Loaches Online Forum

I got a call from my sister this morning saying that she found one of her Black Kuhli loaches bloated and floating belly up at the top of the tank. She thought he was dead but when she tried to fish him out he moved and swam around a bit. She said that his body was so full of air that his belly was translucent and looked like one of the party animal balloons. She could tell it was air inside him because there was also some water inside as well that formed the airs into large bubbles. She then humanely euthanized him because he was in a lot of distress and she didn't know what else to do.

She called me to see if I knew what it was, but I have had no experience dealing with any of that. The only problem I have had with any pangios is that I tried to rescue some from a pet store that were suffering from SEVERE salt overload, unfortunately they all died . Has anyone else seen this before? Is there anything that can be done for it? She is worried about her other Kuhli loaches.

Thanks,
Rae

Look into Dropsy.
It can take a couple of forms. I think this is the form where the fluid accumulates in the abdominal cavity, not all the cells and tissues of the whole fish.

Dropsy itself is not directly caused by a disease organisms, but us a failure of the kidneys and related organs. They can no longer remove the excess water from the fish's tissues, so the fluid accumulates.
Often this is related to some other disease that causes kidney failure.

What to do for the other fish:
Check the water parameters, and do enough water changes to keep the nitrate as low as possible, under 10 ppm if at all possible. Do not create severe changes in GH, KH or TDS while doing water changes. Test tap and tank, and do large water changes only if the tests show the tap and tank are similar. SMaller, more frequent water changes are less stressful to the fish.
Gravel vacs to remove organic wastes.
Watch the other fish for any signs of any other disease. Treat as soon as whatever it is can be identified.

I looked into dropsy and the literature didn't say anything about being air filled, just water bloated. My sister also confirmed that there were no other dropsy symptoms (Bulgy eyes, etc). She said that his belly was transparent and looked like one of the balloons that clowns make balloon animals out of and that it looked like it was about 1/8th full of water and the rest filled with air. He was also floating, belly up at the top of the tank.

Has anyone encountered anything similar.

Thanks!