea tonight, and then fasting him all day tomorrow, then try the pea again the next day, and so on.

Shawnie

I agree with alex on the pea and fasting...but this could be a female and they dont have as much color as they mature or with others in there, it could be a spawn or stress color.....what was the color of the fish before it became bloated? ..im wondering though, with a nitrate of 2, what test kit are you using?

DSwofford

I am using API. I need to start proof reading my posts better. I meant to say less than 20 ppm.

He is definitely a he, he has long tail fins. He was bright blue with a bright orange tail. Now he is gray with a light orange tail.

I just checked on him again and now he has a small hole that is a little bigger than a pencil lead next to his eye. Is this HITH? I can't tell if it's that or where the other male got into it with him. Originally there was supposed to be 3 females and 1 male but I ended up with 2m 2f. I have never seen hole in the head before and most of the pics I've seen of it don't look like what he has, plus I see that it mainly stems from poor water quality. I gravel vac weekly and do 25% water changes, so I can't see how my water quality is poor and as I stated previously all my other guys are doing great.

Any ideas??

agabr123

your water quality sounds fine to me. he just sounds bloated in which case the peas and fasting should work. i'm not very familiar with HITH, but here's a link on it which hopefully helps, it's specific to oscars though.

http://www.oscarfishlover.com/index....ease-HITH.html

DSwofford

He died and another blue paradise has a wound in front of his gill. i'm pretty sure my bloated blue p;aradise and this one are the result from the dominant male in the tank.