Victorian Lake Fish With Sunken Belly

[SaveThemAll1]

Hi, I think he's related to Haplochromis obliquidens but don't know exactly. about 3 mouths ago iv noticed that he has a sunken belly. he was in a 250 L tank with 4 small mbuna's that I was rescued together. as they got bigger I started to determin the species and the first think I undersatnded is that he is probebly unhappy with them as they are very aggresive.So I seperted him to a temporary tank ,about 70L and monitored him closley. I also tried to fast him, change diet and treat with metronidazole, with no reaction. He has a good appetite and his poop look good but he is very skinny
water parameteres are good, 0,0,less then 20, in all times I tested.water chnges are 25% weeekly. Do you have any advice? thank you

 

[TexasDomer]

What did you feed him before the diet change, and what do you feed him now?

Can you take a pic of him?

 

[SaveThemAll1]

I fed him Sera Alagea based food for african ciclids and now I feed him a mix of dry meat based food for ciclids

 

[TexasDomer]

Good. Haps are more carnivorous, and feeding him the algae based food was very bad for him. Another reason, besides aggression, why it's not a good idea to mix haps with mbuna - their diets are very different (keep feeding the mbuna the herbivorous diet).

I would think the skinniness is due to stress from aggression and a poor diet. Hopefully he'll recover now that he's alone and on the proper diet.

What's your pH?

I would be doing a few 50% changes a week on his tank until he starts looking better. You can feed him a few times a day too, to help fatten him back up (but don't overfeed).

 

[SaveThemAll1]

Good. Haps are more carnivorous, and feeding him the algae based food was very bad for him. Another reason, besides aggression, why it's not a good idea to mix haps with mbuna - their diets are very different (keep feeding the mbuna the herbivorous diet).

I would think the skinniness is due to stress from aggression and a poor diet. Hopefully he'll recover now that he's alone and on the proper diet.

What's your pH?

I would be doing a few 50% changes a week on his tank until he starts looking better. You can feed him a few times a day too, to help fatten him back up (but don't overfeed).

Its been 3 mounths since I moved him. Stress and diet might be what caused him to start this but now it seems that its not relevant since he isn't improving. I think that he has some kind of internal paraiste or a disease.

 

[TexasDomer]

Can you answer my question about pH?

Can you take a pic of the tank he's in? It's too small for him, by the way.

 

[SaveThemAll1]

I don't know the PH and I know the tank is too small.. its temporary for treating him

 

[SaveThemAll1]

 

[TexasDomer]

Can you test the pH? For rift lake cichlids, hard water with a high pH is very important, and could cause issues if it's not appropriate.

How often do you feed?

 

[SaveThemAll1]

I feed once/twice a day and ill try to get a test kit fir ph

 

[SaveThemAll1]

I took these pics today. I'm very worried about himIn addition to the sunken belly he has those black tiny spots on his mouths and his body and this red patch near his gills. I'm starting to suspect septicemia and thinking of starting a treatment of kanamycin.
What do you think? should I try more antI parasite med or should I start with kana?

 

[TexasDomer]

Did you ever test the pH?

I don't think it's septicemia.

 

[SaveThemAll1]

Still didnt but I don't think it will mateer much. I have a substrate that is suitable for african lake ciclids and supposed to make the wate hard and alkaline and I'm doing water changes once a week with this fish alone in a 200 L tank so there's no reason for the Ph to be a problem

 

[Whitewolf]

Hexitima / TB
If its eating ya maybe try kanamycin/metronidazole and garlic food

 

[Fashooga]

It sort of does matter about the pH. If it’s not high enough fish will stress out more which leads to problems. If pH is too low the results are the same but death is faster (I’ve seen it).

If you don’t know the pH, it is what it is.

Perhaps get a box of API General Cure and go with that and see if that will resolve the sunken belly. Since this is so extreme I would recommend that you do more than 2-3 does. Watch how it eats. If it spits out the food that just means that there still a parasite. Watch for white poo, if it starts turning brown that’s a good sign.

This might take over a month for this to resolve so keep watching the fish eat and do the water changes as recommended by the medications.

 

[SaveThemAll1]

Hexamita? he isn't pooping white and iv already treated with metro

 

[SaveThemAll1]

Again he is eating, no spitting and the poop is good, in the color of his food , not white.

 

[SaveThemAll1]

Someone told me there's a coomon problem with fish that they are born with short intestines,he's saying that beacause the fish poop is looking good and he is still loosing weight that can be the problem with him Did you hear about it? he's saying that the treatment is to put food that won't rot and to leave it in the tank for all day, that way the fish can eat whenever he wants and he will absorb more nutritions. what do you think? do you suggestions for food that won't go bad for 10-12 hours in the tank?

 

[TexasDomer]

I don't think too short of intestines is a thing, though feeding him more often and longer doesn't sound like a bad idea. Just feed him multiple times a day.

 

[SaveThemAll1]

well the med that I managed to find was gyrdol by JBL ,its active ingridient is praziquantel. I'm about to try it tommorrow, did anyone has exp with this? I also ordered levamisole but it will arrive in 2 weeks

 

[TexasDomer]

Praziqantel is a safe antiparasitic.

 

[Whitewolf]

Yes I have experience with both drugs, what's the question?
The dosage for levimasole is 1/4 teaspoon per 100 gallons I believe

 

[SaveThemAll1]

your opinions and how did they worked for you

 

[Whitewolf]

Levimasole worked well, no problems whatsoever.

 

[SaveThemAll1]

Hi, Here I n update: I treated the fish with kanaplex then praziquantel and the levamisole. I also changed his food. There ws improvment, the fish belly looked less sunken and he became more colorful,however 2 days ago he started demonstarting weired behavior:he acts like he is more scared from me, it takes him more time to come and eat when I feed and he eats less,he is bumping at the glass in a specific spot and he has long narrow poop. What do you think is this?

 

[Fashooga]

What color is the poop? And I think we need to know the pH.

 

[SaveThemAll1]

the color was ok I think, like the food, maybe a bit paler then usual.. about PH I don't have a test kit for it, I do have rocks and garvel that suitable for african making the water mor hard and alkaline

 

[Fashooga]

That’s assuming that the rock you have is enough to hold the pH. Typically a QT shouldn’t have any gravel because you can’t see what the poop looks like. If it was bare bottom it be much easier to see the poop.

As for the shyness and crashing around, one of the signs that pH is a problem is crashing around and bumping into things like a bull in a china shop. If pH is too low it’s going to start to hide, it knows something isn’t right.

It’s good that it’s showing improvement with the sunken belly slowly being filled.

 

[SaveThemAll1]

is it typicall to do it in the eact same place? I was thinking that maybe he is "attacking" he's reflaction beacause he is doing this in the same side of the glass where you can best see a reflection

 

[yukondog]

You really need to know the PH, pet smart, pet co and other pet shops will test your water for free.

 

[SaveThemAll1]

I have JBL stick.. that's also what the LFS here uses.. I can test with this but I don't know if its reliable

 

[TexasDomer]

Can you test it please? We've been asking a lot.

Sounds like he's stressed and scared if he's hitting the glass. Make sure there are lots of rocks in the tank to give him some caves.

 

[SaveThemAll1]

GH was 7d KH was between 6 to 10 d and PH was between 7.2 to 7.6

 

[TexasDomer]

I'd increase your GH - at least by double.

 

[SaveThemAll1]

why and how?

 

[Whitewolf]

You can use crushed coral or limestone rocks in the substrate

 

[TexasDomer]

Because your water isn't hard enough for the rift lake cichlids. Water that is too soft for them causes health issues. You can also dose something like Seachem's Equilibrium.