I have a 29 gallon planted aquarium, a couple months old now. The tank has 6 tiger barbs, 4 of the black skirt tetras, 6 corys, a snail, algae eater, and a pleco.
Two of the black skirts have developed fat/round bellys. One of them is just freaking huge in the stomach area, the other one is just slightly larger than it was originally. They've been this way for what seems like the better part of 4 weeks or so. I'm mostly worried about the huge one. I'm pretty sure it's not dropsy, it swims fine, goes all around the tank, eats, breaths, and it does not look like porcupine. What i can't decide is if theses fish are heavy with eggs or constipated. The two that have gotten round are the 2 larger ones, if that means they are female, I don't know.
I started off by fasting the entire tank for 48 hours, then I moved to on to castor oil soaked flake food, with broccoli and cucumber on the side. The black skirts wont touch the veggies, they haven't since i've had them, the rest of the fish will though. So that isn't helping much. However they have been eating small amounts of the soaked flakes for the last 2 days. However, I haven't notice them poop any, and the huge one is still large. I may try this routine for one more day then switch to a strick peas and veggies only diet for a couple more days.
Is it constipated? Or am i wasting my time because it's full of eggs instead?
Two of the black skirts have developed fat/round bellys. One of them is just freaking huge in the stomach area, the other one is just slightly larger than it was originally. They've been this way for what seems like the better part of 4 weeks or so. I'm mostly worried about the huge one. I'm pretty sure it's not dropsy, it swims fine, goes all around the tank, eats, breaths, and it does not look like porcupine. What i can't decide is if theses fish are heavy with eggs or constipated. The two that have gotten round are the 2 larger ones, if that means they are female, I don't know.
I started off by fasting the entire tank for 48 hours, then I moved to on to castor oil soaked flake food, with broccoli and cucumber on the side. The black skirts wont touch the veggies, they haven't since i've had them, the rest of the fish will though. So that isn't helping much. However they have been eating small amounts of the soaked flakes for the last 2 days. However, I haven't notice them poop any, and the huge one is still large. I may try this routine for one more day then switch to a strick peas and veggies only diet for a couple more days.
Is it constipated? Or am i wasting my time because it's full of eggs instead?