# Prolasped Rectum



## Sorafish

Ok, so, I defeated the bacteria that was screwing with my tank. But, the tank has been, and will probably never be cured of, hexamita. 
While ALL of my other fish are perfectly fine, one male has a Prolasped Rectum. He is perfectly happy, other than being irritated by it. 
Any advice on how to fix this? I heard that adding Epson salt to the water is this safe? Would you suggest it? 
His diet is the same as it was when he was with his original breeder, so I don't think its a diet problem...probably just a lowered immune system from the bacterial infection.


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## Fishpunk

You can add epsom salts at 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons as a laxative, but I don't know what the track record for recovering a prolapsed colon is. 

I had a Siamese algae eater once who tore open his vent during a bout of dropsy. I recovered the fish from dropsy (yes, it can be done) but the colon prolapsed soon afterwards. Eventually, the colon tore off or another fish ate it. The SAE still behaved normally, was active and eating, but essentially starved to death because he could not absorb the nutrients from his food.


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## kay-bee

Fishpunk said:


> You can add epsom salts at 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons...


Years ago this worked for one of my african cichlids.


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## Sorafish

Fishpunk said:


> You can add epsom salts at 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons as a laxative, but I don't know what the track record for recovering a prolapsed colon is.
> 
> I had a Siamese algae eater once who tore open his vent during a bout of dropsy. I recovered the fish from dropsy (yes, it can be done) but the colon prolapsed soon afterwards. Eventually, the colon tore off or another fish ate it. The SAE still behaved normally, was active and eating, but essentially starved to death because he could not absorb the nutrients from his food.


The poor thing!! I'm a little afraid of this happening with this guy, and am contemplating just letting him be. 
Kay-bee, it seems to be a lot more common in the larger fish like cichlids. In fact, all of the info I could find on WWM was about cichlids with this problem! That's where I found out about the epson salt.
Do either of you know if its actually salt? As in, should I remove my snails before treating with it?


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## emc7

epsom salt is magnesium sulfate. It is a "salt" in the chemical sense, but not table salt which is sodium chloride. An acid + base = salt + water and it completely dissociates in water. Both of the ions are common in natural water so it is very safe. But like anything else, go slow when removing it. I really don't know what it will do to snails, but I do have apple and pond snails alive in "lake Malawi" water.


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