Blue tang bloated! HELP

[bmal]

Hello my blue tang is having the same issue. I did epsom salt last night since he didn’t want to eat the pea, although he did eat seaweed yesterday which was the only thing I fed him cause he’s bloated. Is the epsom salt something I add consistently? or how often do I add? I have a 35-40gl tank. He swims around normal but can tell he uses rocks to hold him from floating up. Breathing looks faster than normal. This is his 3rd day. I have not quarantined him yet. NEED HELP PLEASE I don’t want to lose him. Checked for ich and red Veins and no signs.

symptoms: fast breathing, bloated, swimming downwards on occasion when he chills.

Water levels

Amm- 0ppm
Nitrite- 0.25ppm
Nitrate- 30ppm
Ph-7.9-8

Nitrate has always been high for some reason but fish and fire shrimp are normal. Nitrite has been at that level for 2 days including today but it has spiked at other times and goes back down. Been working on the PH with marine buffer which hasn’t seemed to really work like it has in the past

 

[vetteguy53081]

Epsom salt has no effect as fish is in a salt solution already. This epsom method effective with freshwater fish. It may be constipated. The fact that it showed interest in eating anything is positive.
I’m suspecting an internal bacterial issue and quarantine will be needed. I have a meeting at work shortly but will get Jay - disease expert to chime in.
Treatment choices vary and I favor maracyn 2 or ruby rally pro.

@Jay Hemdal

 

[bmal]

Epsom salt has no effect as fish is in a salt solution already. This epsom method effective with freshwater fish. It may be constipated. The fact that it showed interest in eating anything is positive.
I’m suspecting an internal bacterial issue and quarantine will be needed. I have a meeting at work shortly but will get Jay - disease expert to chime in.
Treatment choices vary and I favor maracyn 2 or ruby rally pro.

@Jay Hemdal

thanks for replying, ok I have a QT tank ready. I will look into buying that medication. I have api GC being delivered tomorrow. Does that treat the same as maracyn 2 & ruby rally pro? Also I’m sure the medication will have dosage but do you have a dosage you recommend from past experiences. Thank you again

Also, I’m new to the site and there’s a lot going on so at first I wasn’t sure if it had even posted so I posted it again since it glitched when I pressed upload. Not sure if you know or anyone else that chimes in know how to delete threads. I tried going to them to delete so I only keep this one but no luck

 

[bmal]

Epsom salt has no effect as fish is in a salt solution already. This epsom method effective with freshwater fish. It may be constipated. The fact that it showed interest in eating anything is positive.
I’m suspecting an internal bacterial issue and quarantine will be needed. I have a meeting at work shortly but will get Jay - disease expert to chime in.
Treatment choices vary and I favor maracyn 2 or ruby rally pro.

@Jay Hemdal

I forgot to ask if it’s recommended to keep feeding? Or what should I be feeding him? Is Nori ok? That’s all he had yesterday just nori

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Agreed, Epsom salts don’t work for marine fish, they are bathing in it already. The peas idea is something done for fancy goldfish, algae works just as well for marine fish. I’m also heading into a meeting, but there are 3 main causes of bloating: constipation, egg binding and ascites (fluid build up).
jay

 

[bmal]

Agreed, Epsom salts don’t work for marine fish, they are bathing in it already. The peas idea is something done for fancy goldfish, algae works just as well for marine fish. I’m also heading into a meeting, but there are 3 main causes of bloating: constipation, egg binding and ascites (fluid build up).
jay

Thank you Jay,

what’s the medicine you would give for each one of those problems you mentioned?
I am also doing my due diligence but your opinion would be great

thanks again

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you Jay,

what’s the medicine you would give for each one of those problems you mentioned?
I am also doing my due diligence but your opinion would be great

thanks again

There is no treatment for ascites/edema, that comes from kidney or liver failure. You can sometimes identify that because the fish will look overall "puffy", not just fat in the belly. Likewise, there isn't any home treatment for egg binding. Veterinarians can inject a fish with oxytocin to try and get them to release the eggs. This is very rare in captive fish though, and then, only really big females, and your fish may not even be sexually mature.

That leaves constipation or overeating as the two likely culprits.

Sorry, I was on my phone before, and I missed the rapid breathing symptom, that may not be related. Can you possibly get a short video of the fish? I'm worried there may be two issues going on here....

Jay

 

[bmal]

There is no treatment for ascites/edema, that comes from kidney or liver failure. You can sometimes identify that because the fish will look overall "puffy", not just fat in the belly. Likewise, there isn't any home treatment for egg binding. Veterinarians can inject a fish with oxytocin to try and get them to release the eggs. This is very rare in captive fish though, and then, only really big females, and your fish may not even be sexually mature.

That leaves constipation or overeating as the two likely culprits.

Sorry, I was on my phone before, and I missed the rapid breathing symptom, that may not be related. Can you possibly get a short video of the fish? I'm worried there may be two issues going on here....

Jay

Ok thank you for the info. Fish is only puffy on the belly area, from where his belly ends to the tail it’s normal. I don’t believe the fish is sexually mature but then again I’m not sure.

Also I don’t overfeed, only feed once a day since in the past I’ve had ammonia issues with a different tank. I can’t honestly say I’ve seen him poop so I want to believe he is constipated.

I just got home, do you think I should quarantine him and try a laxative or can I give him the mes in the same tank? He shares it with a fire shrimp. Since the epsom salt did nothing for the fish. what med would be good to relieve the constipation.

he’s swimming around normal, I can tell sometimes he swims downwards when he’s in one spot but it seems like the bloated belly makes him do that. But he’s not like that all the time. He’s doing it less right now than when I seen him this morning.

I have api GC and macaryn 2 coming in tomorrow will any of those cure the constipation?
I’m attaching the video of his breathing

 

[bmal]

Here is the vid hope you can see his breathing

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Ok thank you for the info. Fish is only puffy on the belly area, from where his belly ends to the tail it’s normal. I don’t believe the fish is sexually mature but then again I’m not sure.

Also I don’t overfeed, only feed once a day since in the past I’ve had ammonia issues with a different tank. I can’t honestly say I’ve seen him poop so I want to believe he is constipated.

I just got home, do you think I should quarantine him and try a laxative or can I give him the mes in the same tank? He shares it with a fire shrimp. Since the epsom salt did nothing for the fish. what med would be good to relieve the constipation.

he’s swimming around normal, I can tell sometimes he swims downwards when he’s in one spot but it seems like the bloated belly makes him do that. But he’s not like that all the time. He’s doing it less right now than when I seen him this morning.

I have api GC and macaryn 2 coming in tomorrow will any of those cure the constipation?
I’m attaching the video of his breathing

I can’t see any video.
I don’t see GC helping with this, but the Maracyn two might?
It’s complicated, but Epsom salts in the food DOES work. The dose is 3% by weight in food. Look in the article section here for my medicated food article.
Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

No video

 

[bmal]

I can’t see any video.
I don’t see GC helping with this, but the Maracyn two might?
It’s complicated, but Epsom salts in the food DOES work. The dose is 3% by weight in food. Look in the article section here for my medicated food article.
Jay

 

[bmal]

Let me know if you can see it, the site has been giving me issues. Tried to upload it 5 times and it fails

 

[bmal]

the 4 second video is a better view of his breathing

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The rapid breathing is a much more serious symptom than the swelling in the belly. I'm struggling to figure out how they could be related, they may be separate issues, OR whatever is causing the bloating, is also causing a systemic infection that in turn, is causing the fish to breath heavily. At this point, I would say that Maracyn 2 in a treatment tank would be something to try, but I cannot say if it ultimately will be successful...since you need to catch the fish up, you might consider giving it a 5 minute FW dip as you move it. It won't cure any diseases, but IF the fish breathes better the next day, you can then focus on possible gill disease issues.

Jay

 

[bmal]

Thank you Jay

So you do agree that the breathing is a little faster than normal right? Fish has been swimming normal and this morning when the fish woke up the belly is looking less bloated.
I fed food with epsom salt like you suggested and started feeding that today. No signs of anything else but just the fast breathing and now its slightly bloated not as bad as 2 days ago. (I had also done epsom salt in the tank 1table spoon per 5gl before I knew that it doesn’t help saltwater fish since they are in salt already)

Would it do any harm to the fish if I QT it and start dosing maracyn 2 even if it turned out to be something else?
Just want to make sure before I make the move
Thanks again Jay you’ve been a ton of help

 

[vetteguy53081]

Assure the ammonia and nitrate levels arent becoming elevated or you can react with water change.

 

[bmal]

Assure the ammonia and nitrate levels arent becoming elevated or you can react with water change.

This is in regards to my main display or the quarantine tank? You think I should leave him in the main display and keep feeding him the food with the epsom like jay mentioned or should I just QT him and medicate with the Maracyn 2?
Thanks @vetteguy53081

 

[vetteguy53081]

This is in regards to my main display or the quarantine tank? You think I should leave him in the main display and keep feeding him the food with the epsom like jay mentioned or should I just QT him and medicate with the Maracyn 2?
Thanks @vetteguy53081

If the bloating had subsided and fish is eating, I don’t see a reason to qt unless parasite or bacteria becomes evident. DO continue epsom treatment at least another 3 days

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you Jay

So you do agree that the breathing is a little faster than normal right? Fish has been swimming normal and this morning when the fish woke up the belly is looking less bloated.
I fed food with epsom salt like you suggested and started feeding that today. No signs of anything else but just the fast breathing and now its slightly bloated not as bad as 2 days ago. (I had also done epsom salt in the tank 1table spoon per 5gl before I knew that it doesn’t help saltwater fish since they are in salt already)

Would it do any harm to the fish if I QT it and start dosing maracyn 2 even if it turned out to be something else?
Just want to make sure before I make the move
Thanks again Jay you’ve been a ton of help

My worry is that the rapid breathing is a separate issue. Remind me, is the fish eating ok?
Before going the maracyn 2 route, I would now consider the FW dip as more important- just to see if the breathing temporarily improves, then we can treat differently....
Jay