Prolapsed anus on damselfish

InvertEnjoyer · Jun 1, 2023

Hello, my damsel fish has been acting a little weird for the past few days. They aren’t very active and don’t swim more the a few inches from a cave unless it is feeding time, where even the. The damsel never goes far from the rock work. Before they would swim all over the tank and no matter how high the flow it would get but now it seems like it is avoiding most flow altogether. It also seems a little fatter than usual but don’t know if it’s because of overfeeding, just growing, or an infection. I also have a wondering if the fish has a prolapsed anus, I’m pretty sure this only happened maybe a day or two ago. I am just wondering if there is something wrong with my fish.

Jay Hemdal · Jun 1, 2023

InvertEnjoyer said:
Hello, my damsel fish has been acting a little weird for the past few days. They aren’t very active and don’t swim more the a few inches from a cave unless it is feeding time, where even the. The damsel never goes far from the rock work. Before they would swim all over the tank and no matter how high the flow it would get but now it seems like it is avoiding most flow altogether. It also seems a little fatter than usual but don’t know if it’s because of overfeeding, just growing, or an infection. I also have a wondering if the fish has a prolapsed anus, I’m pretty sure this only happened maybe a day or two ago. I am just wondering if there is something wrong with my fish.

Yes, there is an issue with that fish. The prolapse is related to the pressure from the swelling in the abdomen.
Trouble is, there is no way to tell what is causing the swelling. In roughly descending order of likelihood, It could be ascites (fluid build up from organ failure), unreleased eggs or constipation.

If the fish continues to feed, you could try dosing some food with 3% Epsom salts, but that only helps with constipation. There is no treatment for the other two issues, sorry.

Jay