# Bloat or babies?



## 1TOOMANY (Oct 13, 2008)

My wife said it was eating this morning, but it's not really eating now. I feed them frozen bloodworm once a week. They got the bloodworms yesterday.

It moved out of the cave it was in in the pic, now it's in a cave where there's sand on the floor. Staying in one place.


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## nchoe123 (Nov 11, 2007)

uh, do you know that yellow labs are mouth brooders, and so "pregnancy" doesn't apply?

maybe you mean that it's about to lay eggs?

that is a pretty chunky lab though!

also assume you feed them more than 1x/week. what's their regular diet?


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## 1TOOMANY (Oct 13, 2008)

Is that what they look/act like before they lay eggs?

The other Labs look normal.

I usually feed them the "New Life" sinking pellets, sometimes the floating hikari pellets.


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## cichlids _killer (Apr 13, 2008)

if the fish not eatting and always hidding and a long white string poo then bloat...i been fighting with that 2times on my 210..its not fun..mostly bloat will took more than one of your fish ..but its hard to tell from the pic ..your fish might just fat-ass like one of my fish


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

What are the other fish in the tank? 
If you are feeding NLS, that's all they really need and I would cut out feeding the blood worms. To some mbuna it does more harm than good.
Some say you can't see a difference when fish are about to drop eggs but I have noticed a difference at times. What I noticed was the sides of the fish bulging out a little and not so much bulging down as your fish appears to be doing.
I would try some epsome salt in case there is a blockage. I'm not sure of the dosage so I hope someone comes along that knows. If not, post a pic and ask about it in the illness section :wink: .


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## gmaschke (Aug 23, 2008)

I was told by a few that bloodworms arent good for most africans as most are herbivores. Although some can handle them they will all eat them and likely gorge themselves causing problems unless you have a species tank with no herbivores I wouldn't feed the blood worms IMO. Go to the species index here or research other sources and determine your diet requirements before feeding anymore. Some dry foods like NLS do a good job of meeting the needs of almost all species w/o harming any of them.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Here is a direct quote by Ad Konings, from his "Back to Nature Guide to Malawi Cichlids" 2nd edition, page 34-35:



> Many kinds of deep frozen fish food are available in pet shops. Not all of them are recommended for cichilds (or any other kind of fishes). Red mosquito larvae, one of the most popular frozen foods, are very bad and should not be fed to fishes. These larvae are found in the mud of stagnant pools and feed from the mud, including when this contains chemicals which are toxic to some fishes, especially to Malawi and Tanganyikan cichlids. Red mosquito larvae often occur in very acid water and since the larvae consist mostly of water such acid water is ingested by the fish. Malawi cichlids live in alkaline water and the feeding of red mosquito larvae may easily lead to so-called Malawi Bloat. The same problem exists when you feed your Malawians glass worms from acid water. Moreover red mosquito larvae induce allergic reactions in about 30% of persons coming in contact with them!


Now, if Ad says not to feed our cichlids bloodworms (red mosquito larvae), that's good enough for me. :thumb:

Your yellow lab appears to be extremely bloated. I would remove her/him from the main tank, and put it in a hospital tank with epsom salt added at 1 cup per 100G of water - making sure to dissolve the epsom salt first in some tank water.

I would then do a very thorough vacuuming of the main tank in order to remove any potentially infected feces from the tank.

Should the yellow lab stop eating, you will need to treat with one of the bloat treatments listed in the links below, and should this happen, I would suggest feeding your other fish a medicated antiparasitic food.

And I would stop the bloodworms... :wink:

You don't always have immediate results when you choose to feed things that aren't good for your fish, but over time, it will almost always catch up with you.

NLS is a fine fish food, nutritionally complete. You don't need anything else.


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## khaki (Jan 12, 2008)

I agree with everyone here...stop feeding the bloodworms. they do more harm to most africans than good. from the picture...done of my female labs look like that before laying eggs. your lab seem to be bloated from the side. NLS is a good brand...keep feeding that and cut the bloodworm.


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

I would not feed for two days and add a little aquarium salt (1 tsp per 5 gallons). Can't hurt..might help. No more bloodworms. When you start back feeding, try some zucchini or frozed peas. Good Luck!


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

Ok... read the whole post.. Do what Cichlidaholic says.. Moderators rule!!!


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## 1TOOMANY (Oct 13, 2008)

So I guess I got another week? Doing a water change now, I haven't cleaned off the plastic plants, will the fry want to eat it?

Anything else I can do to get a few of them to live?


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

Is the fish still swollen? I thought it was bloated??? Did it lay eggs after the last pic? Is it holding them in it's mouth? Justy trying to get the full picture!


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## 1TOOMANY (Oct 13, 2008)

She's not bloated anymore, it looks like she has them in her mouth. I guess she laid her eggs and put them in her mouth.

She hangs around with the other fish around feeding time, but I'm not sure she has eaten in the last 2 weeks,(since she has looked like she has had a mouthful).


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

Cool! I'm glad its not bloat. If you could find a 10 gallon on Craigslist, you could move her to it, and let her spit. That's what I do. If I let her spit in the tank, I'm lucky to have one make it. Your other fish will usually pick them off. My yellow labs and Saulosi never make it. I think because they are so bright. Last year, I was overrun by M. Greshakeis in my 120. Again, they are drab grey as babies, so I think they hid well with my rocks. I kept one male for a male only set up, and got rid of the rest. I moved a female Saulosi into a 10 gallon this week and have 12 babies!


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## 1TOOMANY (Oct 13, 2008)

Today I saw her take 1 pellet of food. I don't think I have another tank for her to spit into.

Would I be better off leaving her in the 125, or getting her to spit into one of the tanks in my sig?

BTW I live in Ohio, so I can't have her spit into the pond. :?


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

I don't know about the fiddler crabs. Another option is a breeder net, placed in on of the tanks.


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## 1TOOMANY (Oct 13, 2008)

Well, I thought she swallowed them. I was watching the fish today and I saw at least 3 babies. My Johanni has been protecting them for this whole time. The Johanni and yellow labs reproduced at the same time the the fry have been hiding in the male johanni's cave. This whole time I thought the blue johanni was being a dick to all the other fish, but he was just being a good father.









There's 2 fry in that pic

There's at least 2 yellow lab fry, and 3 johanni fry, they all have female coloration, will that change as they get older if they are males?


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