Kole tang is contipated...cant go to the bathroom and is really bloated

[Ynotme4886]

I've had this kole tank for a few months.....my tank came down with ich and all of the fish that were left went into qt and are now at the 3rd week of hypo without any signs of the ich.

Yesterday the kole's eyes were a bit popish looking and now this morning the area behind his side fins is all bloated....it looks like an overfull balloon in I guess what you would consider the chest area...if a fish had a chest.

I have no clue what this would be even called.... the fish was fine till just the other day and hypo was working great. He is still eating.
For food he gets fed every other day.... either frozen algae cube or frozen formula b or julien sprungs seaweed veggies and it is always soaked in either selcon or zoe before they are fed.
he will not eat the sheet algae...doesn't matter the colour or brand...no interest whatsoever

His lips look like that of a kissing fish and dont seem to want to fully close anymore and he has inflated a bit more as well. I can see the area around where the waste comes out and it is swollen and has a red spot as well

I have no clue on what to do with this one....
here is a quick pic

Anyway a few quick numbers
salt...1.008
ph 8.0
nitrite 0
ammonia 0
Nitrate 50 (a bit high but just did a 10% water change so will check it again in the morning)also set up for the next change

Any help would be appreciated

 

[JHemdal]

Sorry, that isn't constipation, it is edema (fluid build-up). The fish's kidneys are compromised for some reason and the hypo is causing fluid retention. 1.008 is simply too low of a S.G. for some marine fish and unless you are positive that your hydrometer is accurate, you could easily be running a S.G. of 1.007 or lower and not even know it. I really think people would be better off running hypo at 1.012, which was the original level in Cheung's paper like 30 years ago.
If the kidneys are damaged, and you raise the S.G. too high, it will likely cause dehydration, and the fish will get really skinny as it loses fluids.
The prognosis isn't really good.....

Jay

 

[Ynotme4886]

I checked and re calibrated the hydrometer with each water change to be sure it was as accurate as humanly possible.

Is there anything I can do to possibly try to save this poor guy...hypo has only 3 days left before I am supposed to raise the salinity... I have started a fresh batch of water and can bring up the salinity starting first thing in the morning.

I checked the salinity again and it is at 1.008

I didnt know hypo would work at 1.012.....if I did I surely would have done it that way.

 

[JHemdal]

I guess that all you can really do is slolwy take the S.G. up to 1.012 and see if that gives the fish any relief. If it does, take it slowly to 1.016 and let the fish stay at that level for a week or so. As I mentioned, if the kidneys are damaged, going back to full strength seawater may just cause the fish to dehydrate.

Jay

 

[Ynotme4886]

I have it up to 1.010....it hasnt helped any.... he is now literally belly up but still breathing. I really don't have much hope at all.

Am gonna do another small w/c I really have nothing to lose at this point.

I wish somewhere in the instructions for doing hypo it would have listed this as a possible risk. Most sites list hypo being done around 1.009 not at 1.012. and don't list kidney failure as a problem if your hypo goes too low.

If you like I can post an updated pic of him so it can be used to warn people of the dangers and what to look for. He cant swim and cant even turn right side up anymore....it really makes you feel like crap...I worked for weeks to try to save these fish and in the end it seems like a total failure. The ich was probably less painful then the state he is in now

 

[mhills16]

yes i would like to see a pic, and, how is he doing, the water change probably caused the stress enough for death is my guess at the end, but, hopefully i am wrong!

 

[dones20]

in all honesty i dont think that this was caused by the hypo but by a disease known as dropsy looking at his anus and the way it pertruding it looks like it would be dropsy do a search on google for pics and compare them

 

[JHemdal]

dones20,

Yes, this is dropsy (edema), but that can be caused by a number of different kidney problems - including exposure to hyposalinity. I followed with that idea because it is the only one that has a potential for a cure - the rest are ultimately fatal - they just don't do kidney transplants on fish.


Jay

 

[dones20]

i did not no it can be caused by hypo i thought it was a bacterial infection in the swimm bladder

 

[Ynotme4886]

Well raising the salinity slightly did nothing to help. When I came in from work on monday night at 1am he was done for. The burial was at sea

His anus had bloated to the size of a pencil eraser.... it was an aweful thing to see happen. The fish was healthy except for the ich of course before hypo started so it had to have been caused by the stress. I was told to hypo around 1.009 and leave them at that salinity for 3wks after the last signs of the ich had faded. I had only 3 days left to go before returning the salinity slowly to regular levels.


Feel free to use the pic in any way shape or form to warn people of what to watch for in a hypo gone bad situation.

Thanks