# swollen vents or anuses? with PIX



## panopticon (Mar 11, 2007)

OK, I'm on day 3 of treating my 55 of mbuna with API's General Cure for bloat. API's General Cure is for parasites and has these ingredients:

Metronidazole-250 mg and Praziquantel-75 mg per packet

I've followed the recommended dose of about one packet per 10 gallon, ie, I used 5 packets two days ago and then added 5 more tonight. Temperature is 80 degrees, and always is in my tank. The tank has been running since April of 2007 when I added 13 juvenile saulosi and 2 syno petricola. The tank has been fully healthy all along and the fish lived together in relative peace all along; there are two dominant males and, from my count, 3 or 4 females. Two of them are always holding and I've counted over 10 surviving babies so far (most have gone to family and friends). About three months ago I removed 2 subdom males who had lousy color; since then I also removed other subdom males until I was down to 8 of the original saulosi and numerous tiny babies. Then I added some other baby and juvie mbuna because I got bored ...likely the source of the bloat. Since the disease started about a week ago I lost two of the remaining subdom males, each one took about 3 or 4 days to die. I don't have a hospital tank. In addition to the meds I already mentioned, I also mixed one dose with food and gave it to them last night and did the same this morning.

There are currently no fish exhibiting signs of disease.

I guess my questions are:

*1) Should I not be feeding the tank while treatment is in effect?* I've been feeding all along because all but the sick fish have been eating well. Do we assume that the parasite, which perhaps lives in the gut all the time but gets out of control when triggered, might be benefiting from the food? Does feeding perhaps encourage the other fish to get sick in a tank that is going through a cycle of bloat, ie, does it feed the parasites?

*2) Should I do a 3rd dose in 48 hours?* Or should I do any more medicated feeds? I've noticed the fish blow the food out when it is medicated but not when it is normal. Although they blow, I'm sure they get some of the meds though... (The first batch of treated food was soaked for 5 minutes and was eaten hungrily; the second was soaked for 30+ minutes and they blew that around somewhat).

My plan is to do a nice 50% water change in 48 hours. Does that sound like the way to go? Should I do another dose after that? I've got enough meds left for one more full-tank dose and 2-3 medicated feeds...

Thanks for your advice. I've never had the bloat before... it sux.


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## panopticon (Mar 11, 2007)

All the fish in my tank continue to act and look normally except for my two adult dominant saulosi. Both of these fish have slight pimple-like protrusions in front of their anal fins. When I say slight, I mean much smaller than depicted here:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/malawi_bloat.php

I can't tell if this is the anus or vent ...I assume it is the anus since I've had two fish die of the bloat in this tank, but if it wasn't for those deaths I'd never think anything was wrong in there now. Both of these dom fish have good color and are not hiding or behaving oddly. One fish does blow his food out, then eats it again, which is worrying. I fed the fish Friday morning with treated food, and before that on Thursday evening with treated food, and then I fasted them until this morning when I gave them plain food. They all ate well except for the one male ...but with the feeding frenzy I couldn't tell if he got anything down or not. He was eating, but then blowing them out and re-eating them. I'm not even sure if I should be feeding them or not, but next time I do I will watch him closer...

I'm curious about the protrusions. I looked closely and each one seems to have a small (1-2mm) whitish center. It doesn't look ***** or inflamed... the pimples are also very small, maybe 1mm tall. Could it be that the dominant mature fish would have these features? I am looking more closely at my fish than ever before, and I realize I could have missed these.

My questions:

*-Should I be feeding or fasting? If feeding, medicated or not?
-Are these pimples a sign of bloat?
-...and from above, should I do a 3rd dose of the General Cure after tonight's 50% water change?*

I took some pix, but it was hard to get great focus:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/
...if you click on a photo once and then click the ALL SIZES icon (under the photo title) it will take you to the hi-res version. I labeled the photos by which give the best picture of what I'm talking about.

Give me some help, please!


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## panopticon (Mar 11, 2007)

All the fish in my tank continue to act and look normally except for my two adult dominant saulosi. Both of these fish have slight pimple-like protrusions in front of their anal fins. When I say slight, I mean much smaller than depicted here:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/malawi_bloat.php

I can't tell if this is the anus or vent ...I assume it is the anus since I've had two fish die of the bloat in this tank, but if it wasn't for those deaths I'd never think anything was wrong in there now. Both of these dom fish have good color and are not hiding or behaving oddly. One fish does blow his food out, then eats it again, which is worrying. I fed the fish Friday morning with treated food, and before that on Thursday evening with treated food, and then I fasted them until this morning when I gave them plain food. They all ate well except for the one male ...but with the feeding frenzy I couldn't tell if he got anything down or not. He was eating, but then blowing them out and re-eating them. I'm not even sure if I should be feeding them or not, but next time I do I will watch him closer...

I'm curious about the protrusions. I looked closely and each one seems to have a small (1-2mm) whitish center. It doesn't look pus-y or inflamed... the pimples are also very small, maybe 1mm tall. Could it be that the dominant mature fish would have these features? I am looking more closely at my fish than ever before, and I realize I could have missed these.

My questions:

*-Should I be feeding or fasting? If feeding, medicated or not?
-Are these pimples a sign of bloat?
-...and from above, should I do a 3rd dose of the General Cure after tonight's 50% water change?*

I took some pix, but it was hard to get great focus:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/
...if you click on a photo once and then click the ALL SIZES icon (under the photo title) it will take you to the hi-res version. I labeled the photos by which give the best picture of what I'm talking about.

Give me some help, please!


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Have they just spawned in the last couple of days? If so, this may be what you're seeing...Females will show a slight protrusion before spawning while males will show it during and after spawning...

They look a bit overweight, but if they are behaving normally, I wouldn't worry too much.

You might add some epsom salt to the tank (as a laxative and preventative) at 1 cup per 100G, and cut back on the feeding amounts, just to be safe.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

If you're feeding medicated food, then I don't advise fasting them. If you aren't feeding medicated food, then I generally don't feed at all.

I usually isolate obviously sick fish who aren't eating and treat the water column with meds, then use epsom salt (1 cup per 100G) on the main tank along with medicated food as a preventative measure.

I resume feeding fish who aren't eating once the treatment is complete.

I would go ahead with a 3rd treatment, and keep in mind that more treatments may be necessary. Bloat can be quite difficult to cure.

Just for sanity sake, let's try to keep all threads regarding this within the same thread! I combined your two recent ones.


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## panopticon (Mar 11, 2007)

Thanks much.

They have indeed been spawning ...one female has been carrying throughout the treatment. They are always at it, so maybe that explains the bumps which are not apparent on the females.

As for the overweight diagnosis, I think you are right. Despite the fact that I know better, I've definitely been over feeding and over stocking. I'm taking out all or most of the juvie mbuna I added to the tank when I got bored.

I think I will do another cycle of treatment and also medicated feeds for the next 2-3 days, then do another 50% water change. I'll also add some of this Kent product I use ...I believe it is the fancy version of Epsom salt. With some luck, these steps will beat back the badness.

I'll let you know how it goes.


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