# Firemouth prolapsed anus?



## Phonic (Jan 19, 2008)

My younger Firemouth has a white/light pink bump around his or her anus.
It's been acting a little weird the last week, seems to be digging in the gravel and mouthing the slate that sits diagonally in the tank.
No cloudy eyes or any other physical anomalies.

It has also become more aggressive toward his tankmates - he's always been a greedy fish, the first to snap up food at feeding time and very bold.

Lately he's been swimming mouth down in strange patterns, none of which make much sense.

The only things I can think of are spawning or prolapsed anus.
My other fish have bred in this tank successfully and it has been active for a year with good water parameters, regular changes and cleaning.

I used salt in the tank yesterday to aid in digestion as a matter of course but I'm gettling worried about him or her.

Any help or advice is appreciated, thank you.


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Hi

Could be a prolapsed rectum--or the fish could be egg bound. The fish is still eating, correct?

Do a partial water change and then try fasting the fish for 24 hours. Add Epsom salt at the rate of 1 Tablespoon per five gallons. (Dissolve it first; add is gradually). The other fish are fine to go through the Epsom salt and fast so no need to remove this fish.

Usually this sort of problem corrects on its own but you do need to watch out for infection, (fuzzy white or gray growth, redness).

Robin


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## Phonic (Jan 19, 2008)

Hi Robin, thanks for the reply.

The fish is still eating, I partially fed them last night which is when I noticed the problem so I stopped feeding.
After searching this section I came to the conclusion that it was either the rectum or the fish was spawning so I've already changed a good amount of water and added the salt.

This Firemouth is 1/3 the size of the adult I have in there and the weird thing I've noticed is that they both seem to be moving gravel from one part of the tank to the front of the glass.

I'll keep a close watch to see what happens next.

As usual, the advice is appreciated.


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## dudeguy828 (Dec 2, 2013)

I know this post is old, but my Firemouth is doing literally the exact same thing to the T Anus thing as well, and I was wondering if you found out exactly what was happening.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Prolapsed anus could be caused by a number of different things. Epsom salt and fasting as Robin suggests is the usual recommendation for this sort of ailment. When back to normal, consider feeding de-shelled peas before switching back to the normal food.


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