# Leopard danio swollen on one side



## satu55555 (Apr 6, 2011)

Hi,

My female Leopard Danio is swollen on her left side and therefore she looks like she's not totally straight. Here are the details:


1. Tank size: 140 L

2. Water parameters and brand of test kit used:
These are the parameters for the main tank.
Ammonium 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
pH 7.2
We use the API Master Testkit.

3. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or brackish water?
Freshwater

4. How long the aquarium has been set up?
The aquarium has been set up for almost 4 years

5. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them?
5 Danios (one male about 2 years, about 3cm (= 1.2 inches) + tail; and 2 females about 2 years and two females about 1 year, about 3cm (= 1.2") + tail; 4 corydoras (two males almost 4 years and about 3.5 cm (= 1.4") + tail and one male and one females about 15 months one about 3.5 cm (= 1.4") + tail) and the female 6 cm ( 2,4 ") + tail, and one Oto Cinclus (male about 2.5 years, about 2.5 cm (= 1") and two females about 6 months, length 3.5 cm (= 1.4")) - Those times are how long we've had them. No new additions since these ones.

6. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)?
Yes, for two weeks half a year ago.

7. What temperature is the tank water currently?
24.5 Celsius (= 76 F) The temperature had got a little low as normally it's the same as our house temperature ,which is about 24 C (75 F), but our house temperature dropped and we did not so the tank temperature dropped down to 23 C (73.4 F).

8. Are there live plants in the aquarium?
There are 4 live plants that have been there about 2.5 years.

9. What filter are you using? State brand, maintenance routine and power capacity.
We have an Eheim Aquaball 2210 filter. We clean the pads in tank water during water change once a week. 550 L per hour (=145 US Gallons per hour).

10. Any other equipment used (aside from heater and filter which are two very important components of the tank)?
Heater added two days ago to get the temperature back up.

11. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? What is your lighting schedule (assuming you do not rely on sunlight for our viewing pleasure)?
The tank rarely gets natural sunlight, but if we get some sunlight, it's in the morning. Usually we keep the curtain so that the tank doesn't get too much sunlight. Automated lighting in the tank is on from 11.30am to 9pm. We live in Finland and at the moment it is fairly grey during the day.

12. When did you perform your last water change and how much water was changed? How often do you change your water? Do you vacuum the substrate?
Last 30% water change was 3 days ago.

Our normal water change is about 30% once every 7-10 days. We use a gravel hoover at the same time, but do a more thorough job at it during every second water change. The filter is cleaned in the tank water every time.

13. What foods do you provide your fish? What is the feeding schedule?
Our fish get meals at 9am and 9pm. They get flakes and pellets (two different types of pellets). Twice a week they get frozen lobster eggs or blood worms instead of dry food in the morning. We also put a slice of zucchini or cucumber for the otos once a day.

14. What unusual signs have you observed in your fish?

The female Leopard Danio (Marge) has been a little swollen on her left side at the back for about 4 days now. She would like to eat normally, but has not been given food for two days now in case this is due to constipation. She's active and hangs around with the other danios, but swims in a position that is kinked when you look from above. So the lump and not being straight are the only symptoms.

15. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? If so, what treatments did you use? State your reasons for planning ahead of proper diagnosis.
I have given her an Epsom salt bath for half an hour at a time once a day until today I decided to go for two half an hour baths. I have put 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt per gallon (3.7 litres). She has not been fed for two days either. I suspect that this could be a possibly constipation, possibly due to eating too much and the lowered tank temperature. She has reacted to a slight temperature drop twice before by not being too hungry, but after putting her in a separate tank and continuing normal treatment without anything special, she has gained her normal behaviour back within a couple of days. This time she has not stopped eating or anything like this, but this could have something to do with the temperature drop.

So constipation is my first suspicion, hence the treatment above. The second suspicion would be being egg bound. I'm planning to give her a very small dinner tonight.

After the first treatment of Epsom salt bath and not eating for one day, she looked like she was slightly more straight. I will put a link to a video of her two days ago before the treatments.

Could you please advise if this could be something else than what I'm suspecting.

Any advise would be much appreciated. Thank you!


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## satu55555 (Apr 6, 2011)

Here's the video of Marge two and a half days ago before giving any treatment. On the video Marge is the Leopard Danio (spotted). The other ones are all Zebra Danios. Please, note we took this video during the cleaning so that's why there's not much in the tank. We took all the ornaments out of the tank. It also gave us an easier view to the fish with the camera.






So this was 2.5 days ago and now she's looking slightly straighter and not so round.


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## satu55555 (Apr 6, 2011)

I thought I would put an update here.

The female danio mentioned above is still the same. The improvement that I thought I saw was probably wishful thinking. I gave her Epsom salt baths twice a day for half an hour at a time for 4 days with no improvement of any kind. She's still curved to the right and has a bit of a lumpy belly on the back left.

After this I noticed that our male zebra danio (Marco) was breathing heavily. It seems that his left hand side operculum is more open than the right one. He also seems to have lost a bit of weight and has a "neck" so no good.

Both of these danios are fully swimming around the tank, chasing others and eating. The above mentioned symptoms are the only ones I have been able to see.

So after reading my fish health books I ended up starting a Metronidazole treatment for the whole tank just in case. I have given Metronidazole with their breakfast for three days including today and no improvement so far. If it was working, it should show latest within a couple of days.

Here are also new water parameters.

pH 7.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5

I've done a water change of 30% 3 days ago and again 25% today.

I would really appreciate very much any kind of advice on what this could be and how to treat it. Thank you.


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## satu55555 (Apr 6, 2011)

I have given a new course of anti-internal parasite treatment with no results. Would anyone have any idea what these two fish could have?


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