My fish always get malawi bloat .. what can i do?

**Dave Schulman** · 12-09-2002, 01:24 PM

Hey, Im new with the african cichlids here so maybe someone with experiecne can help. I have a 75gal tank with 2 aqua clear 300's on it. I clean my tank once a week. I have 14 fish (only 6 are very large) I feed them spirulina once daily. My pH is 8.0 and not sure what the hardness is. I have crused coral on the bottom with a cave of green and red shale. No live plants. The tank is about 78 degrees. Heres my problem ... every once in a while i notice some of my fish are not eating, losing color, and hiding alot (some with this problem are by the heater) about 2 weeks later they all get bloat and most of the time die. Right now i have a Haplochromis Obliquedens with this problem. He is about 3 inches and a male. He just stopped eating yesterday. FOR SOMEONE WITH A LOT OF KNOWLEDGE ONLY : is it a good idea to do a 50 to 75% water change and get new gravel?
If you know anything about this or have even heard of it please let me know ... my bloat problem is getting out of control.

**SGypsyMermaid** · 12-09-2002, 04:19 PM

hi dave and welcome. what are you feeding along with the spirulina and how frequently, how much?, etc. you say that you 'clean' your tank once a week--what does that mean in terms of percentage of water changed, gravel cleaning...what kind of substrate? how deep? tell us as much about the tank as possible.

**Dave Schulman** · 12-10-2002, 05:27 AM

This is how i do a water change in my tank. I use the syphon and go through the gravel with it getting out all the crap. I empty about 20% of my water. I take out most of the rocks and plants so i can do a better job cleaning it. When I fill it back up i use a 5gal bucket. I put a cap of aqua plus in it, a teaspoon of african rift lake salt and the alkaline buffer so the pH is back at 8.0. Then i put all the plants and rocks back in the tank and test the nitrites and pH about an hour later and if bad i will fix it.
As for the amount of food i give them, I give them enough spirulina flakes they can eat in about 2 minutes. Ialso have been giving them a small amount of color bits along with the spirulina (i know the color bits cant cause bloat because i just started using them). I never ive live of frozen foods because someone told me there is to much protein for the mbunas to handle.

**SGypsyMermaid** · 12-10-2002, 08:35 AM

sounds like your water quality is good, and your feeding regimen is basically okay. i would, however, recommend that you alternate the foods that you feed on a daily basis--in other words, feed spirulina one day, then pellets the next. you should vary their diet more...say krill flakes, brineshrimp flakes, basic flakes. pellets are less messy, but sometimes too much pellet food causes intestinal problems. i would also advise you to have your fish fast one day a week. as far as water changes go, i refer you to the thread "water changes are critical" in the beginner's section.

**jonah** · 12-10-2002, 07:14 PM

[quote:e40675a090="Dave Schulman"]Heres my problem ... every once in a while i notice some of my fish are not eating, losing color, and hiding alot (some with this problem are by the heater) about 2 weeks later they all get bloat and most of the time die. [/quote:e40675a090]

Are you certain it's bloat? It sounds like an internal parasite with that description. Something like hexamita, which is fairly common in Africans. The bloating might be a secondary symptom to a parasitic infestation. Your feeding seems like it shouldn't cause any problems at all. I feed way more protein in my tanks and I've never seen Malawi bloat before, but I have had problems with parasites. The problem is that once they stop eating it's hard to treat them.

**fOx** · 12-16-2002, 12:16 PM

I have experienced this problem because I had added way too much buffer into the water while doing the water change. (I lost my blue dolphin this way) The fish get slower, they swell up and lay on the bottom of the tank. They don't move much, and try to hide a lot.

I have noticed that if you are not careful, and add too much of the PH buffer to the water when doing your changes (I add about a quarter of the reccommended amount) the PH change is too rapid and your fish get sick.

You're water is set at 8.0 (presumably) the buffer you are using lasts at least a month and will hold the water at 8.0 for that amount of time. If you change 20 per cent of the water (the buffer in the tank will help to regulate the new water added) you shouldn't need to add too much buffer to the mix. In fact only add a minimal amount.

I have tested water (with no fish in it thank-god) that had too much buffer in it and noticed that the product is full of s*&& when it says it won't go above 8.0. The colour on the test strip was so bright that it was closer to 9.0. That kind of change is devistating for your fish.

If you are still having that problem there is medicine you can buy at the fish store it's called Maracyn 2 it will clear up the problem, but the Maracyn has to be added as soon as you spot the symptoms, otherwise its too late. The bloat kills fish fast (within 24 hours).

good luck and I hope this long read has helped somewhat.

fOx

**jnorris** · 12-16-2002, 05:56 PM

Sounds like it could be intestinal parasites also. Seems like you are doing everything correctly. If you consider meds make sure you do your homework before. Some of the meds on the market can be worse for your fish. Do you have a hospital tank?

**ferdelance** · 12-17-2002, 09:33 AM

does anyone know how to diagnose parasites and how to treat them? What else can cause bloat? I have had a few apparently healthy fish get bloat suddenly and die in a day. The other fish in the tank seem just fine.

**fOx** · 12-17-2002, 11:49 AM

its very difficult to tell if your fish have internal parasites, because they are, well, internal. I have heard that some parasites, under magnification, can be seen hanging from the gills and scales of your fish.

As a previous poster said, a hospital tank is a great asset. You can move the sick fish and treat them with some sort of meds without worrying about hurting the rest of your finned friends.

As hobbiests all we can really do is identify symptoms and treat the fish based on those symptoms. It should be noted that if you keep your water clean and do regular changes parasites, sickness and diseases should not be a problem.

fOx

**fOx** · 12-17-2002, 11:55 AM

As for the other part of your question, feeding Malawis the wrong kind of food can sometimes result in bloat.

i haven't had this problem. But I have heard that certain pellets (which swell up far past 3x their original size) or foods heavy in meat can cause bloat in Malawis. They can't digest that stuff very well.

fOx

**Dave Schulman** · 12-18-2002, 08:34 AM

Thanks for ur help on answering my bloat problem, They seem to be doing beter. I havent cleaned them in 2 weeks and everything in the water is ok. I used to clean it out every week but im gonna do it less than that now cuz all i do is put more stress on them by changing it more often. thanks "ThE AnGrYFisH"