Bloated Discus- lying on side, floating

[MattB]

Not good,

Just went to feed my discus this morning and found one of the larger ones with a very bloated stomach lying on its side at the top of the tank, breathing heavily. I dont know what to do :( ... no time to take water paramaters or do a water change. Every time the discus tries to swim down to the bottom, with great effort, it eventually floats back up again.
Unfortunately I have to go to school so cannot care for it right now. THANKYOU for any help given. I hope he pulls through

P.S I really hope he just over- ate, and makes it. He ate quite a lot of frozen "discus dinner" last night.

[sammigold]

Matt, if he is still alive when you get home (I hope he is) try putting some epsom salts in at the rate of 1 teaspoon per 40 litres if it is a digestive issue that may help him expel.
Good luck!

[MattB]

What a little legend! He's still going, seems a little worse than before though. Unforunately I do not have any epsom salt at the moment... In this case would table salt be ok? I will try do a water change asap, just need to treate the water first. Is there anything else I can do? Thanks for helping :)

[MattB]

Update: He is still breathing fairly heavily, lying motionlessly on his side.

Water Params:
Amm: 0
Nitri: 0
Nitra: no kit (could it be the problem? - im going to do a WC to try and reduce them a bit)
pH: 6.8
dH: 5

Normal Diet:
Morning- Spectrum Thera 1mm pellets
Afternoon- Wardley Cichlid Crumbles
Evening- Bloodworms/Beef Heart/Discus Dinner

Were fed discus dinner last night, I unfortunately did not watch the feeding. This guy is the biggest, most greedy of the 5 I have, I am really hoping he just overate big time, but its not looking good.

The discus is about 5.5cm in diameter, juvenile. If there is any more info I can provide please ask, and once again thankyou for any help- very much appreciated.

I hope he pulls through :cry:

[samir]

if a couple of water changes do not fix it then i think it needs some antibiotics.

[scott bowler]

matt is he at the top of the tank or at the bottom? it my be a swim blader prob some times we need to give them more greens if they will eat it .. hope it gose well scott

[MattB]

He is at the top of the tank, the funny thing is, he doesn't seem that bothered about it and occasionally with great effort tries to swim down to the bottom, but unfortunately floats up again. I have managed to get hold of some epsom salts, which I will dose in the tank as soon as I have done a water change, which I am going to do right now. Thanks so much for all the help guys :)

[MattB]

Next update:

I just finished roughly a 40% water change, and added 5 teaspoons of epsom salt. I will now wait and hope he improves. If there is anything else I can do please tell me. The lights are off to avoid stressing him while he sits at the surface. It looks as if the abdominal swelling may have receded a little from this morning, but he is still stuck at the top, and cannot swim properly. I suspect he has swim bladder problems. Oh well, better sit tight and hope he holds through :)

Thanks again for all the much needed advice.

[sammigold]

The epsom salts may possibly help if its swim bladder problem...sometimes there is not much you can do...
Hopefully someone else can come up with another suggestion if the epsom salts dont do the trick...
again, good luck!
sammi

[MattB]

He is still alive this morning but still floating at the surface, breathing fairly normally though. I will continue to wait and if there is no more improvement ... consider my options. Would adding more epsom salt in a day or two help? My tank size is 120x45x35 (189L) btw.

Thanks again. :wink:

[sammigold]

Hi Matt, I am not sure if adding more epsom salts would help... as far as I know if it is going to work it will help within 24 hours....(It acts like a laxative on the fish)
Your fish may have some sort of bacterial infection... is it possible to post a pic and some water specs... so that we can try and find the solution.... I am glad that he is still hanging in there!!

[MattB]

He seems to be improving. He can now swim down to the bottom of the tank, but has great difficulty in maintaining his position there- if he stops swimming, he will start to float up again. I have turned the lights off again in the hope that it will calm him down a bit, it must be pretty frustrating for him not being able to maintain his buoyancy in the water properly. I am hoping that he will continue to improve, the swelling in his abdominal area has definitely gone down a lot. Maybe his swim bladder will naturally recover :). I will try and attach a photo later.

Thanks,
Matt

[MattB]

Amazing :D. It seems as if he has made a full recovery. He eventually after much difficulty, managed to swim normally again. I guess he just slowly equalized his swim bladder somehow. I guess he just had too much to eat, his abdomen became swollen, and this somehow temporarily affected his swim bladder. I think the epsom salt must have helped by clearing his digestive tracts out. Thanks everyone for all the expert advice given, it really helped out, and saved my little guy :)

I hope it never happens again... :P

Thanks again,

Matt.

[samir]

good to hear that. remember for the future keep diet varied and soak your dry foods. good luck with them.

[scott bowler]

thats good to hear matt keep up the good work and keep us posted on how he gose and would still love to see pics scott

[sammigold]

I am so glad to hear that matt!!!! Fantastic!!!