# Other Aquarium Forums > Fish Care, Nutrition and Water Management >  cherry barb with bloated stomach

## chek

2 of my female cherry barbs have developed a big belly. At first I thought they are pregnant but its been a few weeks already and they're still the same. Other than that, they look healthy though. Any wise words from the forum?

may *thanks*

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## benny

Perhaps they are just gravid and ready for spawning. What would be best is to have a picture to let us give you better advice. Otherwise, it's anyone's guess. That one statement you give doesn't give us a lot to work with.

Cheers,

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## bryan

Are the scales flared? If they are, its likely dropsy.

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## Quixotic

There is also a high possibility that it's dropsy/bloat. Actually, they need some amount of vegetable matter in their diet. In my humble experience, they can be prone to dropsy/bloat due to high protein food.

It would be good to have a clear picture of the fish in question, otherwise it's just educated quesses.

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## Interestor

Dropsy cant servive for weeks  :Jump for joy: 


CHeers..

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## illumnae

might just be overfeeding

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## chek

Thks all

agree that its unlikely to be dropsy cos the fishes behave normally and have been like that for many weeks. anyway here's some pictures.

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## Quixotic

Actually dropsy (Ascites) is a symptom rather than a disease itself. So there can be acute or chronic dropsy, and some fishes may survive for weeks.

_See_ Wikipedia, Fish Dropsy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_Dropsy (as of Nov. 18, 2007, 11:08 GMT).



> This disease is characterised by a swollen or hollow abdomen (Ascites). A concentration of fluid in the body tissues and cavities causes the fish's abdomen to become swollen and appear bloated. Swollen areas *may* exhibit a 'pine-cone' appearance caused by the fishes scales sticking out.


Many aquarists mistaken dropsy with the 'pine-cone' appearance only, but any swollen/bloated abdomen can also be dropsy (note the word "may" in the Wikipedia citation). It is also assumed that dropsy is incurable, but this is not true. It can be curable if it is caused by bacterial infection and detected early, but treatment can be difficult. And by the time the 'pine-cone' appearance appears, it is almost at the incurable stage. That said...

chek, the fishes in the pictures seem to be just being overfed. In case of Ascites, the stomach will show an unnatural bloat. The bloat on your fishes' stomachs don't seem to be unnatural.

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## illumnae

the fish just look like they've been overfed to me as well. i've seen similar looking ones before that became normal after feeding was cut back

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## zoli

I have a female rosy barb that is bloated just like that, maybe even more. It's been like that for months with no change. Doesn't show any abnormal behaviour. Seems happy and very active, so I guess it could be overfeeding or something. They do get alot of vegetables in their diet though, but alot of proteins also.

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## chek

thanks, looks like I have 2 greedy fishes then.

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## trident

Looks like a case of over feeding, stop feeding for 2-3 days and see what happens.
If they are really bloated due to constipation, a large dose of epsom salt should purge everything out.

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