Sunken In Stomach

[Cichlidcrazy]

Hi, I've noticed my fish are starting to have a sunken in belly. This one especially has it really bad. He's had it for a while but cant find any cure or what it really is. Please help I'm really worried to bnb lose so many!

 

[endlercollector]

Oh, no! So sorry to hear that your fish have been sick. I would euthanize any that have this illness. It looks like a mycobacterial infection. I hate to say that I've had no luck treating it. Please use gloves, avoid getting your hands wet with the tank water, especially if you have any cuts. Get 70% rubbing alcohol and spray down all your impermeable surfaces to help avoid spreading it. Keep an eye on the survivors--with very good water and food, some can live with the mycobacteria but will be carriers, so you'll want to avoid adding new fish to this tank. Once everyone eventually passes on, I would do a complete tear down and use the rubbing alcohol liberally on all the equipment.

 

[Fashooga]

Yours is a pretty extreme case. You can try to QT it and use a drug like API General Cure that treats internal parasite. I have a JD that had early signs of sunken belly. I was able to treat him with APIGC. Took about 2-3 weeks but he’s doing quite well now.

Knock on wood.

 

[Cichlidcrazy]

Wow sounds like I may lose almost half my stock definitely not what I was hoping to hear

 

[Cichlidcrazy]

Have you guys heard of this? Metronidazole

Can I treat the whole tank with it

 

[Fashooga]

Any drug that has the metronidazole might help. You will need a lot of the stuff. If half your stock has it I would treat the tank. Expect losses, some of them might not be able to be saved.

Follow the instructions to the t.

 

[Cichlidcrazy]

They are all eating really well and behave like normal. I've read they may just not be fat like what a lot of us are use too. Is there a definite way to tell?

 

[Cichlidcrazy]

Here are pictures of the three that are acting funny. The red orange one had really bad cloudy eye and ripped fins and I separated and treated him and he recovered well and his fins grew back but no he has this stomach also. All the fish eat fine and even these three and I have yet seen white poop from any in the main tank. The separated ones are in a clear no gravel tank so I hope to see soon.

 

[Cichlidcrazy]

Would it be better to treat the tank or soak the nls pellets with the medication?

 

[Fashooga]

I treat the tank first. Do about 3 rounds of treatment and see if they’re still pooping white poo. You may need to do more than 3 treatments to see results.

 

[Cichlidcrazy]

I still haven't seen white poop

 

[Cichlidcrazy]

May be a dumb question but should I turn the uv light off on the filter?