Bloated leucistic

[Turbosaurus]

Hello All,

I have about 12 young leucistic axies, about 3" long now.

One axie's belly has swollen up. Because of its color, I can look right through the skin, it appears as if its belly is one big blister filled with clear fluid, there doesn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary in the organs I can see inside this "blister" of a belly. It all appears identical to the others. The animal isn't floating. It is eating, but not with the same vigor of its tank mates.

There has never been any sign of disease with any of the young before now, they hatched about 6 months ago. They eat live black worms almost exclusively. Recently I tried pellets for the first time. They didn't eat most of them and I siphoned out the uneaten food the next morning. I was concerned that the rotting food may have caused a slight ammonia spike so I did a 60% water change (4 axies, 2.5-3" in a 10 gallon tank) and used amquel (neutralizes chlorine and ammonia) when I removed the uneaten food. I noticed the swelling occurred within 2-3 days of this new food introduction, when I went back to feeding these black worms. This tank contains the smallest 4 axies of the dozen or so I hatched. The pellets I fed to them are a high protein fish food - its actually the same food I feed my discus. Could it be too rich? Could it be the change in food?

I have been a fish keeper for about 15 years, so I am very cognizant of water quality, although my water may be too soft. This is my first attempt with axies and I raised them from eggs. Their home is bare bottom, with driftwood, and so many live plants its hard to find the axies in the tank. There is no substrate. I do not fertilize the plants.

I seriously doubt it could be any sort of intestinal blockage since there is no substrate. The only issues I can see are potentially-

Change in food, or food that is too high in protein content? It was only a single meal that I tried the change. I have 11 more axies, 8 of whom are now eating these pellets almost exclusively. None of the others in this tank or any other show any distress or swelling.

Could a slight ammonia spike, lasting less than 6-8 hours have caused this type of reaction? I am not even sure there was an ammonia spike and if there was, it would have been mild and short lived.
Could they be eating too often at every 2-3 days, and its just catching up with me now?
Could it be water that is too soft?
Too high temperatures? the tanks is probably about 22 degrees, could that be enough to make my axie sick?

Please help, this little guy looks muy uncomfortable and I am concerned for its wellbeing. I raised him/her from an egg and am quite attached to this little guy and the others. I would hate to see the others start to show the same problems. Any tips to help him or on what to avoid would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jennewt]

Some info on bloat:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/bloatEDK.shtml

It can be infectious, although in my experience this is rare. But it wouldn't hurt to quarantine.

Carnivore pellets for fish are generally good for axies. High protein is exactly what they need, so I wouldn't blame the pellets.

The combination of warm temp + ammonia spike could be enough to damage a young one. And soft water will exacerbate any tendency to retain fluid. It might help to keep this one in a weak salt solution (Holtfreter's or equivalent).