Clownfish Bloat

[Wuffletoast]

I have a clownfish currently suffering from bloat and need some help on next steps to take. Three days ago I found him doing flips when he swam and thought it was typical clownfish odd swimming, but the next morning I woke up to him swimming upside down. Not wanting the other clownfish to bully him while recovering, I transferred him upstairs to my 10gal recovery tank. I'm working on the pea method of waiting 24 hours to feed, then boiling a pea and feeding it to him. I have attempted multiple times yesterday to give him the pea and he refuses to eat it. He now swims upside down for most of the day and flips back for a couple of hours. What can I do now to get him back on track to being healthy again?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I have a clownfish currently suffering from bloat and need some help on next steps to take. Three days ago I found him doing flips when he swam and thought it was typical clownfish odd swimming, but the next morning I woke up to him swimming upside down. Not wanting the other clownfish to bully him while recovering, I transferred him upstairs to my 10gal recovery tank. I'm working on the pea method of waiting 24 hours to feed, then boiling a pea and feeding it to him. I have attempted multiple times yesterday to give him the pea and he refuses to eat it. He now swims upside down for most of the day and flips back for a couple of hours. What can I do now to get him back on track to being healthy again?

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Depending on the cause and severity of the bloating, this may not be curable.

More information and a short video would help:

Some Helpful Hints When Posting or Responding to Threads in the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Section

Aquarium Fish Disease Problem Solving Determining the best course of action for a problem with your aquarium can be a difficult task. Even advanced aquarists will often need to seek the help of others for complicated or unique issues. Our intent here on Reef 2 Reef is to offer expert advice...

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The "pea method" is actually misapplied information. It was developed to help fancy goldfish with a very specific issue they have. It got over-extrapolated to marine fish, but it isn't effective. I knew the person who helped developed this idea at the Shedd Aquarium in the 1960's and he never meant it for use in marine fish. In your fish's case, it likely isn't eating any food any way. The same problem applies to Epsom salt - that is a freshwater cure for bloating and does not work in marine aquariums (seawater already has a lot of magnesium sulfate in it already).

Jay

 

[Wuffletoast]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Depending on the cause and severity of the bloating, this may not be curable.

More information and a short video would help:

Some Helpful Hints When Posting or Responding to Threads in the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Section

Aquarium Fish Disease Problem Solving Determining the best course of action for a problem with your aquarium can be a difficult task. Even advanced aquarists will often need to seek the help of others for complicated or unique issues. Our intent here on Reef 2 Reef is to offer expert advice...

www.reef2reef.com

The "pea method" is actually misapplied information. It was developed to help fancy goldfish with a very specific issue they have. It got over-extrapolated to marine fish, but it isn't effective. I knew the person who helped developed this idea at the Shedd Aquarium in the 1960's and he never meant it for use in marine fish. In your fish's case, it likely isn't eating any food any way. The same problem applies to Epsom salt - that is a freshwater cure for bloating and does not work in marine aquariums (seawater already has a lot of magnesium sulfate in it already).

Jay

I appreciate the information. Do you know how I should work on solving this? Any dosing for the recovery tank? Or is it something that will just slowly get better with time? And when should I start feeding again?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I appreciate the information. Do you know how I should work on solving this? Any dosing for the recovery tank? Or is it something that will just slowly get better with time? And when should I start feeding again?

Sounds like fish may be moribund, which if so, there is not much you can do. To help determine, please post video and pics under white lighting for assessment. Video should be at least 20 seconds

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I appreciate the information. Do you know how I should work on solving this? Any dosing for the recovery tank? Or is it something that will just slowly get better with time? And when should I start feeding again?

There may not be a good solution for this issue. Please post a short video under white light.

Jay

 

[Wuffletoast]

There may not be a good solution for this issue. Please post a short video under white light.

Jay

I will post when I get home from work. If enough information is available here, may I ask what could've gone wrong/ what I can do to avoid this in the future?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I will post when I get home from work. If enough information is available here, may I ask what could've gone wrong/ what I can do to avoid this in the future?

It depends on if this is true intestinal bloat or swim bladder issues. I can sometimes tell one from the other by the way the fish swims. Intestinal bloat can be gas or it can be fluid. Causes range from obstructions to bacteria to protozoans like Spironucleus. Swim bladder issues in clownfish are usually bacterial.

Jay