Sailfin Tang
- Thread starter jaydog121
- Start date
Anthony Calfo
New member
there are several possibilities my friend from mild to menacing.
internal blockage is an obvious possibility... but unlikely. Its caused by a fish being fed too much dry food or allowed to gobble such matter to excess or too quickly. It can be corrected or excluded from the diagnosis by dosing the tank with epsom salt at a rate of one tablespoon per 10 gallons witha half dose repeated 3 days later. No worries... epsom salt is commonly in foods already and is a measure of your sea salt. This dose could easily be doubled with no harm whatsoever. The worst thing that will come of it is no effect to the fish and an improved hardness to your water
Magnesium sulfate is used as a lawxative with people and pets as well... help bloating and popeye in fishes with the regulation of body fluids.
If not blockage... there are more serious concerns: abdominal dropsy if the scales protrude... or internal parasites that may have perforated interior organ tissue walls. If either are suspected after the above treatment with epsom salts... you will need to remove the fish to a proper QT tank (the one he went through first for 4 weeks before you put him into your display
). There it may need de-worming meds and/or antibiotics.
Do consult Dieter Untergasser's "Handbook of Fish Diseases" for an affordable and easy to read book that is quite excellent.
Best regards,
Anthony
internal blockage is an obvious possibility... but unlikely. Its caused by a fish being fed too much dry food or allowed to gobble such matter to excess or too quickly. It can be corrected or excluded from the diagnosis by dosing the tank with epsom salt at a rate of one tablespoon per 10 gallons witha half dose repeated 3 days later. No worries... epsom salt is commonly in foods already and is a measure of your sea salt. This dose could easily be doubled with no harm whatsoever. The worst thing that will come of it is no effect to the fish and an improved hardness to your water
Magnesium sulfate is used as a lawxative with people and pets as well... help bloating and popeye in fishes with the regulation of body fluids.If not blockage... there are more serious concerns: abdominal dropsy if the scales protrude... or internal parasites that may have perforated interior organ tissue walls. If either are suspected after the above treatment with epsom salts... you will need to remove the fish to a proper QT tank (the one he went through first for 4 weeks before you put him into your display
). There it may need de-worming meds and/or antibiotics.Do consult Dieter Untergasser's "Handbook of Fish Diseases" for an affordable and easy to read book that is quite excellent.
Best regards,
Anthony
