Syn. multimaculatus with bloat

ggdhazel · Post by **ggdhazel** » 12 Mar 2003, 08:07

Hi there, does anybody have some suggestions for taking care of Bloat. I have several Syn. that im growing up in a 30 gal tank. Syn. angelicus x2, decorous, multimaculatus and atterimus. All great eaters, no compatibility problems, pH - 6.8, NH3 - 0, Water changes every two days. Problem is the mulitmaculatus developed bloat recently; he tend to grab more then his fair share of food so I want to say its food related. Just wanted to see if anybody had some suggestions. I'm hopin to wait it out and hit the tank with water changes. But any suggestions would be great!! thanx. If you need more info I can provide more just wanted to keep this post short

Post by **Dinyar** » 12 Mar 2003, 14:52

Have never seen a Syno develop "bloat". Not saying it couldn't happen. If yours has "bloat", I suspect it is not food related. In terms of a cure, I suspect you're already on the right track: do frequent water changes and feed less.

Dinyar

Chrysichthys · Post by **Chrysichthys** » 12 Mar 2003, 15:05

It may just be that the syno has gorged itself on food.

Sid Guppy · Post by **Sid Guppy** » 12 Mar 2003, 19:04

After a crappy post of mine (I misread multimaculatus for multipunctatus...

) I still suggest you list your food here; there might be something on the list that's bad for him, or maybe some granule-food shows up; often Syno's (or any other glutton) swallow these too fast; the granules swell in the fish, and that results in constipation (if you're lucky, it can kill a fish too...).
With voracious eaters, it's best to put such food in water to swell a bit, before feeding it to the fish.
so too many tabs or granules can be the problem; too much of the same is not good either. Try to change food as often as possinle, and choose from a wide variety; for example, I try to give my fish freezefoods one day and dry the next (flake) the third day I often feed tabs and some powderfoods or live babybrine etc. and one day in the week without dinner doesn't hurt either.

feed them a laxative? like mosquitolarvae or something?

Finally, there are some internal bacterial infections that can cause a catfish to 'bloat'; but in general these can be cured by using a good brand of fish-antibiotics.
check for the following symptoms; if these occur, it's likely an infection;
-"weak" whiskers
-"burns" or reddish spots, most often on belly or fins
-clouded skin and/or eyes
-fast or heavy breathing
-lethargic behaviour
-imbalancy, or "floating" movements

ggdhazel · Post by **ggdhazel** » 13 Mar 2003, 04:44

Well he passed over the night.

I opened up his tummy and found and excessive amount of food and gas. Looks like his gluttony did him in. I usually make sure they dont get overfed but this one liked to grab the food before the rest. I feed em a variety of stuuf including zuccini, Hikari Discus pellets ( they love this), shrimp pellets, algae wafers, frozen blood worms and krill, and an assortment of sinking pellets. All others are doin great, I have 12 angelicus to vouch for. Thanx for the replies.

Post by **Dinyar** » 13 Mar 2003, 14:58

ggdhazel wrote:I have 12 angelicus to vouch for.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your fish. BTW, how big are your angelicus and how big is your tank?

D.

Sid Guppy · Post by **Sid Guppy** » 13 Mar 2003, 16:05

If there was plenty gas and food both; it's likely he had constipation, or even rotting foods in there. you might think about pre-soaking your pellets, and feed both krill and bloodworms sparingly, or smaller doses but more frequent.
Because it might happen again, wich would be bad.

ggdhazel · Post by **ggdhazel** » 14 Mar 2003, 04:31

Yeah It was that New Life Spectrum food that got him. Usually I soak my foods but, as always the first time you forget something bad happens.

I keep my angelicus in a 300 gal rubbermaid tub. My biggest is about 8 inches (4) and the rest vary form 5-3. I have a few little guys that are growing up in the tank the multimaculatus was in. I ve got a friend who imports fish in N. Indiana and he has a group of granulosus. I would love to get a hold of some of those.

Post by **Dinyar** » 14 Mar 2003, 16:15

FWIW, I've kept lots of Synos over many years. I feed granular and freeze-dried foods, and never soak them. Never had a Syno die of "bloat" or any other problem related to feeding. Once when I was traveling, my son overfed and never cleaned a small tank full of Syno fry, and the rotting food killled them all. That was the closest we've come.

In scientific investigations (e.g., the space shuttle diaster), the first principle is not to jump to apparently "obvious" conclusions but to keep an open mind and pursue all leads.

In your case, I respectfully suggest that whatever the cause of the death, you should be able to avoid future problems by feeding in moderation and keeping up with water changes.

Dinyar

Sid Guppy · Post by **Sid Guppy** » 14 Mar 2003, 23:30

Friend of mine told me how he lost a potential breeding group of Synodontis granulosus (!!) to overfeeding, when he went on a holiday....
The people who took care of the fish just fed WAYYYY too much; the quality of the food was fine, the quantity however wasn't and they died. A few granules swelling in the fish won't hurt, bt imagine a mediumsized Syno, with a tablespoon full of rapidly swelling food in its' guts.... I think you can get the picture. Them Syno's won't stop feeding well beyond the dangermark, when there's still plenty floating around....

Btw it was Rene (yeah, the guy who owns the Polli II breeding pairs); he had at least 6 grannies, but not anymore.....