CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

I have a Tiger Oscar, Jewels, Jack Dempseys, and a green terror in my 50 gallon.  I know what you're thinking.  Don't worry, they're all still relatively small and I have a great filtration system.  My fish all have bloat or appear to.  Any suggestions on causes and treatments would be greatly appreciated.  I know it's not that I'm overfeeding cause I've cut the feeding down and no change.  I also removed 3 fish and put them in another tank and the bloat went away with them.  Please help.

Hi,
You will find that you get a much quicker response if you post this topic in the disease or if you think it warrents it, in the emergency 911 section.
I hope your fish get well soon, rest assured you have come to the right place for help. The guys will sort you out x

I have used this method and it works great for a minor case. I don't remember where I got it from but I luckly had it copied to a word file.

Quickest Cure:
Feed a shelled pea. Peas are natural laxatives for fish. You may want to slightly blanch or microwave the peas for a few seconds to soften them up and remove the shell.


Quick Cure:
Feed a pea with a crystal of Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) in it to the fish. Epsom salts is a purgative. If that doesn't purge the fish, use one of the expanded methods below. Ammonia levels must be watched carefully.

Short Dip:
In a large container filled with water from your aquarium, add 1 tablespoon Epsom salts per gallon (this keeps water temperature constant for the initial part of the bath. Swim the fish in this solution for 1/4 to 1/2 hour or until stress shows or feces are released. Top the water up in the fish's usual container with dechlorinated water and return the fish to it. Change the water in about an hour to remove any feces and residual salts. Repeat daily until fish shows signs of recovery. Check for signs of bacterial infection or parasites for further treatment.

Medium Term Bath:
1 tablespoon Epsom salt per 5g, repeated every day for 3 days. Up the temperature to between 82 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit and monitor for two weeks. Increase aeration or surface agitation during this time of offset the lack of oxygen in the water due to the high temperatures. During this procedure do not feed. After the fish has recovered - feed a more varied diet including live foods as much as possible (crickets, earthworms, bloodworms, etc.) Check for signs of bacterial infection or parasites for further treatment.

Long Term Bath:
Add 1/8 teaspoon of Epsom salt for every 5 gallons of water. Up the temperature to between 82 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit and monitor for two weeks. Increase aeration or surface agitation during this time of offset the lack of oxygen in the water due to the high temperatures. Check for signs of bacterial infection or parasites for further treatment

That was a really in depth explanation on bloat, but thanks for that...

Nothing to do with oscars but my girlfriends red dwarf gourami swelled up like u can't believe the other day.....was gonna try the pea thing but it was in no state to eat. Will remember the epsom salts though.

How common is this sort of thing happen amongst large oscars?? I heard it is more common to smaller breeds of fish and is the result of a bad diet??
Don't know if anyone could please shed a bit more light on the whole thing, cos my gf's fish swelled and died with in ten minutes and I would hate to watch one of my oscars go down like that. Anyways to avoid this ie: diet, etc?

Thanks