It goes without saying that you get the most amazing feeling inside when you’re able to help your pet feel better and get over being sick. :)
Doug noticed that one of my female Congo Tetra was getting a huge belly, and I knew she couldn’t be pregnant because she wasn’t housed with any males at the pet store where we bought her, and the male Congo that we just purchased went right into the QT when we brought them home. I also knew that chances were extremely low that she had any type of internal parasite because just like the males, the females were all tossed in the QT and treated with fungus and parasite medicines. Nothing new has been introduced to the main tank, so we figured it was probably a bad case of bloat (constipation).
Did some research online and discovered that cooked mashed peas (squeezed out of the shells) or Brine Shrimp would help a sick fish go potty. So I get some peas and cook them in the microwave in some water, squeeze the insides out and toss the shells away, and mix them up with a small amount of Bloodworms (I had no idea if they would actually eat the peas, so I figured the Bloodworms would entice them to eat it). Sure enough they (including the Panda Garra and Serpae Tetra) gobbled it all up like little piggies. Unfortunately the one female who needed to eat it didn’t get any. I couldn’t move her over to the QT, so I had to move her over to another 10 gallon tank that’s already cycled and ready for some other fish that we were going to purchase.
Since Doug had purchased some frozen Brine Shrimp for his new baby Maroon Clown fish, I went ahead and snagged some of those (the shrimp, not the Clown fish haha), thawed them out, and tossed them in the tank with her. I also added some Kordon Fish Protector since she was stressed from the tank move, and also very stressed from an upset tummy. She gobbled the Brine Shrimp right up! Repeated this twice a day for two days, and when I woke up this morning she was her normal slender self again. She is now happily back with her other tank mates in the main tank, and I am one happy momma. :)
I think I will begin feeding all of my aqua babies Brine Shrimp once a week to prevent this from ever happening again. Nothing like good roughage to keep you regular! LOL
