Bloat

[fyrebull]

I just lost one of my guys to bloat.Should I be concerned about the rest of the tank stock?

[darkdep]

There are a lot of thoughts on this.  I went for about 2 years without seeing a single case of bloat, even feeding the "wrong things", and within the last few months I've lost about 3 to bloat...all from the same tank.

Most of the advice on preventing bloat focuses on diet (the general rule is don't feed too much protein to herbivorous fish).  But, one of my big Spilonotus (which is more of a carnivore) got it.  I treated him with metronidazole in a hospital tank, he recovered, only to have it suddenly return one night (one night I didn't go down to the basement to see them...sigh) and he died. 

I think some sort of infection is involved, but I don't think it's as black and white as that.  Did you treat the sick fish with anything?

[fyrebull]

There are a lot of thoughts on this.  I went for about 2 years without seeing a single case of bloat, even feeding the "wrong things", and within the last few months I've lost about 3 to bloat...all from the same tank.

Most of the advice on preventing bloat focuses on diet (the general rule is don't feed too much protein to herbivorous fish).  But, one of my big Spilonotus (which is more of a carnivore) got it.  I treated him with metronidazole in a hospital tank, he recovered, only to have it suddenly return one night (one night I didn't go down to the basement to see them...sigh) and he died. 

I think some sort of infection is involved, but I don't think it's as black and white as that.  Did you treat the sick fish with anything?

No Chris, I did not get the chance to treat him, he was one of the smaller more reclusive fish in my tank which is heavily caved and planted. It was only a matter of hours from when I found and caught him until he died. I also have not seen one of my other small reclusive fish for some time, so he may have moved on also. The only treatment I did was a 30% water change.

[darkdep]

I've seen bloat come on that quick (one of mine as mentioned died within 1 day of symptoms showing) but I've also seen them hold on a long time.

Preventative suggestions:
- (Obviously) regular water changes
- Add some salt to the water, about 1tsp per 5 gallons, as a disease preventative

[fyrebull]

I've seen bloat come on that quick (one of mine as mentioned died within 1 day of symptoms showing) but I've also seen them hold on a long time.

Preventative suggestions:
- (Obviously) regular water changes
- Add some salt to the water, about 1tsp per 5 gallons, as a disease preventative

Thanks Chris, I did add the salt after the 30% change after reading up on bloat, all my others seem alright, but it is hard to tell with the larger stock.

[mcman]

Thanks Chris, I did add the salt after the 30% change after reading up on bloat, all my others seem alright, but it is hard to tell with the larger stock.

the salt won't hurt the others even if they aren't sick.