# Bloated Sick Flowerhorn Cichlid javascript:emoticon(':(')



## allisonhardy (Sep 15, 2009)

I have a flowerhorn cichlid, names Liel, that I adopted from a friend. It is in a 55 gallon tank by itself. For the past month and a half he has been sick. Through reading I learned that I was over feeding the fish for months, he begged, I fed him. The problems began with him not eating, and continued.... After water tests nitrate levels were spiking. I went through the process of daily water changes and added nutrafin, an aquarium supplement eliminate the ammonia and nitrates. At this point I fed him again and he seemed to have more energy, this was about a month ago.
About 3 weeks ago he developed a dark black spot about the size of a peppercorn on his gill. He also started bloating in his abdomen area. I watched this for awhile, the person at the fish store said that I didn't need to feed him just wait for the food (from overfeeding) to pass. After a week of waiting my fish got even larger. At this point his anus was protruding and his belly was huge! I bought some metronidazole and maracyn-two to help the problem. Hopefully this would help him pass his food, or help heal an intestinal infection, and help his gill. Last week I followed the instructions and medicated him, doing water changes daily to make sure there weren't anymore nitrate spikes. His scales are protruding in a spike-like manner and he hasn't decreased in size. I am really worried because I haven't been feeding him, he's staying the same size, and I'm not sure what to do next. Does it take awhile to see the results of the metronidazole? Or should I get something else? Thanks for any advice you can offer.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

It sounds like you might have had some water quality issues on top of the overfeeding.

What happened to cause the spikes in ammonia?

Poor tank maintenance can cause all kinds of health issues in fish, so this may very well be the root of your problem. Additives don't compensate for water changes...You should have kept them up (multiples daily) until you resolved the ammonia issue, rather than allowing the fish to stay in the situation, as it may have done long term damage to his internal organs.

Your fish doesn't have bloat. He has dropsy. This is caused by poor water quality in most cases, and diagnosed by the raised scales. There isn't much you can do at this point, other than clean the tank up.

If this has been going on for months, then the odds are that he's been poisoned by living in his own waste. The damage done to his internal organs may not be reversible, but I would certainly try.

This is why he has the bloated appearance. His internal organs are failing and his body cavity is filling with fluid from the organ failure.

Just out of curiousity, what was your tank maintenance routine normally?

What are the full water parameters now?

How many gph go through your filtration?

I would start doing water changes of 30-40% every couple of hours until you have NO reading at all for ammonia and nitrite. Nitrates should not be above 40, preferably around 20. You can use Prime for your dechlorinator and it will help to detox the ammonia, but it isn't going to replace the water changes the fish so desperately needs.


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## zottona (Oct 15, 2009)

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