# SENEGAL BICHIR -- Help!! --- (FruitBat)



## NegativeCamber (Nov 29, 2004)

First I hope this is in the right category ... OK.. here is the situation. I become a fish shelter over this past weekend. On Saturday I received 3 orphaned 8" rbp's!







Well thats not my problem. The day following the same lady told me she needed to find a home for 2 bichirs. One female Ornate Bichir(7 inches) and one male Senegal Bichir (8 inches). Not wanting to see these fish get dumped, I agreed to take them in. Wow, 5 free fish over a 2 day span..

About 24 hours after placing the bichirs in their new home, I noticed that the Senegal bichir belly progressively getting bigger and bloated.







I know in some fish this is a sign of intestinal parasites or stress.. I have attached some photos..

I have been trying to feed these guys anything from nightcrawlers, bloodworms, beefhear, krill etc. The only thing I can get them? to eat is rosy reds. I put a question mark behind them, because the only one I have seen eat is the bloated one. We put 8 feeders in the tank and I have personally seen him eat 2 and there are 4 left. Not sure which one ate the other 2. Is he just not passing waste?

I have been treating the tank with Maracyn-two (contains 10 mg Minocycline) which was recommended by my fish store friend. I have also added salt.

Any help I would appreciate. My wife loves these fish and has grown very fond of them. She has even talked about getting a bigger aquarium for the fish.. Help me keep her interest -- dont want to see the fellow die.









THANKS


----------



## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

> I have been treating the tank with Maracyn-two (contains 10 mg Minocycline) which was recommended by my fish store friend. I have also added salt.


Before I even got to this line I thought to myself "Maracyn Two". Honestly. It could be something else but if it's a severe internal bacterial infection you need to knock it out fast. I kind of doubt it's parasites or blockage, just because he's eating. But fish will eat even with a good sized load of parasites.

The only other issue is how powerful that Maracyn two is. Your biological filter is getting nuked right now.


----------



## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

One last thought; I'm no bichir expert but do these things get swollen if they are females with eggs?


----------



## NegativeCamber (Nov 29, 2004)

acestro said:


> One last thought; I'm no bichir expert but do these things get swollen if they are females with eggs?
> [snapback]1019537[/snapback]​


Honestly, I am not too familar with these fish, but I have been able to find some information to lead me to believe it is a male.. Compare to my other bichir, his dorsal fin is large and thick.

Thanks for your reply... hopefully we can save this fellow..


----------



## labeo (Apr 3, 2004)

Sorry about the bichir m8 i cant help there but whats the small fish in the centre of the pics?


----------



## NegativeCamber (Nov 29, 2004)

labeo said:


> Sorry about the bichir m8 i cant help there but whats the small fish in the centre of the pics?
> [snapback]1019788[/snapback]​


They are feeder fish called "rosy reds" --


----------



## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

"I noticed that the Senegal bichir belly progressively getting bigger and bloated."

Just re-read this part. If it happened that fast there is no way that it is eggs or parasites, sounds bacterial to me.


----------



## smokinbubbles (Mar 25, 2005)

i have a little ornate bichir and im just saying it does it to mine but mine doesn't have to eat much and he gets bloated really easy.

J-Rod


----------



## piranhasrule (May 31, 2004)

smokinbubbles said:


> i have a little ornate bichir and im just saying it does it to mine but mine doesn't have to eat much and he gets bloated really easy.
> 
> J-Rod
> [snapback]1020817[/snapback]​


I dont think its just eaten too much. I have sennegal thats just a little bit smaller then that, and it never gets that bad after eating too much.

Hope you sort out the problem soon, good luck


----------



## Fomoris (Mar 13, 2005)

In my opinion, he has eaten to much









My little senegalus used to have big bellys after eating... But never that big


----------



## Fruitbat (Jan 2, 2004)

I've already mentioned this to NegativeCamber but I'd guess that bloating is caused by one of three things:

1) Internal parasites
2) Intestinal blockage....possibly from injesting some gravel
3) Eggbound...if it is a female

I wouldn't expect a bacterial infection to cause that much bloating, though it is possible. If there is internal blockage then bacteria in the gut could be producing a gas that is causing the swelling. NegativeCamber also mentioned to me that the bichir hasn't been observed defecating at all which adds credence to some sort of blockage...regardless of the cause.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), I've never had one of my bichirs swell up like that so I don't know of any magical cure for it. I've certainly never seen one get THAT big from overeating. The fact that the bichir is eating live feeder fish could also contribute to an infestation of some sort of internal parasite.

This is a difficult problem to diagnose!

-Joe


----------



## RAYMAN45 (Oct 2, 2004)

get in my belly


----------



## Methuzela (Apr 27, 2004)

i noticed you had rosies in there, did he eat a lot of them?

mine will annihilate like 12 in a night and look like that in the morning.

if he ate then he's just full cause i had a similar experience the first time i saw mine look bloated from eating.


----------



## smokinbubbles (Mar 25, 2005)

hey man it has been awhile since u have posted the progress on your bichir. so whats goin on with her, she doin better?

J_Rod


----------



## NegativeCamber (Nov 29, 2004)

Well, his suffering is over!! It has been over a month since I first posted this thread.. My Senegal Bichir died today! His condition stayed the same for over 3 weeks. I had moved him into a hospital tanks and monitored his actions and behavior closely. Nothing was different until last week. He started to float on the surface of the water. He then -- day by day-- began to gradually sink head first. It was like he had a floatation device attached to his tail. He would try to swim downward but only to float back up to the top. He hung upside down for about a seek. Several times I thought I should put him out of his misery. But something kept on telling me he would pull though this..

Well... he died today and his suffering is over. I would like to think FruitBat personally for his time and knowledge. He gave me excellent advice on this site and another! I still can not explain what happen to my Bichir, but it is over now.








OZ!!


----------



## spec-v (Feb 27, 2005)

this may sound bad but bear with me, I would cut him open just to see if he ingested some gravel I had a ropefish who died of gravel ingestion just my 2 cents


----------

