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Hi everyone, new to this site and new to having fish. My longfin bristlenose has grown a bit of a belly. Is it pregnant?

Have you fed any meaty foods lately? it could just be bloat. A clear picture would help!

Sorry, photo didnt attach like i thought it had. Hopefully it has now.

Its anus does not look normal. I've never had a pleco with bloat yet, so I don't know exactly what it looks like, but that would be my guess. Or something else like a parasite. But I'm not well experienced with internal disease diagnosis, so I hope someone else chimes in.

The clear blob has got bigger since that photo taken yesterday. It is the tank with 1 other longfin and not showing anything like this one. i have multiple other fish (2x bristlenose catfish 3x glass catfish 3x clown loaches 1x kohli loach 9x gouramis 2x peacock spiney eels and 3x algae eaters) that dont look like they are showing any symptoms of sickness. I hope its not sick. Will update if any changes.

The clear blob seems to be getting larger. The other longfin seems to be breathing very heavily but no other symptoms like a swollen belly etc. We had 2 very young peppermint catfish die today too. Please help!! Getting very worried now

Could this be bloat or dropsy?

I first thought bloat when I saw the belly, but the ballooning papilla is abnormal.

@Barbie, have you seen this before?

Have just found that the other longfin bristlenose had died overnight. Thats 3 in 2 days. Doing research and think maybe the water is polluted or something. Going to fully clean tank today. Big job 170+ gal tank.

Hi RinRin45,

Sorry for your loss. Did your recently deceased longfin BN have the same swollen body and the same bulbous swelling by the anus? How courageous are you? If you did not discard the dead fish, and if you have a strong stomach (because some people cringe at the thought of my next words), I would encourage you to take the dead fish and cut it open along its abdomen (instructions are here: Re: Bristlenose plec with bloated stomach) to look inside its abdomen.

When you cut it open, watch for any spilling of lots of fluid. If the abdomen deflates with fluid loss, that is significant. If there is no great fluid loss, and if the abdomen is swollen because either (1) the internal organs are swollen, or (2) there are parasitic worms filling the abdomen, those findings are equally important. If there are signs of bleeding or wounds, or if the intestines appear to be filled with gas themselves, those are also significant observations. What are the colors of the organs? How homogeneous are the organs' colors? Except for the stomach and intestines, which can have variable colors as food passes through vs. when empty, most internal organs will each have their own characteristic color - liver dark brownish red, ovaries may look relatively pink or orange-yellow, depending on how much yolk is in the forming eggs, etc.

If you cut it open and don't find excess fluid, spread the body wall open as described in that other post and take many clear photos, then post them here. As you take pictures, you can use a blunt stick-like object to move the intestines and gonads to the sides and you can sort of lay them out for us to see.

Are you up for that? If not, that's okay. But if so, maybe we can be more helpful. If we can't find the exact problem, maybe we can rule out some possibilities and thus narrow your options.

Regards, Eric

Thank you so much for your detailed response. Unfortunately the one that died this morning (name was Pretty) didnt have a swollen stomach or anus like the one pictured (name is Fluffy - 6 year old step daughter named it). The only symptoms Pretty showed last night was heavy breathing and didnt seem to eat anything. This morning we checked on it and was dead - like frozen stiff on the floor of the tank.

Fluffy seems to be doing okay for the minute. Havent been able to get a view of its stomach or anus today.

We hadnt done a proper clean of the tank since we first started so we thought it might be ammonia poisoning or polluted water, but have done a thorough clean today as well as a 50% water change with tap water conditioner, tested the nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, pH, carbonate and general hardiness which all come back reasonably normal. Could the water be a contibution to Fluffy's possible sickness?

Thank you again for your response and will definately follow your recommendations on cutting the fish open to check inside if Fluffy doesnt make it and will post photos.

Thank you,
Melinda

Fluffy is still alive and still fat. The blob had got larger and looks more like a bubble coming out.

RinRin45, if you can, I'd advise you to move this fish to an isolation tank. If it's just ill with bloat or something like that and if it dies, then other fish probably won't be harmed much. But if it is full of parasites or a bacterial infection of some kind and then dies in the tank, I'd be concerned that the disease might spread to other fish.

Isolate it, feed it shelled peas, and maybe turn up the heat to get its metabolism accelerated. I'm not good with meds so I don't know the best meds to use, but if you can buy an anti-parasite medicine, like PraziPro, I'd suggest you could try treating it with that and maybe antibiotics too.

Good luck, Eric

Thank you wo much for your response Eric. The fish has gone back to its normal size, the clear blob has disappeared and its appetite is back. Thank you so very much for your responses.

Glad to learn it's doing better.

Cheers, Eric