mirko

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Hello, I have a 165L tank with three fish which I have had for 5 years - a black ghost knife, albino bichir and a spotted climbinb perch. I usually feed them a diet of ox heart, peas, blood worms etc. Recently I bought a small can of freshwater shrimp (not dried) from animates and it said on the can you can feed them to fish. They all loved eating them, but now my albino bichir has a serious problem. He is the smaller of the bunch and now he has a blockage. I'm guessing that the tail/exoskeleton on a shrimp has gotten caught in his digestive tract and it seems to be pushing very hard against his side and very nearly piercing his scales. There is quite a lump and the scales are poking out - yesterday there was a small white bit of "fluff" attached but it has since fallen off. I fasted him for a day, then fed him peas a few days ago. I increased the temperature to 28 - 29 degrees and this morning I bathed him in an epsom salt bath made with aquarium water and 1 tbsp of epsom salt/3.8 litres (1 gallon) for 15 minutes. Since I returned him to the tank he has been a lot more active than usual but I suppose that could be because he is stressed or in pain. I can do the epsom salt baths twice a day for the next day or so and see what happens... But I'm very worried and don't see how the shrimp can break down in his gut now, or be passed through his butt. I rang Massey vet and they couldn't help, and spoke to animates who suggested I post on some forums.. HELP!!! I love him and don't want him to suffer. My cousin is a vet so the next option is to ask him if he can perform surgery on him but I think that's pretty blimmin' challenging and probably inhumane. What to do..