Swollen neon tetra belly!

hi!!

This morning while feeding my fish, i noticed one of my 6 neons belly is swollen i’m having trouble figuring out what could be the cause

it’s eating fine and isn’t displaying any weird behavior at all. it’s active and swimming around the tank with the rest of the fish.

my tank is 10 gallons home to a dwarf gourami and the 6 tetras. the other fish are perfectly fine

 

Can you fill up the emergency template pls? It might help us to help you find out why ur neon tetra’s belly is swollen.

Maybe it’s pregnant with eggs? It’s just a guess so I am probably wrong.

 

Looks like it is carrying eggs.

 

Can you fill up the emergency template pls? It might help us to help you find out why ur neon tetra’s belly is swollen.

Maybe it’s pregnant with eggs? It’s just a guess so I am probably wrong.

unfortunately by the time i wrote this thread, i had to leave for work. when i get home later tonight i’ll test the water and fill out the template. for what it’s worth, i tested the water yesterday (i just do halfway through the week between water changes) and the ammonia and nitrite were both at 0ppm and the nitrate was at 15ppm. I’ll see what it is again tonight

Looks like it is carrying eggs.

what do i do about this? will it lay the eggs on its own and will i end up with a bunch of fish?

 

It’s fine, actually no need to fill the form up, since emeraldking confirmed that it was about to lay eggs.

 

Oh yeah she is extremely gravid (aka pregnant). No cause for alarm unless you want the eggs and fry.

unfortunately by the time i wrote this thread, i had to leave for work. when i get home later tonight i’ll test the water and fill out the template. for what it’s worth, i tested the water yesterday (i just do halfway through the week between water changes) and the ammonia and nitrite were both at 0ppm and the nitrate was at 15ppm. I’ll see what it is again tonight

what do i do about this? will it lay the eggs on its own and will i end up with a bunch of fish?

It will spawn with one of the males and you will have eggs not fry just yet. You might want to keep in mind that the spawning could increase the nutrients in the water. Just monitor it and for the most part you should be ok.

 

It doesn't look to be swollen because of eggs to me it is too extreme.

The swelling is likely to be due to excessive water in the body cavity.

Known as oedema or dropsy.

Likely caused by failure of the kidneys and gills to expel water effectively.

It is not uncommon and has a variety of causes.

 

It doesn't look to be swollen because of eggs to me it is too extreme.

The swelling is likely to be due to excessive water in the body cavity.

Known as oedema or dropsy.

Likely caused by failure of the kidneys and gills to expel water effectively.

It is not uncommon and has a variety of causes.

If this was a male, it would definitely be some type of illness but this ones a female. Some tetras get real big when gravid especially because the food we feed fish nowadays are really loaded with nutrients which can increase the amount of eggs but this is case by case . It could be that the swelling is a cause of illness but perhaps it could also be that it is bloated (I don't think it is). I honestly believe it is gravid as it seems to be a little pink around the belly but this is just my observation and you should just watch it for the next couple of days and make sure it gets its share of food but relooking at the photos it seems it has white stringy poop but sometimes eating makes gravid females even more uncomfortable as it takes up space in their tummy but I would be careful anyways.

 

thank you all for the input!!

considering it’s not exhibiting any abnormal behavior, is eating normally, and is active, i think i’ll just keep an eye on things as it doesn’t seem like she has dropsy or anything

how can you tell that it’s female? if she really does have eggs, is there something i have to do about it or will it just resolve on its own? i sure hope i dont end up with a bunch of baby tetras lol!

 

thank you all for the input!!

considering it’s not exhibiting any abnormal behavior, is eating normally, and is active, i think i’ll just keep an eye on things as it doesn’t seem like she has dropsy or anything

how can you tell that it’s female? if she really does have eggs, is there something i have to do about it or will it just resolve on its own? i sure hope i dont end up with a bunch of baby tetras lol!

Females have a curved blue stripe. The adults probably will eat the eggs and if any fry make it, they will get eaten probably.

 

Hey moldy
I don’t enjoy being the only person to write an opinion different to what others have written.
I think you have a very sick fish in that photo. I believe it’s got a swollen belly with possibly a bacteria infection. I don’t personally think that is eggs . My belief is egg scatters in general drop eggs every morning for days on end. ( l have never breed neons) .But see spawning behaviour daily.

You do not have to worry about fry as egg scattering fish have no parental skills and if fact eat the eggs every morning before you get out of bed. My understanding is all the fish eat eggs?

I am sorry to be the only person posting anything but jolly jolly happy happy news. I feel you should be prepared for the worst? I would stop feeding the fish with the swollen belly for at least ten days. Ether you separate it or you don’t feed anyone for a week.

 

Hey moldy
I don’t enjoy being the only person to write an opinion different to what others have written.
I think you have a very sick fish in that photo. I believe it’s got a swollen belly with possibly a bacteria infection. I don’t personally think that is eggs . My belief is egg scatters in general drop eggs every morning for days on end. ( l have never breed neons) .But see spawning behaviour daily.

You do not have to worry about fry as egg scattering fish have no parental skills and if fact eat the eggs every morning before you get out of bed. My understanding is all the fish eat eggs?

I am sorry to be the only person posting anything but jolly jolly happy happy news. I feel you should be prepared for the worst? I would stop feeding the fish with the swollen belly for at least ten days. Ether you separate it or you don’t feed anyone for a week.

I agree with both opinions, I think this female is gravid and I think it has issues.

Assuming the op isn't overfeeding and this fish isn't a really aggressive eater getting double the food of the rest of them, and assuming water quality is fine, I'm suspecting the fish is egg bound. Developing eggs but can't lay them for whatever the reason and it's backed up.

I'm not sure what you could do to correct it though. If she can't pass the eggs they will build up and break and die and rot inside her, or be reabsorbed, or become a hard mass and a permanent swollen belly. It can work out different depending on conditions.

I'd suppose you could look into spawning triggers and see if she'll drop eggs. Maybe darken the tank and room overnight and before sunrise open the shades so the tank can get the dawn and sunrise light effect and maybe this will trigger a drop. Could be a genetic reason she can't drop eggs, birth defect or something like that.

 

I think I'll try to dim the tank and stop feeding for a few days. This is a tough situation!

The only reason I am hesitant to think there is something more serious going on is that other than the swelling, she is acting perfectly fine. I had a betta develop dropsy once and it was very obvious that there was something really wrong due to its behavior and his scales looking like a pine cone.

I think I'll try to dim the tank and stop feeding for a few days. This is a tough situation!

The only reason I am hesitant to think there is something more serious going on is that other than the swelling, she is acting perfectly fine. I had a betta develop dropsy once and it was very obvious that there was something really wrong due to its behavior and his scales looking like a pine cone.

with that being said though, I don’t want to loose a fish and I appreciate everyone’s ideas it’s been helpful!!

 

what do i do about this? will it lay the eggs on its own and will i end up with a bunch of fish?

It depends on how good a male will spread his sperm over the eggs once she layed her egss.

It doesn't look to be swollen because of eggs to me it is too extreme.

These female tetras at my place that are carrying eggs look exactly the same.

 

The bloat is too extensive, it goes all the way to the gill plate. A fish full of eggs, even extremely full, would not have that kind of bloating the full length of the body. I suspect that SparkyJones is correct, she does have eggs that have become eggbound to some extent and blocked up other bodily functions. The initial phases of this condition may look like there's nothing serious, but it can, over several weeks, kill the fish.

One of the most common things that can cause this in tetras is water that is too hard. Filling out the report mentioned at the beginning of this thread would answer a lot of questions that I have.

 

i wanted to come on here and update everyone who replied! i have no idea what was wrong but the issue fixed itself and she is totally fine now. the bloat is gone and she looks like nothing ever happened! i’m so relieved!

 

i wanted to come on here and update everyone who replied! i have no idea what was wrong but the issue fixed itself and she is totally fine now. the bloat is gone and she looks like nothing ever happened! i’m so relieved!

glad to hear it, she was most likely eggbound and she absorbed them, or passed them finally.

A win is a win though, congrats!

 

Thank you for the update. It helps a lot .