Neon Rainbow problem - Fish for the Planted Aquarium

jmontee · 08-06-2008, 08:49 PM

Hello,

I have a female praecox rainbow that seems to be swollen in the belly. Her scales are just slightly raised and she seems a little lethargic. She is still eating and responding to me going by the tank. Could this be her having eggs or is it more likely (please let it not be) that it is TB or dropsy. I hope someone can answer this soon as I am thinking of euthanizing to prevent other fish from getting sick.

Thanks

trenac · 08-07-2008, 08:37 AM

Sounds like Dropsy to me. You can try treating it, but I've never had succes in doing so... http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fres...ses.htm#Dropsy

Six · 08-07-2008, 08:42 AM

I agree.

I've had a few fish get this and always just put them down. If she's that swollen and lethargic, you may just want to put her out of her misery. It's not fun, but sometimes the best thing.

GL.

Gordon C. Snelling · 08-08-2008, 08:54 PM

This species seems to be very prone to this.

mats808 · 08-08-2008, 11:19 PM

See if you can find some kind of antibiotic/medicated food. Maybe "Metromed" or something like that. If she is still eating this is your best bet.

Just out of curriosity, what are you feeding? Anything live?

Six · 08-10-2008, 07:02 AM

good question mat. i had issues with some live foods (i would imagine) and dropsy in my pelvicachromis species. worth looking at your cultures.

mats808 · 08-10-2008, 01:26 PM

the reason I asked is, as a general rule I try not to feed my rainbows live foods aside from BBS....and this is usually only for fry. I'm sure there are those who will say different so this is just my opinion.

I first kept rainbows in the mid 80s and only fed flakes as I was a teenager and that's all I fed any of my fish. I started working at a petshop in 1990 where I met a very experienced and talented local hobbyist who kept a lot of rainbows. We became very good friends and I was lucky enough to learn a lot from him. Like I said he's a very good aquarist......at one time a rainbowfish was actually named after him......although years later the name was changed. He taught me that you need to be careful with what you feed rainbows and since they eat everything anyway why not just feed them flakes, pellets, and other dry foods. Because of this I've never fed my rainbows live foods.

just my opinion