# tang



## clemsonfrk11202 (Jan 27, 2005)

ok i have a tang that i have had for about a month and a half, and its still a baby. yesterday i noticed it was swimming funny, and his belly was extreamly large compaired to the rest of his body, all of my other fish are fine, and my test kits sais theres no amonia nitrate nitrite and ph is 8.2, oh and i know i havent over fed him because most of the other fish eat before he does, although previously there was a good bit of hair alge and now its gone. do you think he just over ate the alge, and now its stuffed or do you think its something else?


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## clemsonfrk11202 (Jan 27, 2005)

ok heres an update, there has to be something wrong because his belly swelled up even more, and now hes not swimming he is laying on the side someone please help me


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

I'm afraid there isn't much you can do with him... once they get to this stage there isn't much... it was probably a swim bladder infection... or parasites (attacking the gills) I'd watch the other fish very closely.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

If he's swelling up that much and that quickly, then it's certainly neither of those things.

My first guess is an internal hemmorage leading to fluid buildup in the peritoneum. Nothing to be done for that.

My second guess is constipation and gas, which is also hard to treat.

My third guess is an infection in the gutbag area, and a nasty one at that.

There's only a few ways to tell which it is, but none of them are very practical ( xray, draining with needle ) and doing anything for any of them at this stage would probably niot be very effective in time.

If it's just some intestinal blockage and gas, it should probably work it's way out eventually. Otherwise the fish is probably doomed. A good veterinarian who is good with fish ( not many of THOSE ) could possibly help, but that would cost more than the fish.

You should get that fish out of that tank and into something else. It is possible that whatever is causing the problem will soon burst out into the water, affecting the other fish.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

> My third guess is an infection in the gutbag area, and a nasty one at that.


a gut bag? Do you mean the stomach? I have an done numerous disections on fish and never found a gut bag... my other guess would be the swim bladder that you are refering to.

but like the oldsalt said... not much you can do, and you should seperate the fish.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

*sigh*

No, I don't mean just the stomach. You may have noticed in your dissections the sac, often with a with the silvery lining, surrounding the various internal organs? The one which does not include the swim bladder? I just didn't feel like spelling peritoneum again, and I figured I'd use a more descriptive term which also encompassed the things within it.


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## clemsonfrk11202 (Jan 27, 2005)

well i seperated him and put him in my hospital tank, i did some research and it looked like it could be dropsy, but i dont know for sure, i went to the lfs to get some meds and by the time i got back he was gone... so now all i can do is watch for the other fish


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## wrasser (Apr 5, 2005)

i really dont know if this applies or not, did you notice it at the time you bought it? was it swimming funny the whole time. if they brought the tang up to fast maybe the bladder had air in it, due to not having time to decompress. sometimes it works its self out and sometimes they die. again if this is the case you could try a small surenge and try to take the air out that way.


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