# Sunken belly - confirmation of approach



## 3000GT (Jan 18, 2014)

I just switched to a 75 gallon from a 60, added a couple of fish and changed the substrate from black to white. I think all of the changes may have caused some stress and I'm seeing some sunken bellies. My german red in particular and then a lwanda and a neolamprogus are probably the most visible. Some others bellies look a bit flat so they may be impacted too but just not as much. Everyone seems to be swimming ok and still eating but i think i did see one stingy poop and one fish doing some crazy flashing.

Here is my plan:

1) I had some Tetra Parasite Guard on hand so I used 7 tablets last night to treat the entire tank. It's one table per 10 gallons. The directions say to give it 48 hours then do a 25% water change and do a second treatment which is my plan. I don't think this is made anymore but i had it on hand and it was not expired. I see more people using API general cure.

2) I was also going to add some Epsom salt to the tank to help with digestion but not sure about the dosage. I've seen varied results in searches. I was leaning toward 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons. Does that sound right? I've seen much higher recommendations in some searches but I want to be safe.

3) I was thinking about adding a little aquarium salt as well since Epson salt isn't actually salt. Does this make sense?

4) I normally feed New life spectrum cichlid formula and some algea flakes. I did soak the pellets last night in some of the parasite guard water before feeding it to the tank. I just ordered NLS Hex Shield which should arrive Friday so i will feed them this medicated version of NLS for a while.

5) I also ordered Seachem Paraguard but I think that's more for the future. I'm thinking that I should not use this with the Parasite Guard.

Any comments on the plan?

Thanks.


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## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

Have you noticed any white stringy poop? You can also feed them the nls soaked in an Epsom salt/aquarium water solution. I've done this in the past and have been successful clearing up sunken stomachs.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Flashing could be because of the additives.

Stringy poop is not a problem...only white or clear thread feces...like a long baby-fine hair.

If your fish are eating and you don't have other symptoms...nothing to treat as yet. Maybe isolate the skinniest ones and see if you can fatten them up without the competition of other fish.


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## 3000GT (Jan 18, 2014)

Below are pictures of the German red (pic 1 center), lwanda (pic 2 center top), daffodil (pic 3 center).

They don't look right to me so I did the second treatment of the parasite guard and added some Epsom salt (7 teaspoons). I definitely saw more colored poop on the sand after the epsom. I did the first hex guard feeding last night. They are all still swimming and eating ok.

I'm hoping this did the trick and I will put in carbon tonight and do a 50% water change tomorrow.I'll also feed the hex guard for two more days.

I have only seen one instance of partially white stringy poop this whole time but I'm not home enough to really be sure.


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## velenc (Jan 16, 2013)

Hi 3000GT-

Can you let me know if your fish were cured of the sunken bellies? I have a number of fish with this problem, and I have tried a number of different remedies (Metroplex- in food and also tank, API General Cure- to tank) with no luck. The fish are avid eaters but the belies are getting worse. I also took 1 fish out and put in QT, tried both remedies and have not seen improvement. Thanks


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## 3000GT (Jan 18, 2014)

Hi. Sorry I did not see your question sooner. All three of those fish eventually died. The German red was in quarantine for months and seemed ok but never got color back and then eventually died.

The rest of the tank got better but I am dealing with another bout of sunken bellies again. So it was better for maybe 5 months and then came back. I did add new fish in the 5 months. I had a few more deaths this time around and now the rest seem to be recovering but I don't know for sure.

This time I did paraguard, API General Cure (two separate times), Melafix, Epsom Salt, Aquarium salt and off an on feedings of NLS Hex Shield food. I guess it helped but I don't know it there is something better that will help this from happening again.


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## velenc (Jan 16, 2013)

Thanks for the reply. I was not having luck with any of the medications including medicating fish food. I took a fish to the vet for assistance and she sent it in for analysis and it cane back that the fish had mycobacteriosis- contagious and no cure. Recommendation was to cull all fish that had it. I put down 7 of them with clove oil. Another recommendation came through last week to try UV sterilizer. Dr Diana Walstadt did have success apparently curing a tankful of fish with same issue


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## 3000GT (Jan 18, 2014)

Wow. Thanks for the response. You certainly went the extra mile by going to the vet. I looked 
mycobacteriosis up and it sounds formidable. I do have a small uv light that came on my sun sun canister so I might try that (I never use it). I've also ordered some metro soaked food from Ken's fish. Again, my fish seem to be doing better but I think I'll continue to clean my canister more frequently (every 1 or 2 months instead of 3), try a round of the metro food and try the uv filter just to be sure.

http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/wiki/Mycobacteriosis


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## 3000GT (Jan 18, 2014)

Velenc, you put down 7 fish but what did you do to the remaining fish (if any) in the tank? Have you added new fish to replace the 7 (and if so, how are they doing) or did you break down the tank and start over?


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## velenc (Jan 16, 2013)

I have been monitoring the tank. The rest of the fish look good. Hopefully no additional outbreaks. I also tried Ken's Metro food. I was wondering about that UV light. Please keep me posted if the UV actually works. Thanks!


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