Green Chromis Fat or Sick?

sffinn01 · Oct 13, 2021

So I got some chromis online and a couple of them unfortunately were DOA and this was one of the survivors and I am just not too sure if its pregnant, bloating ,sick, or just fat. So thought multiple brains are better than one. Thank you guys in advance if you need better pictures/videos let me know and I can provide them.

Gtinnel · Oct 13, 2021

I don't know what would cause the size of it but it looks to me like it's respiration rate is really high. It looks sick to me, but I couldn't give any specifics on what it would be sick from.

sffinn01 · Oct 13, 2021

Gtinnel said:
I don't know what would cause the size of it but it looks to me like it's respiration rate is really high. It looks sick to me, but I couldn't give any specifics on what it would be sick from.

do you think it will spread, should i take the fish out?

Paul B · Oct 13, 2021

It doesn't look like anything contagious.

Jay Hemdal · Oct 13, 2021

sffinn01 said:
So I got some chromis online and a couple of them unfortunately were DOA and this was one of the survivors and I am just not too sure if its pregnant, bloating ,sick, or just fat. So thought multiple brains are better than one. Thank you guys in advance if you need better pictures/videos let me know and I can provide them.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

It is difficult to see under blue lights, but the fish is, as mentioned, is breathing way too fast. Also, the swelling isn't just the belly, but involves the whole body, including the area under the gills. That rules out egg binding or just being fat. This fish also has some damage to its caudal fin from another fish biting it.

I couldn't see if the fish in the background are also breathing heavily - if they are, that indicates a water quality problem or gill disease. If you can post another video under white lights, I might be able to tell that for you.

So - if it is just this fish that is breathing too fast, then it has a systemic disease causing the bloating. The two that do this are kidney or liver failure. Neither is really treatable (just like in people). Of the two, given that the fish is relatively new, I would say it has a kidney disease caused by an internal bacterial infection.

Jay