First wouldn't eat, now bloated and isn't moving much

[w_hagg]

I don't believe he is in urgent condition, but this is my juvenile golden, King. Ive been trying to feed him and his brother (both abt 5 months, 4 inches long) half a red wiggler (chopped into small bits) every day to put on some weight, but he started refusing them about 4-5 days ago. His brother will still eat them with gusto, so i chalked it up to not having a taste for them. I tried blanching and using a separate container to feed but to no avail.

As he was getting rather skinny, i decided to feed him a tiny bit of chicken after various sources ok'd it. He finally kept the food down but wouldn't eat more than one bit, Whereas his brother ate his usual worm and a piece of chicken.

Here's the issue though: despite his brother eating nearly twice as him and being fine, king has become very bloated today and hasnt left the bottom of my tank. Hes moved slightly around the bottom to find shade, but i noticed him struggling to swim to the surface which is very unusual.

Did he just eat too much on an empty stomach? Or is this a more serious issue?

 

[w_hagg]

Hard to get a good photo since he's hiding, here are some more

 

[Binditheaxolotl]

What are all you parameters? Temperature? Dechlorinator? It that gravel you are keeping him on? He may be impacted. They shouldn’t be on sand until they are 5-6 inches and never on gravel.

 

[w_hagg]

What are all you parameters? Temperature? Dechlorinator? It that gravel you are keeping him on? He may be impacted. They shouldn’t be on sand until they are 5-6 inches and never on gravel.

the water is definitely dechlorinated and parameters are fine. ppm is 0 for both, pH is ~7.7. temp is 65 atm. I believe it's black sand, if not very very fine gravel. He's had no issue with it in the past two weeks

 

[Binditheaxolotl]

the water is definitely dechlorinated and parameters are fine. ppm is 0 for both, pH is ~7.7. temp is 65 atm. I believe it's black sand, if not very very fine gravel. He's had no issue with it in the past two weeks

What do you feed? Everything else sounds good, what are your nitrates? What dechlorinator do you use? He may have impaction due to the gravel, since he’s only 4 inches. I would tub him for now, And fridge, in case he’s impacted

 

[Calgarycoppers]

What do you mean for both?
There are 3 parameters - Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate.
If Nitrate is 0 it means you likely have an uncycled tank and could very well be having ammonia issues.

Sick lotls need to be tubbed in Prime treated cold water approx 10 degrees and changed twice a day. You may have sand impaction on that baby.

the water is definitely dechlorinated and parameters are fine. ppm is 0 for both, pH is ~7.7. temp is 65 atm. I believe it's black sand, if not very very fine gravel. He's had no issue with it in the past two weeks

 

[w_hagg]

What do you feed? Everything else sounds good, what are your nitrates? What dechlorinator do you use? He may have impaction due to the gravel, since he’s only 4 inches. I would tub him for now, And fridge, in case he’s impacted

He's in fridge for now, put him in this morning. I feed them live red wigglers that I cut into fourths. The dechlorinator i use is API tap water conditioner. Tank is fully cycled.

 

[Binditheaxolotl]

He's in fridge for now, put him in this morning. I feed them live red wigglers that I cut into fourths. The dechlorinator i use is API tap water conditioner. Tank is fully cycled

Good, but what are the nitrates? API Tap water conditioner is good. If you have things that may go bad in the fridge, you can also use frozen water bottles to get the temperature down to 10, you just need to use multiple.

 

[w_hagg]

Good, but what are the nitrates? API Tap water conditioner is good. If you have things that may go bad in the fridge, you can also use frozen water bottles to get the temperature down to 10, you just need to use multiple.

nitrates - under 20; nitrites - 0; pH 7.6-7.7

 

[Binditheaxolotl]

nitrates - under 20; nitrites - 0; pH 7.6-7.7

Good! Everything looks great. If you can order Repashy grub pie, that will help with his impaction a lot. If not he will clear out on his own hopefully.

 

[w_hagg]

Good! Everything looks great. If you can order Repashy grub pie, that will help with his impaction a lot. If not he will clear out on his own hopefully.

Thanks so much! any idea how long he'll need to be fridged?

 

[Binditheaxolotl]

Thanks so much! any idea how long he'll need to be fridged?

It varies, until he passes all of the stones. I have no idea how long it could take, but I’m pretty sure it’s relatively quick, maybe a week? He should past most, if not all in that time