What is wrong with this flame hawkfish insanely bloated

[andrewkw]

I thought he was dead about a week ago. He has been hiding for about 10 days. I have seen him grab food maybe twice since. I actually posted about their lifespan when I assumed he was dead. I got him in early 2017 but he was full grown at the time.

Now he looks almost like he has popeye in both eyes but then if you look closer it's his entire body that is bloated. These are flash pics in the dark so quality isn't great.

Whatever is wrong with him is just affecting him. I have not added any fish in more than a year and no coral in some time.

 

[najer]

Bump, @ReefSquad ?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi, that fish has dropsy, in other words, its tissues are flooding with water. This is actually a fairly rare issue with marine fish. Unfortunately, the root cause is kidney failure, and it is almost always incurable. People may sat, "use epsom salts" but that is a tonic used to control the symptoms (not cure) in freshwater fish. The amount of magnesium sulfate in marine aquarium water means the tiny extra you might add has no benefit at all.

Sorry, I've never found an effective treatment for advanced cases. One thing you might try is moving the fish toi a treatment tank and dosing with erythromycin (Maracyn 1) just in case the kidney failure is due to a gram positive internal bacteria.

Jay

 

[andrewkw]

Not sure if I will ever see him again but if I do I will try and catch. Any ideas what could cause this? Just bad genetics? I have no issues with water quality and my fish eat a pretty varied diet that mainly consists of LRS as well as some different types of pellets.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Not sure if I will ever see him again but if I do I will try and catch. Any ideas what could cause this? Just bad genetics? I have no issues with water quality and my fish eat a pretty varied diet that mainly consists of LRS as well as some different types of pellets.

Unlikely to be related to genetics, most likely bacterial, could be viral. I’m not sure what else can cause kidney failure in marine fish.
Jay

 

[andrewkw]

Unlikely to be related to genetics, most likely bacterial, could be viral. I’m not sure what else can cause kidney failure in marine fish.
Jay

Thank you for the replies. He did end up dying. I guess seeing him perched last night was the goodbye. I just removed his body. His scales are literally popping off.

Not that I have any desire to do this, but since this is a rare condition would there be any value in me cutting him open to photograph / video his condition? I do have access to a low cost microscope as well.

 

[Stuartmercer]

Thank you for the replies. He did end up dying. I guess seeing him perched last night was the goodbye. I just removed his body. His scales are literally popping off.

Not that I have any desire to do this, but since this is a rare condition would there be any value in me cutting him open to photograph / video his condition? I do have access to a low cost microscope as well.

Would be intresting

 

[Victoria M]

I have found looking at scale and gill samples through a microscope to be informative. Especially to diagnose parasites.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Sure- when you open it, look for fluid building up in the abdomen, that is ascites, and can also be a sign of liver failure. The kidney is just a red smear of tissue along the backbone, you probably won’t see much there.
Jay

 

[borillion]

Sorry for your loss. Any worry about other fish in there if it is bacterial/viral or is it more likely to hit fish with pre-existing issues? Personally, I would want to be somehow proactive to containing spread.

 

[andrewkw]

So I did cut him open. I was expecting a ton of fluid but there really wasn't much. I was unable to identify the kidneys nor could I really tell what condition the organs were in. Really I was just checking to see if he was full of fluid and I took a couple of swabs to look under the microscope to see if there was anything moving and I did not see any. His tissue was really inflamed though. Just seemed to be super fat, but this happened pretty quick over the last couple of weeks. Mostly inclusive answers but I have no reason to believe any of my other fish are in any danger.