Help- Possible ovipositor blockage

[Dman]

I have a big female Maroon that should have lain yesterday in the late evening as her ovipositor was down most of the afternoon right on schedule.
I come home from work to feed and her belly has expanded considerably and the area around the anus/bottom of belly/ovipositor has also swollen up.
To say I am very concerned would be an understatement. I think it could be a blockage with either her tube or the lower digestive tract, the area is so swollen that it's hard to tell. Should I catch her and try to physically help? Could I possibly ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œmilkââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ her?
She is still being fairly aggressive, is not any more lethargic than usual and did eat when fed. She also doesnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t look like sheââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s in any distress either.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Dman

 

[Morgman]

I have had this happen a few times as well. I don't think there is any good treatment. As a last resort, I tried the enema approached and it killed my fish. It was too stressful on her and she passed on. Maybe Ed has some secrete remeides.

I think this is a food issue. I wonder if there is some feed that can be given once a week or something that helps eliminate this constipation/clogging issue?

 

[Morgman]

Here are a couple pics of the last clown I lost to this. It was a very large tomato clown. She was so beautiful.

 

[MarinaP]

Happened to one of mine, too

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=424074

 

[ediaz]

I never seen that before,

Morgan's looks like gas bubble disease, but ussually the eyes buldge too.

If you are looking for a feed to help "clean" the digestive tract or constipation, Jungle makes a parasitic feed that is very good at that, I use it every week for two days, they poop like crazy.Get that siphon ready...

Ed

 

[Morgman]

Thanks Ed thats a cool tip. I will get some and give it a try.

 

[Dman]

Just thought I would update this as somehow I managed to find some time this evening.
Morgman, thanks for the pics, my WSM was at least that big, I thought she was going to explode.
It blockage looked exactly like the pics of MarinaP's chrysopterus (thans MarinaP for the link).

9 days in and things are looking good, the belly bloat had subsided considerably and the elephantosis of the ovipositor has shrunken as well, no where near as well as the belly, but we have to start somewhere.

Here's what I did:

I dropped the salinity to 1.018 and the temperature to 70F.
I added fresh, raw chopped garlic as well as continued to feed at the regular times, just alot lighter.
Then I dosed 6g of Neomycin every two days and followed that up with a 5 gallon water change on alternate days.
JSYK, the pair are housed in a 30; holding about 27 that was taken off-line as soon as the problem was spotted.

Damn, I wish I had have taken pictures.

Thanks for everyone's input and I'll update this as things progress

Dman

 

[Morgman]

Dman-

Good to hear that all worked out. That seems like a good solution. I waited to long for my female when they had this and they died. They seem to be extremely fragile and unable to cope with stress when they are in this condition. Good job.


Morgan

 

[Dman]

Morgman,
Thanks, she's definately made progress and it feels really cool, but she's not out of the woods yet. AN dwho knows if she'll ever lay again, can't say I like my odds.
Dman

 

[Dman]

Well, time for an update.
She's 95% back to normal, hand feeding and aggressive again. Looks like I dodged a bullet on this one.
Hopefully I won't have to go through this again, but it looks like I might have a way out.
Thanks to everyone who made suggestions and helped out, especially the pictures.

 

[NicoleC]

Wonderful news! It's a good thing you jumped on the issue immediately. It sounds like your diligence saved her.

 

[Peter Schmiedel]

Dman,

I had a Apogpn magriphorus which had a blockage where the cloake even did break up so that she had a big open wound. Eggs clusters where sticking still to her body. She had a hard time for 4-5 days, non feeding, heavy breading etc. But she totally recovered and is again spwaning within the group. I did not use any medication etc to solve the problem.

Sometimes it is amazing what healing power or fish have in case of "mechanical" wounds.

 

[Dman]

Just a quick update, the female in question laid a batch this evening.
ummmm, woohoo.