Any cure for bloated disease?

[GaspingGurami]

Neon Tetras are dying after feeding.
8-10 hours after feeding, 1 would be struggling at surface. 1-4 hours later, it is dead.
Salt treatment did not work.
Dead fish has a bloated belly.
Changing food from pellet to frozen daphnia didn't work.
It affects one fish at a time, the others look normal and unaffected.
It affects fish only after feeding. Starving them doesn't cause this problem.
I'm not overfeeding, routine is 1 ricegrain of micro pellets alternate days.
Temp: 29.5 to 31 deg
pH: 6.8 to 7.0 kH: 6dkh gH: 5dkh
No2: 0ppm, NH3: 0ppm

Anyone has any advice for a cure? BTW, the tank had just survived a bout of NTD and lice some 3 weeks ago.

Thanks for any thoughts or remedies

[JT]

Cant really say what is the cause unless having a look and grasp of the actual situation. However, what u seems describe and I have encountered before is indigestion of the fishes.

1. Does your fishes struggle to swim downwards after feeding? - If so, Dun feed so much, it is likely due to the floating pellets that is trying to ' make the fishes afloat'
2. Indigestion of the fishes not not cure overnight - thus not sure what makes u think it is not overfeeding. I have to change the diet and frequency of the fishes feeding for about 1 month before the fishes starts to 'return to normal'
3. Does your 'bloating' fishes seems grasping for air? - mouth opening and closing....?
4. In summary, I suspect its indigestion caused by overfeeding.

[GaspingGurami]

[quote:a976f6fa37="JT"]1. Does your fishes struggle to swim downwards after feeding? - If so, Dun feed so much, it is likely due to the floating pellets that is trying to ' make the fishes afloat'.[/quote:a976f6fa37]
It's the opposite. They struggle to the surface, and sink down slowly. All its colours come on brightly, and then it sinks to the bottom, dead. All these happen the next morning, 8-10 hours after feeding. Immediately after they have eaten, they look normal. No problem of swollen belly and trying to swim downwards. That's because I feed frozen food, not dry food.

[quote:a976f6fa37="JT"]2. Indigestion of the fishes not not cure overnight - thus not sure what makes u think it is not overfeeding. I have to change the diet and frequency of the fishes feeding for about 1 month before the fishes starts to 'return to normal'.[/quote:a976f6fa37]
In terms of frequency and amounts, my feeding has reduced to 10% of what I usually feed. Have you seen neon tetra and rummy nose eat algae like a molly? Well, my starved fish are eating those thread algae. And, they are so hungry that they have turned on the shrimps too. That's why I felt it necessary to feed them a bit more than I do now. However always one fish will surely die after eating.

[quote:a976f6fa37="JT"]3. Does your 'bloating' fishes seems grasping for air? - mouth opening and closing....?[/quote:a976f6fa37]
No. In fact, they are not that bloated when alive. Come to think of it, they get bloated after they're dead.

[JT]

Hmm...real strange....never encountered before...Indeed, I think you are experience enough, least u sound so. I would have done what u did as well...switching food...but didnt help huh...

Its really a strange case. Not grasping for air, bloated only after death...really..??? puzzled. Cant figure out...but i think frozen daphnne is quite big as a food for tetra. Try those small life ...not sure wat its call sounds like 'boon'....very tiny life fries....perhaps it will help, since the only occurs after feeding....

[prec]

i think you can try dosing some internal bacteria medicine.

[GaspingGurami]

[quote:63135abe77="prec"]i think you can try dosing some internal bacteria medicine.[/quote:63135abe77]

Any type to recommend that doesn't kill shrimps?

[hirowen]

yes i agree wif prec... fishes becum sick n died is most likely cause by stress and water unsuitability. Is your tank really cycled properly b4 u adding fish in it? If not beneficial bacteria will be insufficient de worz.. My suggestion is change ur water more frequently... stop feeding them for 2 or 3 days...or mayb u can change other brand of pellet or flake food..i hav been using ocean free new vitamin fish staple flake food n everything seems alright for me... as for the biological supplement...i m using Nutrafin cycle powerful biological supplement... good lucks!

[prec]

Intrepet shld do good. do not try not feeding your fishes. it will only cause them more stress. do let your water stabilise more before doing anything else.

[elmike]

From my experience, there’s nothing you can do to make the fish turn around once bloatness shows up (I’m assuming dropsy here). You could try 50 % water changes, daily for a week or so (plus salt treatment), and if there’s no improvement, it would be a better to start again w new fishes. This may sound cruel, but we have to be realistic. Most diseases are caused by overstocking the aquarium, assuming you have done your due diligence with water changes.

So, cut down your fish load. Less is always better.

[GaspingGurami]

[quote:8a44aa6264="elmike"]From my experience, there’s nothing you can do to make the fish turn around once bloatness shows up (I’m assuming dropsy here). You could try 50 % water changes, daily for a week or so (plus salt treatment), and if there’s no improvement, it would be a better to start again w new fishes. This may sound cruel, but we have to be realistic. Most diseases are caused by overstocking the aquarium, assuming you have done your due diligence with water changes.

So, cut down your fish load. Less is always better.[/quote:8a44aa6264]

The bloatedness happen after the fish is dead, so I don't suspect dropsy, nor overfeeding. This is happening immediately after a bad bout of NTD and lice, which was caused by ONE diseased fish I introduced without going through quarantine My livestock level has dropped to 5-7% of what it used to be before the diseases wiped out my tetras.

I am still experiencing fish deaths, but this time death happen only to 1 fish 8-10 hours after I fed them (see my first posting early in this thread for symptoms). I'm trying to resolve illness without resorting to euthanasia, antibiotics and other heavy metals if possible.

My first course of action is Salt. Therefore my questions on the General Planted Tanks Forum on salt. Failing which, I'll resort to Potassium Permanganate or some shrimp safe medication. Resetting the tank using bleach will be my almost unthinkable and avoid at all costs last resort.