# Are sunken bellies and bloat causes the same?



## swimmingwiththefish (Aug 23, 2012)

So, I've had a few experiences with fish that have bloat (not eating, spitting out food) and some that have sunken bellies. I'm wondering if these are the same condition just different ends of the spectrum or if they are totally different conditions. Are these conditions caused by the same organism (eg. the same parasite) or are they caused by different parasites? Are the treatments the same?

I'm dealing with sunken bellies. What I've noticed is that the fish are eating, but still have sunken bellies. I am currently using a fairly new food from NLS called Hex Shield. It is supposed to help with parasites that cause sunken bellies.

What I've noticed in some of my fish is that there seems to be a point of no return when treatment does not work. Fish are eating, but have sunken bellies. They loose their color (I have haps and peacocks) and become drab brown/greyish and very skinny. Eventually, they die. I've tried treating the water with both metro and praziquantel and soaking food in metro and praziquantel.

Is there anything else I can do?


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## wortel87 (Apr 15, 2014)

Intestinal nematodes are a verry good possibillity as prazi and metro wont touch them.


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## swimmingwiththefish (Aug 23, 2012)

wortel87 said:


> Intestinal nematodes are a verry good possibillity as prazi and metro wont touch them.


What will "touch them"?


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Wortel is correct that neither of these medications will work on nematodes. Nematodes (roundworms) are not the same as diplomonad flagellates which are believed to cause bloat. Recommended meds for nematodes are Levamisole, Piperazine Sulfate and Fenbendazole (Panacur).

*FENBENDAZOLE*:
Water - borne formulations:
1. Prolonged immersion
a. Add 2 mg fenbendazole/l (= 7.6 mg/gallon)
once/week for 3 weeks.

Oral formulations:
1. Feed 25 mg fenbendazole/kg (= 11 mg/lb) of body
weight/day for 3 days for aquarium fi sh (Gratzek and
Blasiola 1992 ). This is equivalent to a feed that has
0.25% fenbendazole and is fed at a rate of 1% of body
weight/day.
2. Feed 50 mg fenbendazole/kg (= 23 mg/lb) of body
weight once/week for 2 weeks (Langdon 1992a ).
This is equivalent to a feed that has 0.50% fenbendazole
and is fed at a rate of 1% of body weight/day.
3. Intubate 50 mg fenbendazole/kg (= 23 mg/lb) of
body weight (Langdon 1992a ).
Use No. 2: Treatment of mongeneans

Water - borne formulations:
1. Bath
a. Add 25 mg fenbendazole/l (= 95 mg/gallon) for
12 hours.

*LEVAMISOLE HYDROCHLORIDE*:
Water - borne formulations:
1. Prolonged immersion
a. Add 10 mg levamisole HCl/l (= 38 mg/gallon)
(Butcher 1993 ).

Oral formulations:
1. Feed 2.5 - 10 mg levamisole HCl/kg (= 1.1 - 4.5 mg/
lb) of body weight/day for 7 days (Post 1987 ). This
is equivalent to a feed having 0.025 - 0.100% levamisole
and fed at a rate of 1% of body weight/day.
Feeding 8 mg levamisole HCl/kg (= 3.6 mg/lb) of
body weight is a proven treatment for Anguillicola
(Blanc et al. 1992 ).

*PIPERAZINE SULFATE*:
Oral formulations:
1. Feed 10 mg piperazine sulfate/kg (= 4.5 mg/lb) of
body weight/day for 3 days. This is equivalent to a
feed that has 0.10% piperazine sulfate fed at a rate of
1% of body weight/day (Post 1983 ).

Edit: Added link for Levamisole, http://www.loaches.com/Members/shari2/l ... chloride-1


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## wortel87 (Apr 15, 2014)

+1


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## swimmingwiththefish (Aug 23, 2012)

Thank you all so much for the information!


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## Borsig (Nov 21, 2012)

what are the easiest to acquire meds with these in them? Recomendations?


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