Swollen stomachs...

bernt · Post by **bernt** » 29 Apr 2003, 13:53

Here we go againâ?¦
This has been discussed many times before, but I canâ??t say that I really have understood this phenomena:

Iâ??ve seen on pictures of many catfish, and on live specimen, that sometimes catfish gets swollen stomachs. Right now one of my Pecoltia platyrhynchusâ?? got this symptom. Iâ??ve read that this can be due to a bacterial infection, but also due to wrong diet. Or could it be a bacterial infection as a result of wrong diet?
Does anyone know what is right? Why to my catfish get this? And what could be done?

In my case, the diet has been mostly frozen artemia, Wardley algae discs and Wardley shrimp sticksâ?¦

- Bernt -

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 30 Apr 2003, 06:48

Hi!

If you could post a picture of your fish would be great.
What size is your fish?
What is its gender?
The diet your are giving seems to be rather rich.
What are the other fish with him/her?
How much and how often do you feed them?
Cheers
Yann

bernt · Post by **bernt** » 05 May 2003, 10:30

I donâ??t have pictures of my fish. It is a L-135.
I have three of them together with some Ancistrus, some Farlowella, a couple of Chaetostoma L-148 a few ottos, some Apistogramma mendezi and some Microgeophagus altispinosa. All of the other fish seems to be healthy. My L-135 with swollen stomach is still eating...

My intension with this post was to get some ideas of what could cause such problemsâ?¦ What are the hypotheses of the causes of swollen stomachs in plecos?

bernt · Post by **bernt** » 05 May 2003, 10:36

Forgot to say that the size of my Pecoltia is about 7 cm (3 inches), and I feed them once a day...

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 05 May 2003, 18:53

Hi!

How big is your tank?
And what are the basic thing that you do?
How much water change and how often? Sand vaccum?
What type of food do you give them?
Cheers
Yann

Easy · Post by **Easy** » 06 May 2003, 03:53

I think most Peckoltias have that tendency of having swollen stomachs...unlike other plecos like the Baryancistrus.

You could feed them less or don't feed them at all once a week. Balance their diet too...protein and fiber.

I have observed that they are constantly in search for food...they also rasp on wood.

L.Z · Post by **L.Z** » 06 May 2003, 04:52

Sorry, I want to say a matter.

Pleco is does not have the stomach, only has slender the intestines, may from dissect pleco perhaps knew from the magazine.

The grass feeding habits fingerling usually has slender the intestines, but does not have the stomach, good lets the enzyme have a longer time to be allowed with food contact, processes vegetative food which more difficult to digest.

Opposite, the meat fish has shorter intestines, has the stomach the existence, food may keep in the acidic environment to promote the protein digestion.

Only is majority fingerling these two kind of types food all accepts.

The different type fish all has the unique mouth structure to correspond respective food origin.

As well as the different digesting system decomposes food which they eats.

If you frequently feed meat food, he can be easy to stop up slender the intestines, and is easy to infect the ascites sickness.