Bellus full of eggs?

A

alprazo

Active member
Could my female Bellus be full of eggs.

I had a bellus convert to a male several months ago. Photos of the conversion are on the bellus thread. Only recently did they finally pair up. Now I am noticing that the female appears to be bloated. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=736503&perpage=25&pagenumber=7

Could this be roe, or do I need to worry about an internal infection? She is acting completely normal and the only difference is her unusually fat belly.

Does this happen with a pair of Geni's or need I worry? The only thing that had changed in the tank was an increase in temp. I keep the tank at 71F in the winter months and now it is chiller controlled, set for 74 .

Thoughts would be appreciated, I can easily pull her and treat if needed.

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I had a bellus once that started to get bloated like this. It died suddenly without any other outward signs of sickness or distress. This was a fish I had for over a year. It turned out the bellus had intestinal blockage.
 
Yikes! My bellus had that exact same look. She died a month later. My swallowtail that was the same size, died the same week. I believe that geniacanthus angels are highly suspectible to internal parasites. Try treating her with something before it's too late.
 
Its no so much internal parasites as it is issues with decompression and swimbladder infection. Geniacanthus come from deeper waters.
 
I had my swallowtail for 6 months+ with no issues whatsoever. I combined the two in my new tank and they were fine for awhile. Then the bellus developed that bloated look. The bloating dissapeared after a few weeks so I thought everything was fine. About a month later the bellus started swimming kinda lazily, and wouldn't come out of hiding as much. I couldn't find her for a day or so and expected the worse. The next day while trying to find the body of the bellus I was shocked to find the body of my swallowtail. It's too coincidental that they both died within days and are the only fish that have ever expired in my tank so far.
It's also weird that the two angels were the only fish at that time that were frequenting the cleaner shrimps. They must have known they had something wrong.
 
Thank you everyone.

To answer some questions - the fish is young, in my tank a year but fishbase states that the doubling time is 15 months. This is why I wondered if it could be eggs. Plus I assume that the male is the same age, or nearly the same size and would be considered mature.

She is defecating without problems. No change in feces. They are not white and stringy or segmented. I actually took a picture last night of her at work and could post if anyone was wondering.

I doubt decompression - she has been in my tank a year and she shows no sign of swim bladder dysfunction.

I will pull her today. Question though - what to treat with. I have ich in the tank - 20+ years and never a real problem, or a fish loss from it. She went through two courses of prazi and 3 weeks of copper before swimming in the display - all fish do. Could this be bacterial? or should I retreat with prazi or a dewormer. I do not like the outcomes you've described.

All input is much appreciated.
 
Just waited until the lights went out and broke down the entire 125 to get the fish. I really hope I am doing the right thing. Other than being bloated, the fish is completely fine and even trying to eat while sitting in the 5 gal bucket waiting to be moved to QT.

I dosed 1/2 prazi tonight. Fingers crossed for the AM.
 
You did the right thing. If I had known what would've happened later, at the time I noticed the bloating I would have pulled her and treated. I'm kinda leary to try another one for awhile.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14946227#post14946227 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by alprazo
...I dosed 1/2 prazi tonight....
Click to expand...
Bit confused here, does this mean you did first of 2 full dose treatments, or that you are using half the dose?
 
I gave her Metronidazole this AM and 1/2 of the first dose of praziquantil last PM. I added that second 1/2 of the first dose tonight. I started splitting the prazi dose a while ago if using prazipro. I have had fish become extremely stressed immediately after its addition. I think that there is an irritant in the solution that stresses the fish. She went a little nuts tonight with the second addition, slamming into the glass and then wedged herself between PVC elbows for hiding. Before this she was eating from my hand. I'm sure others have had the same issues with prazipro. Lights are off and as always fingers crossed for the AM.

Question, would anyone treat the male too. Also what am I treating?
 
Update,

It is day 4 in Prazi and metro and this fish continues to do well. Belly is a little flatter, I think. I wasn't sure if you could dose both together - It appears that you can.

WHat is fascinating, the male bellus that remained in the DT. He now has a blue tint to him and the black band he shed months ago is back. It has only been 4 days and he is well on his way to becoming a she again. It doesn't take long with these fish.

Plan to post photos in the Bellus thread if all goes well and I can get her back to the DT.
 
update:

It has been 2.5 months. Finally I believe that she is healthy enough to return to the display. Prazi and metronidazole really did nothing. Her abdomen shrunk and then swelled in the treatment tank. One week into treatment I found her on the bottom, lying on her side. her abdominal scales were pointed outward. I was sure she was a goner. At this point I added Minocycline and Ciprofloxicin. She was up and moving within a day. It took her about two weeks to start eating again. For the past two months she has been steadily improving and has shown no signs of abdominal bloating. Tomorrow or Sat. I am changing tanks and hope to add her and the male (who has remained male) at the same time.

I want to thank everyone for their advice and without it, I never would have pulled her out of the DT in time to save her.

I will submit photos of the pair once in the DT. my hosp tank is embarrassing and I rather not photograph it.


_________________________

Mr. President: If I could find just find three more healthy kids to remove tonsils from... I could afford that "green" vortech pump.
 
That "pineconing" you describe is a symptom of many things. It usually is belied by an organ malfunction, such as kidney damage.
 
6 month update.

These two fish have been through an adventure. The female from above went into the DT and was accepted by the male - no fighting. I later had an Amyloodinium outbreak after an infected fish that made it through QT without sx was introduced. It was closer to a wipe out. I lost 20 fish in 5 days. Somehow these two were not affected. 4 other fish survived too. Anyway, they have been together, as male and female, for a year and tonight I witnessed for the first time mating behavior with the two encircling each other and swimming upward in the water column. How cool.

I know that she wouldn't be here today if it were not from your advice in this thread. Thanks.

C

Photos as promised

_MG_7958.jpg

_MG_7957.jpg
 
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