Sick Jack Dempsey, with pics.

[julesee]

Hello all, I'm new to the forum :]
Anyhow, my brother has had a jack dempsey for about a year now, it's about 5-6" now. A little over two weeks ago, he had fed it feeder fish. A few days later, it's stomach got very bloated, and it started laying down on it's side. We put it in it's own ten gallon for treatment. He used maracyn-two for a while, but i don't think he was consistent with the dosing. He also used melafix and epsom salt, but again, i don't know if he was keeping up with it. I told him to do daily water changes, but since he's so busy, he couldn't do it. So today I told him I would take the fish and maintain it's treatment. So I've cleaned the tank up, and did a pretty much 90 percent w/c. the fish has been sick for about two weeks, hasn't eaten, and cannot swim. It tries to swim but can't even get off the gravel. It's belly isn't swolen anymore though. I have no idea what is wrong with the fish. I took some pictures of him doing what he's been doing for about 2 weeks.

Temp: 81-83 F
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-5 (Due to massive water change a few hours before testing)

Please help me figure this out! Thanks

[spifff2003]

i'm not really the person you want to talk to about this but it sounds like he got diseased feeders for future reference please please stay away from feeders. i hope somebody can help you out. as you have tried epsome salt i don't really know what to tell you about the poor guy the 90% wc sounds like a little much though.

[jrrlbds]

i would try 50% and some epsom salt, and melafix and pimafix...looks like he's got Malawi bloat...if they do not work you will have to use Clout

[jrrlbds]

oh wait!!! if you go Clout.....DO NOT change 50% of your water...only about 25-30%....just what I would do.....

[jrrlbds]

what size tank is he in???3

[jrrlbds]

in order for me to help you....you need to respond....your fish is dying.....

[jrrlbds]

your can find Clout @ Drs.Foster and Smith....PM me for the codes to get it....

[Seedy]

I watched a JD just like that one with a swim bladder disease live for months laying on the bottom of a quarentine tank in my buddies LFS... I think he tried dang near everything to get him swimming and holding itself upright. In the end, the fish was "put down" because it just seemed to miserable.

[jrrlbds]

I watched a JD just like that one with a swim bladder disease live for months laying on the bottom of a quarentine tank in my buddies LFS... I think he tried dang near everything to get him swimming and holding itself upright. In the end, the fish was "put down" because it just seemed to miserable.

welll woopty ****in doo

[julesee]

Well, I'm trying parasite clear for now, since it has metro n all. I've been thinking it has a swim bladder disease, since he cannot swim at all. He needs to eat though, last night i tried feeding him some smashed up cooked peas and he ate a little bit of them. What's the best food, and technique to "force feed" him? Thanks for your help guys, i appreciate it.

[crazyfishlady]

welll woopty ****in doo

Not quite as helpful as your earlier posts.

I think that was Seedy's anecdotal way of saying that swim bladder diseases can be tough to impossible to cure, and eventually it might be best to euthanize.

[LuckyCricketMafia]

welll woopty ****in doo

Having a bad day?