Bala Shark w/ swollen mouth

Question
Tank is 75 gallons. Up and running for 2-3 months. Had one bala and one spotted pleco. Added three juvenile balas last week. (11/17/04). This morning (11/24), one of the new additions was lethargic and swollen at the mouth. Looked like he couldn't open it fully, or at all. Noticed what might have been a couple of white (ich )spots, but they were on the silver part of his body, making it ahrd to determine. Quarantined him ASAP. Others appear active. Nothing discernible on them.

I understand the ich factor. But tghe swollen mouth is a baffler. Thanks for any advice you can offer.

John Harlan

Answer
Hi John;

Balas can be pretty hyper so he may have slammed himself against something. Bruises will cause swelling like that, especially on the mouth. Keep the hospital tank water very clean and use a product called Melafix. It is a natural product that helps inhibit and treat infections. Hopefully he will recover quickly. He may also have been injured in catching at the store. It can happen sometimes in spite of the best efforts to catch them safely. It doesn't always show up right away.

As for the ich, you can use the heat/salt method and don't really need medicine for it. Medicine can be very stressful to the fish. You will have to treat the main tank too because it is in the water if it is actually ich. Fish can have it without showing signs for a couple of days. Add one teaspoon of aquarium salt for every gallon of water. I know that sounds like a lot, but the ich really hates salt and the fish should tolerate that level just fine. Mine always have. I have 2 balas and a plecostomus in a 55 along with clown loaches, catfish and a few other small fish. Slowly raise the water temperature to 82 to 85 degrees. Ich hates heat too. Leave it elevated for two weeks to get rid of all of it as it goes through it's life cycle. This can be done along with melafix on the injured bala in the hospital tank too.

Balas have "sparkly" spots on their scales that look like ich sometimes. Mine are bigger now so it's obvious what they are. When balas are small you have to look very closely to be sure it isn't ich.

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

Come on over and join us on the freshwater fish forum at About.com to get even more information too;
http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/questionsanswers/a/naavigateforum.htm

My member name is ChrisR62. See You There!