# WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN AN EGGBOUND FEMALE



## frontkeeper (Jun 1, 2003)

After 9 years of keeping Burundis, and over 100 fry I never experienced any females that were eggbound. I have now have experienced it twice within my 4 females. I sucessfully have had one recover, 2 months back but ran out of LUCK this time. Since I am no expert in this frustrating aspect of breeding cichlids, I can only tell you what I have observed and what others have tried. 
FIRST SIGN-Tube down- normal looking 
SECOND SIGN-Heavy breathing that continues non-stop for no apparent reason 
ACTION- remove and put in hosptital tank with proper water parameters, add epson salt 1/4 cup per 25 gallons up to 2 to 3 times that amount, replace 5 gallons daily along with fresh epsom salt. WHETHER you add any other meds, Melafix or anthing else is an unknown since the female may get a bacteria infection. 
THIRD SIGN- Tube turns brown color and protrudes farther out than normal( this happened after the message and I don't know for sure if that caused bruising when the egg material came out or it is a sign of an infection. My other female I messaged and nothing came out of her tube, it was normal color but swollen around the area and she was good to go in 5 days. 
MESSAGING TECHNIQUE- I am fortunate that my fish allow me to hold them in my hand, unlike my Burundis,you then use a net instead. I placed her in face forward in my palm and with the other hand I reached just above her tube on both side and gently gave a downward stroke towards the tube 2-3 times. 
The second day in treatment PRIOR TO MESSAGING, there was light stream of of white substance that would come out occasionally. This may or may not have happened with my other female because I couldn't observe her 24/7. 
During messaging her, a lot of white material came out along with 6 clear egg membranes that floated around the tank like jellyfish. Like I stated before one would assume by doing the message technique it would aid in relieving pressure. 
The next day I attempted to message again, but nothing came out. I increase the dosage of epsom salt and decided not to use Melaflix at this time because it temporarly causes heavy breathing which I did not want to add more stress from a fish who was still breathing hard. I then witnessed her swimming less and looked a little lifeless and she passed away during the night. I also increased the temperature slowly to 79F from her normal 77F.

In conclusion, I am frustrated that there is not much definative information and or procedure to go by to prevent this from happening. I would think that using other meds along with the epsom salt would be an aggresive way to treat from the get go because we have no way of knowing how each episode of eggbound females will play out. 
What meds to use is the question, and as long as it will cause additional harm in using it, I believe at this point that I will want to use that plan of action. 
My personal observation is both of my females got eggbound on their very first attempt at dropping their tubes. My female that is currently holding has dropped her tube once before but dropped her eggs after holding briefly. I have one more female that will be in the position to attempt to drop her tube for the first time. I wonder if being eggbound happens more frequent on their first tube drop? I wonder if it can happen after they have sucessfully dropped their eggs and have held. I suppose I will be in good position to observe this and answer some of my questions. 
I know that stress plays an important factor. in my case with enough room for them in a 8 footer, 1 male and only 3 other females,the stress source that may have contribute in both my case would be 1) MALE NOT INTERESTED 2) BEING CHASED BY OTHERS IN THE COLONY. My females ranged from 6.5" to 7.5" but the female that died was the smallest, my other was the largest. The female that died was chased around maybe 15% more than the others. I have learned from my Burundis to not create individual hiding places that they would fight over, so other than the males cave the females have a open tank with large bolders to use as natural barriers. I hope that what information I have observed from this rare and tragic event can help us all learn from it and hopefully prevent future deaths for this magnificent cichlid that I and the rest of my fellow hobbyist share !

MARK


----------



## kriskm (Dec 1, 2009)

I'm so sorry about your female frontosa, that is really tough. Thank you a bunch for all the information you provided. I haven't experienced this yet, but I can imagine how frustrating it would be to lose a grown, otherwise healthy fish. Hopefully through this and other forums we can begin to understand how to stop this condition early enough to save them.


----------

