Help My Baby is SICK!!!

My baby Sir Gawain is sick and I don't know why. He was fine When I turned out his light on Thursday night, and last night (Friday) when I looked in on him and his tummy was massively bloated!!! He also doesn't seem to be able to close his mouth. His fin rot appears to be back as well, but I'm really concerned about his belly, I tried to get some pea in there to see if that might help but I can't seem to get it in just the right place so I will float on down to his mouth. he is also just laying on the bottom, hiding in his castle. What could be causing this. What kind of meds should I give him?? HELP ME PLEASE.

Note about his tank: 6 gallon with him and 3 corys, temp at 81, and known to be notoriously high in Nitrates

 

How long has this tank been set up?

What is the filtration, what kind of water changes do you do and what do you use to condition the water?

What are the water paramaters (nitrAtes, nitrItes, ammonia)- I see you say it's high in nitrates?

What and how often do you feed?

 

Triple Sulfa and Rid-Fungus for the fin-rot, after a 50% water change. VitaChem and/or Fish Protector would also be good general purpose help to his system.

You could use a turkey baster perhaps to deposit the tiny pieces of pea near him. Daphnia would also be a potential food for him, but not if he's staying on the bottom. Are his scales pine-coning on his sides?

 

No, he is not pine-coning right now, except where he is so bloated that they have to stick out to make room for his distended tummy. He isn't doing much swimming at all, he swims rapidly to the top of the tank to grab air and then just sits on the bottom, partly tilted to one side and breathing very heavily.

He gets Vita-chem a couple of times a week, but I can kick that up a notch until he gets better.

I'll keep trying to get the pea into him and hope it helps. And get those meds asap.

 

yea, i'd definitely give him daily doses of it. I believe another possible aid for constipation is a small piece of boiled spinach. ??? can another member confirm/refute that?

You may even consider something like a breeder net or something that would let him rest closer to the top of the water to lower his exertion and/or stress of going up for air. the constipation is probably putting pressure on his swim bladder if he's leaning a bit to the side and if so, going up and down is a lot of effort.

how long has it been since he's eaten?

 

He could be constipated, but it sounds more like Dropsy to me. You may want to isolate him ( put him in a hosp) and treat him with Maracyn 1 or 2 or even Maracyn plus. If those don't work try something stronger. You need to treat him with something that treats gram neg and gram pos. if it's dropsy. With dropsy it always starts out with the bloating then the raised scales come soon after. You may be able to save him if he's just bloated right now. It's just in the beginning stages. I hope he get's better soon for you. Natalie

 

I'll get him into the breeder net as soon as I can. I just treated him with his first dose of the triple-sulfa but no one in town has the Rid-Fungus. I added extra vitamins in and have put in lots of little pieces of pea. I can't tell when the last time he ate was. Sadly, it is looking like more of him is starting to Pine-Cone. What would I want to treat him with if it is Dropsy?? Anything else I can do? I'll keep trying to get food, esp pea into him. Thanks for the good advice so far

 

Try either maracyn 1and 2 or maracyn plus first and if that doesn't do much then try something stronger that he deals with gram pos and gram neg. Natalie

 

You may want to go to Furan-2 to treat both the Dropsy & fin rot. If he's starting to pinecone, I'd go right to the stronger meds. Probably do a 50% water change and/or run carbon in the filter for an hour or 2 then remove it before removing the carbon.

Then start with the Furan-2 & don't do anymore of the Triple Sulfa. Both of those at the same time might be just too much for him & the Furan-2 is for both. Petsmart is your most likely place to find it locally, but I'd call around.

If you can't find Furan-2, Kanaplex

might be another strong med to try. It's VERY strong and I believe you would want to do 1/2 of the recommended dosage. I'd see what other members say on the Kanaplex to be sure, but Furan-2 would be my first choice for Sir Gawain now.

 

How is Sir Gawain doing today muffymouse? Were you able to get any meds for him yet and move him into a hosp. tank? Let us know K. Natalie

 

He is not doing well at all. He is seriously pine-coned all over and I can't get him to eat. He has stopped sitting on the bottom and is not just floating at the top. I don't have another tank to move him to so he is sitting in a breeder net right now. I'm going to move my three cory cats to the big tank, so as not to expose them to the meds. I'll also call around and see if anyone has the Furan-2, I am now on my lunch break and have to go back to work and don't get off 'til late, so I hope that I can get him something by tonight. That's it so far

 

Further update: NO ONE in town has either Furan-2 or Kaneplex. This sucks!!! any other suggestions about what I could give him?? or how I might be able to get him meds without making it impossible to pay for my utilities next month? GRRRRRR! ok, thanks so far =)

 

Let me see what I have at my house and maybe I can send you some. Natalie

 

Were any of the Maracyn's available? There's also Neomycin:


And I think some people have had success with an epsom salt bath like described in this article:

 

He's Gone :'( Thank you for trying

 

After taking care of his remains, what would be the best thing to do for the tank?? It is a Eclipse 6 system. Would a 100% water change be recommended before I put my cory's back into their own home?? Do I need to replace my bio-wheel? What do I do to help make this tank a healthy happy tank again and not a tank of possible doom??

 

When Royell had dropsy and had died I soaked his tank along with the bio-wheel and everything else that was in the tank with 1 part vinegar and the rest with very warm, not scolding hot water.Other people have used bleach, but using bleach is very risky especially if if it's not rinsed thoroughly enough. Once you put everything in the tank that you want to soak and disinfect let it sit for 24 hours and then dump it out and rince everything really, really well and let it air dry for a couple days. Then you can fill it back and re-cycle it and put your cory cats back in.

I am very sorry that you lost Sir Gawain. It is very sad to have them lose their lives over something like this. Dropsy is just one of those things that if you can't figure out what disease/illness caused the dropsy to come about it's very hard to get them to recover from it. There are very few fish that ever recover from it.The good thing about it is that he didn't suffer for very long. There is nothing worse then watching them go through that pain and suffering.

Natalie

 

we 2nd Natalie's cleaning advice.

 

thanks =)

 

Your welcome!