Dropsy?

[mcfeeto]

Sorry for the long post. I just want to be descriptive. Also I'm trying to add pics, but the upload keeps failing.

This is my first post here, and I signed up because I've been screening this site for a while since I started keeping plecos a couple of months ago. Figured I'd join the fun.

I've got a 4" male bristlenose pleco that I've named Douglas. A couple of weeks ago he became bloated and lethargic. I diagnosed as bloat and tried feeding him snow peas. I never noticed if he ate them, but he looked just a little for a week or so. Two days ago, he went cloudy eyed, got really bloated, and his "scales" are raised. Yesterday he began swimming to the top of the tank for air and turned yellow. Today he is sitting on top of my air circulator, since it is close to the top of the water and he barely has to move to gasp out of the water.

The tank is 37 gallons. Tank mates are 3 Rosie barbs, 4 tiger barbs, 2 clown loaches (I know they get large, I have a 110gal that will be loaches only when they get to be 4 inches), a 1.5 inch albino bristlenose, and a 3 inch high fin spotted pleco.



Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrile 20, pH 8, not sure of gh, kh.

filter is the Aqueon that came with the tank, up to 40gal. I do weekly water changes of 25%, and I use Prime to treat my water.

Diet. I feed algae wafers for the plecos, catfish pellets for the loaches, and flake food for the other fish. I feed once per day. In the afternoon for everyone except the plecos, who I feed before bed.

I keep my tank at 79 degrees.

I hear that dropsy treatments can do more harm than good and generally are not very effective. Is there anything I can do at this point? Could it possibly be anything not dropsy related?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Lornek8]

Could still be bloat. Do you offer anything besides the algae wafers for the plecs? Some brands of algae wafers actually have very little veggie matter and can cause issues with some plecs.

 

[mcfeeto]

I feed zuchini about once a week. Last weekend I put one in and left it for 2 days, but no one ate it.

I haven't seen Doug poop for a couple of weeks. But I only see him for a couple of hours a day, so I haven't considered it odd.

 

[mcfeeto]

Finally got my pics up.

 

[zeebo]

crossing fingers for you. Did you de-shell the peas first ? the clear skin must be removed before dropping in and this is the only food I would put in for everone for a week ,some drop in at night, no wafers, as Lorne said, some contain protien which some plecs digestive systems can't handle much or none of. Check the ingredients on the package.

Also, it is not a good idea to leave raw veggies in the tank for longer than overnight as it could mess up your water and cause serious probs. If it is not eaten, remove and try again the next night with new piece. Again, at this point, just de-shelled peas and perhaps add an air stone. HTH, good luck and keep us updated.

 

[mcfeeto]

Well, with the peas: I blanched them, deshelled them, mashed them up, then I hollowed out a slice of zucchini and inserted the paste (because the peas didn't sink) and put it in until the other fish had picked at it until it fell out.

I do have a 6" bubble wall air stone, and I keep the water low enough that the filtered water agitates the surface like crazy, then I have my circulation pump at the top of the water to push that oxygenated water throughout the tank. There is no lack of oxygen, that's for sure. Doug just can't seem to pass any of it over his gills

Just in case, I did give him an epsom salt bath yesterday. I put him in one of the 5gal buckets I use for water changes with 1tsp of salt per gallon of tank water for 20 minutes (it gave me a good excuse to do a water change in the tank while I waited). He doesn't look any worse for wear over it, and he still put up a fight over being caught, which is reassuring.

How often do I bath him in epsom salt to treat for bloat?

 

[zeebo]

hi, sorry , I have never done an epsom salt bath so can not answer that .

I am shocked the peas did not sink, try same routine, but not mash them, just drop in after blanch for 1 min, cool, de-shell , and plop in. Do some at night for the plec as he is a night feeder by nature. Good luck and hope he gets better .

 

[mcfeeto]

Douglas died sometime today. His stomach was no longer swollen, but he had a large bruise-like color on his stomach. And he stunk really bad. I assume his insides were so full of bacteria that he burst. I should have euthanized him days ago, but I was holding on to hopes that he would get better.

 

[zeebo]

oh man, sorry to hear that . You tried to help him but must have been to far gone . Bummer.

Georgine