# Pregnant or sick?!



## Tiffles (Oct 4, 2010)

Hey all!! I just joined here today, and have a little problem that I could use some help with!!

I have a 10 gallon tank that I have had for about 4 year. I currently have a pink colored skirt tetra, 2 neon tetras, a serpae tetra, 2 chinese algea eaters, and 2 which I though were silver dollars, but now I'm starting to thinik they are blackskirt hifin tetras (i inherited these two and was never really sure what they were!). All of my water parameters are perfect! (I am using the API testing kits.) Water temp is at 76f. I don't have any living plants, (other than a little bit of algae :roll and the tank gets a little sunlight each day.

The problem:
One of my blackskirt tetras who is the larger of the two, started getting a little bit of a belly abou a month or so ago. I didnt have a whole lot of time to think about it due to a job switch, but noticed last night that it has doubled in size. It is not perfectly round, but large and with lumps on either side. I noticed today it has a long red line down the bottom of its tummy where the stomache is larger. The fish has been acting perfectly normal, still swimming fine, still eating, etc.

Can someone tell me what they think is going on here, as I'm very worried!!
Any help would be greatly appreciated!


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## kitten_penang (Mar 26, 2008)

well if a fish isn't showing any signs of being sick then it must be pregnant unless it's a male.then he might have bloat.


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## Spooki (Oct 6, 2010)

Black skirts are not the easiest to sex, males will have a narrower and more pointed dorsal fin. 
[male] [female]

If you suspect the plump fish is a male it's obviously not pregnancy (gravid, technically since pregnancy refers to internal fertilization).


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## Tiffles (Oct 4, 2010)

Thank you Spooki. I actually am now leaning more towards it being male, but i also just noticed today that it's poop is somewhat irregular. Most of my fish poop a dark color, but this one is almost clear, and looks as though it's been soaking in the water quite a while, while it's just coming out. Could this be a bowl issue?


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## Spooki (Oct 6, 2010)

Clear poop is generally a bad sign. It can be an early symptom of bloat or the intestinal parasite hexamita (which is commonly confused with HLLE because they often go hand in hand). I would lean more towards bloat since the fish has an enlarged abdomen. 

I have seen metronidazol and clout both recommended for bloat.


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## Tiffles (Oct 4, 2010)

Perfect! I do have some clout handy so I will try that and keep you posted! thanks again!!


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