[vaporize]

Hi LEE,

Here comes another question from my baby fish. I got a dozen baby ocellaris clownfish for a week from a breeder and they have been eating well and behaving normally, these are tank raised (born in tank type), around 1" big.

Today I noticed one of them looked wierd, after closer examination, there are two symptoms I noticed: (1) both eyes seem to have mild pop eye (2) the belly is ballooned up (like a goldfish type), however I am not sure if it is because it is a stubby version (i.e. man-made deformatity) (3) it is trying very hard to swim upwards (but not exactly swimming towards current or powerhead type of thing). It is currently not eating anymore but at the bottom swimming upwards (and come down and swim up again).

There are no signs of (i) heavy breathing (ii) no white spot or skin abrusions.

All other clowns are behaving normally and eating well, they have all went through the acclimation process you recommended. I have tried to do a bath with methylene blue for 1/2 hour but does not show any improvements.

Would this be some type of fluid buildup?

Thanks for any insights.

[leebca]

The combination of eye and belly swelling is usually indicative of dropsy. Dropsy is usually a serious bacterial infection. It would be worth considering putting the fish down rather than trying to cure it.

In any event, you want that fish out and away from all other fishes and in its own hospital tank, in its own system. Then heavy doses of antibiotics have a few percent chance of helping. Surgery is usually preferred on larger fishes, but that size of fish would not do well with surgery nor recovery.

BTW the information you've provided is very good and covers the questions I'd have if you just told me the two symptoms!

[vaporize]

Thanks LEE, so it's infectious right? I will remove the fish from the rest right away.

[leebca]

Yes it is. There are a lot of bacteria that cause this and it poses a danger to the other fishes to have these bacteria around in excessive numbers.

[vaporize]

Hi LEE,

I have seperated the fish and it's laying on its side after 2 days, I put it in a breeder box with one tablet of furan-2 (hopefully the shotgun antibioticis will help some), & an airstone there to provide air.

So far this is the 2nd day and it looked a little bit less balloon up, I am wondering what surgery I can do on it. You mentioned about surgery on larger fish. Would it has to do with suck out some internal fluid?

Cheers, vapo

[leebca]

The anesthetized fish is provided a tube of constantly pumped water through the mouth. Thus, during the operation, the fish is breathing.

The fish is set in a material (e.g., large sponge) that props the fish into the correct position. The incision is made along the 'belly' ahead of the anal opening. The skin is carefully separated from the internal organs and the operator observes where the bloating is occurring. If it is a gas, the gas is aspirated. If it is a liquid, the liquid is drawn off with a fine needle (and syringe). The incision is sewn with stitches; the fish swabbed with disinfectant; then removed from the operating arena into a recovery bin.

This works well when the fish is over 5" long and the stitches number no less than 5.

I'd stick with the antibiotic approach. I think that is about the best you can do for the fish now. You might consider adding Vita-Chem to the water.