Blue Chromis bloated body cavity and white strand coming out the rear end.

[MidasBlennyGuy]

Hello everyone, I've noticed an issue with one of my blue chromis. Over the past three days, I've noticed this long string of white coming out of the cloaca of it and increased breathing rate. I believe it to be constipation since his body cavity is bloated but it's been over 24 hours of not feeding and the bloating appears to not have reduced at all. To give reference I have been feeding the tank a combination of spirulina enriched mysis and brine shrimp, reef nutrition TDO chroma boost, and seaweed extreme pellets. No other chromis or fish in the tank has shown the same symptoms. Does anybody have any ideas or opinions on it?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello everyone, I've noticed an issue with one of my blue chromis. Over the past three days, I've noticed this long string of white coming out of the cloaca of it and increased breathing rate. I believe it to be constipation since his body cavity is bloated but it's been over 24 hours of not feeding and the bloating appears to not have reduced at all. To give reference I have been feeding the tank a combination of spirulina enriched mysis and brine shrimp, reef nutrition TDO chroma boost, and seaweed extreme pellets. No other chromis or fish in the tank has shown the same symptoms. Does anybody have any ideas or opinions on it?

How long have you had this chromis?

The not eating is a problem as any likely treatment would involve oral medications, and of course those won’t work for a fish that has stopped eating.

 

[MidasBlennyGuy]

@Jay Hemdal I have had this chromis for about three weeks. He only today began to show no appetite, up to this point i would isolate this chromis from the others in the tank when it came time to feed but today this one showed 0 interest in getting the food on the other side of the barrier. I thought if it was just constipation, that maybe holding off on feeding for a day or two would allow everything to pass through.

 

[vetteguy53081]

@Jay Hemdal I have had this chromis for about three weeks. He only today began to show no appetite, up to this point i would isolate this chromis from the others in the tank when it came time to feed but today this one showed 0 interest in getting the food on the other side of the barrier. I thought if it was just constipation, that maybe holding off on feeding for a day or two would allow everything to pass through.

What foods are you offering it?

 

[MidasBlennyGuy]

What foods are you offering it?

I offered it thawed mysis and brine shrimp and it showed no interested

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I offered it thawed mysis and brine shrimp and it showed no interested

Bloating can be due to constipation but can also be caused by fluid build up caused ascites. That in turn is caused by organ failure which in turn may be caused by fish being caught with cyanide.

 

[MidasBlennyGuy]

Sorry for the delay on updates, but sadly the next morning I came out and found it laying on the bottom of the tank struggling to swim and breathe. After humanly dispatching the animal, I did a necropsy and it appears the intestines were extremely bloated having food and trapped gas. I believe the bloated intestines crushed the other organs resulting in the slow degradation of the chromis. Any idea of what potentially could have caused the issue? All my other chromises are perfectly fine and have been eating the same thing.