Bloated - not sure what's wrong with my fish. Please help!

[Melodica]

I had another thread about my boy. He was in a divided tank with two other fish (who do not seem to be ill - they look and act normally). He became bloated, so I fasted him for three days, then I fed him a little frozen daphnia, hoping that it would clear him out if he was constipated. That didn't seem to help, so I decided to move him to a 5 gallon filtered tank that I had lying around.

I acclimated him first then slowly added epsom salt to the tank (1 tsp per gallon - pre-dissolved). This morning I looked at him and he was still just as bloated, but it looked like there was some white, sort of stringy looking poop hanging from him. I didn't see any poop on the bottom of the tank (I purposely left the bottom clear so I could see any movements he had).

He seems to be moving around fine, his fins aren't clamped and he will still flare up if you put a mirror in front of him, but he's a bit less active than he was. He will still beg for food, though I haven't fed him anything since the daphnia. His scales don't really looked raised - just strained because of the bloating.

What should I do for treatment? Up the epsom salt dosage? Treat for internal parasites? I don't want to lose the little guy - I'm so worried about him.

Also, should I do anything with the other tank (which is a 10g filtered)? As I said, the fish in it seem fine, but if he does have internal parasites, it could have spread before I moved him. Is there any 'preventative' treatment I could do on that tank that wouldn't hurt my other two boys or should I just leave it alone until/if they begin showing symptoms of illness?

[Laki]

White stringy poop?? Remove any live plants, snails, shrimp and treat the whole tank for internal parasites. These will be contagious in a divided tank. I am honestly not sure what the best parasite treatment is other than increasing temp to 85F. Epsom salt you can increase to 10tsp (that's 1tsp per gallon) and remove the BB part of your filter if it is cycled.

[Melodica]

There aren't any live plants or tankmates with sick fish in the 5g. I didn't see any of the stringy poop until after I moved him to the smaller tank, so I'm hoping I got him moved before it spread. Does anyone know the best treatment for parasites? I've read some other threads, but it seems that the information is different in each one.

I didn't want to treat the 10g tank with the other two fish as I didn't want to stress them needlessly. I've been watching them closely to make sure that they aren't showing any signs of sickness.

[Laki]

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=73333

It seems in my general search Jungle's anti-parasitic tab things work. Coupled with epsom salt baths. I would treat the larger tank with epsom salt first, if you notice them showing any signs then treat it with Jungles.

[Melodica]

I'll continue the epsom salt and look for some of the anti-parasitic. I just feel really bad because it doesn't seem like anything I'm doing is helping him.

[Melodica]

Oh, and my fiance was finally able to get a couple of pictures. They aren't great, but they give an idea.

(BTW, the Wardley food in the background is what he feeds his violet gobies - my boys eat Omega One)

[Laki]

Hmm.. I would PM Sakura8 on this one. There is a member here Djembekah who has a girl looking like this for months, Sak thinks its a tumor..

[Melodica]

I'll definitely send a PM. I want to help the little guy, but I don't want to treat and stress him for something that he doesn't have or treat for the wrong thing and hurt him more. Now I know what parents feel like!

Thank you very much for responding and trying to help - I really appreciate it.

[Laki]

No problem! Good luck!

[callistra]

Constipation can cause the white poop. It might clear up once he's finished moving everything.. or he could have an infection.

I would wait and continue to fast on the epsom salts another few days. If he's not better by week's end you could try a little pea.. we'll cross that if needed.