Need advice on treating S. alberti with severe bloat

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Dinyar
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Need advice on treating S. alberti with severe bloat

Post by Dinyar »

We have had a Synodontis alberti for over five years. Today we discovered that it was suffering from a sudden and severe attack of "bloat". Here's a picture:

Image

I think it's air, as the fish is very buoyant and struggles to maintain its orientation. However, there's an outside chance that it could be an infection; several Steatocranus casuaris in this tank have died recently, and some have exhibited bloat and popeye-like symptoms.

Was considering trying to remove the excess gas or liquid with a hypodermic needle, but feared the cure may be more dangerous than the disease. The timely advice of the veterans on this forum would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
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Barbie
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Post by Barbie »

I'm sorry to hear this Dinyar :( I had a S. multipunctatus that looked almost exactly like this a few months ago. She exhibited the beginning stages of popeye and was just enormous, but wasn't having trouble with her buoyancy yet. I moved her into a 10 gallon quarantine tank, and treated her with kanacyn, (dosed daily, not every other day) while feeding her metro soaked food. Her appetite stayed good, but she looked terrible. I did daily 50% water changes, and on the 4th day, she looked a little better to me, so I continued the treatment for an extra 4 days, along with the changes. She made a full recovery, and after 3 weeks of isolation, I reintroduced her to the main tank, and she's been fine. That is the one and only time I've ever saved a fish that looked bloated/dropsied to that extent, but I wasted no time from the point where I noticed it. I'm not sure it will help, but at this point, it can't hurt?

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Post by Dinyar »

Thanks, Barbie. That sounds like useful advice. We have metronidazole but not Kanacyn. We do have Maracyn 2 (minocycline), which claims to treat dropsy and popeye. Other antibiotics we have on hand include tetracycline, erythromycin and nitrofurazone. If we were to use what we have on hand, what drug or combination would you suggest?

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Dinyar
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Post by Dinyar »

Answering my own question... Maracyn 2 is functionally similar to Kanacyn and can be used in its place.

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Post by Barbie »

Ages ago I was told that 90% of the problems that fish deal with are gram negative bacteria. Maracyn 2 is formulated for that, and says it treats dropsy, so I would tend to choose it. Kanacyn said something about being absorbed more readily, which is why I chose it, but your fish probably can't wait another day. I would just use the Maracyn 2 and then soak frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp in the metro. I assume your fish is still eating? I had the quarantine tank at 82 degrees, with a powerhead with the venturi running for maximum oxygenation, but you should probably keep flow to a minimum with a fish that's having trouble keeping itself well oriented. Maybe add additional aeration with airstones or the like. I wish I was more help. I was desperate to not lose this female without at least trying to save her, and she did live, but I'm not positive which part of the "cure" was effective.

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Post by corybreed »

Dinyar,
I have used Kanacyn with some success, however I do not think it is available any longer.
Mark
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Post by Dinyar »

To my surprise, two hours after treatment with Maracyn 2 began (in a 10 g hospital tank), the bloat was almost gone and the fish was swimming normally! We will treat for the prescribed 5 day course, release the fish and hope for the best.

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Post by Paladindjinn »

Next time keep him away from the mexican food, never know what the stuff will do to ya.(Ment to be humerous, as in mexican food gives u bad gas, no offence to mexicans or anything, also good to hear that the fish seems like it is going to recover)
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Post by Barbie »

Wow! I've never heard of anything helping that quickly, but congratulations!

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Post by Chrysichthys »

I had a Synodontis alberti which suffered on and off from this problem. I wasn't sure whether it was swallowing air (which I never saw it do) or it had a digestive problem.
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Dinyar
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Post by Dinyar »

Chrysichthys wrote:I had a Synodontis alberti which suffered on and off from this problem. I wasn't sure whether it was swallowing air (which I never saw it do) or it had a digestive problem.

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Geez, that sounds like one highly flatulent syno!
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Bloated catfish

Post by z rock »

I have 4 Synodontis multipunctatus.One day I noticed one of them swelled up like the alberti in that pic.I thought for a couple days that the fish was full of eggs.Then the fish got so swelled up I started checking things out.Come to find out my Mag 350 canister was completly clogged with MTS.SNAILS!
It had clogged so bad it had shut down the flow to my bio-wheel pro 60 unit.
I didn't even suspect I had snails in this tank.I guess the cats and the 2 clown loaches were keeping them cleaned up so well I never saw one.My nitrates were probably sky high!I cleaned the filter and did a water change and the fish cleared up in a couple days. :wink:
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