# extra fat tropheus



## eviramon (Mar 23, 2005)

Hello all,

I have a group of about 20 tropheus moori. They are about 2 inches righ now. I have had them for about 6 months in my 90g tank. There isn't any harsh bullying or anything like that. I keep the water temp at 80 ( i cant get it lower) and have a ph of 8.2 with kh and gh in the teens. I do a 50% wc every other week. i feed them nls twice a day. yada yada.

i have never had any issues with these guys before but this morning i woke up to find one of my fish fatter than usual. he swam around normaly and even ate. When i got home from work he had doubled in width. he still swims around fine but he is so fat it looks like he is going to explode. his eyes look like they are going to pop out and his scales are sticking out! yes, he is that fat. the thing about it is that he still combs the sand for food and nibs on some of the algae on the rocks. what should i do? i don't have a quarantine tank right now but i don't want this dude to get all my fish sick. should he be "culled"?

Thanks


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## jordanroda (May 4, 2006)

sounds like dropsy to me...u need empson salt & metro...might be too late...3 of my tdubs had this a few years back...i treat right away and only saved 1...wait for the Robin to help u out...bol


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

It does sound like dropsy, but if it's too advanced you might not be able to do anything about it.

Are the scales raised, kind of like a pine cone?

Do you have a hospital tank to move the fish to?

Dropsy is not internal parasites. It's usually attributed to organ failure of some sort and the body cavity of the fish filling with fluid from the organ failure.

What are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings on the tank?

Tropheus are very sensitive to water quality. I would be doing at least 40% water changes _weekly_ rather than every other week.


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## eviramon (Mar 23, 2005)

so this is not infectious?

I have a hospital tank but i have no way of getting the ph, kh, and gh in that tank as i do in the tank the fish is in.

his fins do make him look like a pine cone. feel bad for the fella 

If this is organ failure, is there no way to avoid this in the future?

I will do the tests when i get home.

Thanks again for the help


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Yes, there is a way to avoid it in the future, if it is truly dropsy. (Are the scales raised? Not sure what you mean about the fins...)

Keep up with your water changes as I stated above. Tropheus are one of the most sensitive fish I've ever kept as far as poor water quality goes, and by your own admission, you've not had the best water change schedule for these fish.

What are the water parameters on the main tank? You're going to need those before we can advise you much further. (ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are the ones you need to worry about now...forget the gh and kh for now...)

Are you buffering the tank to increase the ph? If so, what are you using?

Dropsy isn't contagious, but with all the fish living in a tank with less than perfect tank maintenance, you may have problems with other fish, including dropsy.

Clean water is the best thing you can do for this problem. So, lets get the answers to these questions and your parameters and determine what you need to do as far as the main tank goes, and what you need to do for a hospital tank. Leaving a sick fish, especially one this sick, in the main tank is risky.


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## jordanroda (May 4, 2006)

see, thats 1 thing i never understood to this day...how did my trophs get dropsy if i changed 50% of my water every week?...in all my years into fishes i never saw dropsy till that day(and i worked at a lfs) and hope never to see it again...knock on wood... :fish:


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

jordanroda said:


> see, thats 1 thing i never understood to this day...how did my trophs get dropsy if i changed 50% of my water every week?...in all my years into fishes i never saw dropsy till that day(and i worked at a lfs) and hope never to see it again...knock on wood... :fish:


From your post above, I think you might be confusing dropsy and bloat...Two very different things, but both can cause the "bloated" appearance in fish.


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## jordanroda (May 4, 2006)

when my trophs had bloat they never looked swollen, eyes popped out, and scales sticking out...but then again i always caught bloat early...who knows?...couldve been 1 of the 2...may our fishes stay healthy, I havent had a problem in a few years...knock on wood... :thumb:


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## eviramon (Mar 23, 2005)

i mistyped. i meant scales. he looks like a porcupine


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Then it's dropsy...

If you'll answer my questions above about the water, I'll try to help you make a determination in what to do for the fish.


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