Fat Catfish or Dropsy!

BigB · Post by **BigB** » 21 Jul 2007, 01:38

Hey i have a Syno eupertus (sailfin cat) He is extremely fat in the belly area from his gill to vent, I think its dropsy but he has been that way for 3months now.

I have two syno in there and the smaller one also shows a slight belly bulge. Both act normal and are fed sinking catfish wafers, bloodworms, and whatever food the other fish dont eat.

I cant find any pictures with a Catfish with dropsy and i searched the forum but all the pictures are gone. ANy one have one I will try and get a picture of him all i have is a camera phone though

params

Ph 6.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
nitrate 15
temp 76
planted tank, with angel fish kissing gouramis two syno's and a pleco

wrasse · Post by **wrasse** » 21 Jul 2007, 11:07

Another symptom of dropsy is bulging eyes.....
It might be worth changing the diet for a while - leave off the dried food. Try feeding just frozen live food every other day for 2 or 3 weeks. It will pass through the gut easily and the syno may slim down in time. It won't do them any harm not to be fed at all on the in-between days. You could also put lettuce leaves in the tank which both the pleco and angels should eat.
In addition, do frequent water changes.

BigB · Post by **BigB** » 24 Jul 2007, 00:20

well i went to about 10 different fish stores to look at adult sail fin cats, Turns out a bloated belly or rounded belly that seems a little bit to big is common. About every 1/3 had a larger then average belly area. I highly doubt that out of the 200 some i saw, that 60 all had dropsy, and various others were slightly less big. Soo He is just a pig and eats to much lol.

Landlubber · Post by **Landlubber** » 25 Jul 2007, 18:10

BigB wrote:well i went to about 10 different fish stores to look at adult sail fin cats, Turns out a bloated belly or rounded belly that seems a little bit to big is common. About every 1/3 had a larger then average belly area. I highly doubt that out of the 200 some i saw, that 60 all had dropsy, and various others were slightly less big. Soo He is just a pig and eats to much lol.

I think you might find He is a She, as the females do have a much heavier build.