When healthy fish stop eating...

The one sickness I can never manage to save a fish from is when a healthy, active fish just stops eating. I can never seem to find an exact answer as to why this happens. I currently have a Keyhole Cichlid that I have had since May 2020. She has always been active, always goes frantic when I feed the tank and has no visible signs of illness. Never been a shy fish, is always at the front of the tank when I am in the area and always actively moving around the tank. As of 2 days ago, she is now sitting at the bottom, front of the tank and will not eat. I have offered frozen blood worms, brine shrimp and bug bites. She is in an established tank, all water parameters were perfect yesterday but I still went ahead and did a water change. I added in some stress guard just to see if that may help. She is not in a tank with any fish that could have her intimidated, she's currently housed in a 20 long with sparkling gourami and corydoras. She's still small, only about 2 - 2.5 inches in length. She's been in this setup with the same fish for 4 months. If anything she runs the tank. The tank is fairly heavily planted. As of this morning she is now breathing heavier as well. All other fish are completely normal and I still see no visible signs of any cause.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: between 10 - 15 yesterday, did water change now appears between 5 - 10
Temperature stays a steady 78 degrees
The tank has a sponge filter so there's plenty of water movement on the surface.
Diet: I feed a variety of Bug Bites, frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp, New Life Spectrum flakes, Omega One veggie mini pellets and Hikari freeze dried blood worms
Only thing I have added to the water is Seachem Prime and a dose of Seachem Stress Guard yesterday.

Just to mention, she does have an eye that seems to have some type of genetic issue. She has had this since I got her when she was about an inch long. At that time, back in the spring of 2020, I treated with General Cure, Prazipro, Ich X and Erythromycin to no avail. After months of research I finally came to the conclusion that Keyhole Cichlids seem to be prone to this defect on their eyes. It has never been an issue so I do not see how that would correlate but wanted to mention just in case.

 

Is she constipated? Try feeding daphnia or cooked peeled peas and see if she'll take it and if it helps.

 

She doesn't look bloated at all and I have not seen any weird poop.

I will try the peas and see if it helps. I will provide an update of how it goes.

Thank you!

 

It's honestly the only thing I can think of. Hopefully she gets better.

 

What a beautiful fish. Don't be too quick to dose with medication.... never a good thing to use meds if you don't know what your dealing with first. Addressing the basics as you have done, water, temp, fish compatibility first. Water changes and salt are always my first go to. What is your tank PH? Have you observed your fish's bowel habits... stringy, white, regular fece's?
Possible it's constipation. Some use epson salts to treat as it is a laxative and muscle relaxant. I don't know if I would treat the tank as it can raise GH, won't hurt the plants though. You don't want to use it long term. The most informative info I can find is a betta bath/dip of 1TB Epson Salts to 1 gallon of tank water.. leave fish for 15 to 30 mins. If the fish becomes stressed or relieves its self return to tank promptly. Always remember moving fish, catching and returning them is stressful in it's self. Another option would be to soak the food in Epson Salts if the fish was still eating, assuming the fish is bloated. Maybe just wait and watch a bit longer. I hope things change for this lovely fish.

 

My first suspecion is a first sign of flagelates (HITH).

 

My first suspecion is a first sign of flagelates (HITH).

Flagellates are intestinal parasites unrelated to HITH. Though it could be Flagellates. Could also be camallanus, which also starts with appetite loss.

 

To me Hexamita are flagelates which cause HITH.

 

They are not very closely related. But in any case, could be both, still.

 

It's honestly the only thing I can think of. Hopefully she gets better.

Unfortunately, no luck. I couldn't get her to take the peas. Thank you for the suggestion though! Maybe she will start to improve, but as of now, her breathing looks heavier this morning.

What a beautiful fish. Don't be too quick to dose with medication.... never a good thing to use meds if you don't know what your dealing with first. Addressing the basics as you have done, water, temp, fish compatibility first. Water changes and salt are always my first go to. What is your tank PH? Have you observed your fish's bowel habits... stringy, white, regular fece's?
Possible it's constipation. Some use epson salts to treat as it is a laxative and muscle relaxant. I don't know if I would treat the tank as it can raise GH, won't hurt the plants though. You don't want to use it long term. The most informative info I can find is a betta bath/dip of 1TB Epson Salts to 1 gallon of tank water.. leave fish for 15 to 30 mins. If the fish becomes stressed or relieves its self return to tank promptly. Always remember moving fish, catching and returning them is stressful in it's self. Another option would be to soak the food in Epson Salts if the fish was still eating, assuming the fish is bloated. Maybe just wait and watch a bit longer. I hope things change for this lovely fish.

Thank you! She has always had such a cute personality too!

Thank you for the recommendation.

My city water runs a low PH, it comes from the tap under 7. I did just test it to make sure there was nothing going on and it looks normal, 6.6-6.8. For a Keyhole that should be right in the middle of their requirements.

As far as I know, she hasn't had any abnormal poops. This tank is in my home office so I see it regularly during the day. Although, that still doesn't mean I didn't miss something.

I will pick up some epsom salt today and try giving her a bath dip. She is moving around a little more this morning but her breathing is much heavier. Compared to my other fish, she has always been the least to stress out. I only say this because she turns almost black when she stresses! Moving her in the past hasn't appeared to hard on her as far as stress. Maybe the bath will be more beneficial than harm. I'll be sure to update.

Flagellates are intestinal parasites unrelated to HITH. Though it could be Flagellates. Could also be camallanus, which also starts with appetite loss.

My first suspecion is a first sign of flagelates (HITH).

I have not dealt with HITH or Camallanus before. Are there any other signs that would help to accurately diagnose?

The symptoms I am reading online for both aren't giving me any reason to suspect either. At this point she still has only stopped eating but not appearing emancipated. Granted, this is only day 4 and that could very well change.

As for any of the other symptoms I am finding online, she doesn't appear to be showing any signs as of now.

Thanks for the help!

 

Ok, I think I may have more symptoms showing up!

She has always been one to dig in the sand and have sand particles stick to her. So at first glance, that's what I thought this was. After observing her for 15-20 minutes straight I realized this is not sand. Especially after recording her with my phone and zooming in on these spots. As you can tell from the picture I took of her yesterday, this was not there. This would have only became visible after yesterday evening. See pics attached. I tried to zoom in on the pics as much as possible. One of them almost looks like it's hairy? I don't see it anywhere else except her face area. Would this be HITH? The pics I am seeing online look more like lesions to me. I feel like it appears almost like anchor worms but they look much smaller than pictures I am finding online. Maybe very tiny anchor worms?

**The white spot on her eye, I doubt, is related. That is her eye that I am pretty sure has some sort of genetic informality. Read original post for more info.

 

Starting to think my fear is getting real grrrr.

 

Oh, blast!
That really seems to be HITH...

 

Will it affect tank mates? What's the best/proven coarse of treatment?

Bonus points for how she may have developed this? haha

 

Left the house for 4 hours, returned and the spots have appeared all over her. Would HITH spread this fast? It also seems like some of the spots from earlier are now gone. No local stores have any of the metronidazole medications in stock. Amazon has MetroPlex that can be here Sunday. I don't know if she will make it until Sunday, honestly. Her breathing is extremely heavy at this point. I have Ich-X and Prazipro on hand. Open to suggestions for what I could try between now and Sunday.

All of the causes for HITH I have found online don't seem to be an issue. I keep a strict schedule on the maintenance and never run any carbon, the tank only has a sponge filter. I'm at a loss...

 

It looks like Ich. You have IchX, that's a good start! You will have to treat the whole tank and all the other fish... if it's live planted, salt and heat will be too hard on the plants. Cory's can be sensitive too. Just don't overdose.
Or....
Tanks without live plants.
You don't have to move your fish to treat ICH, generally one treats the whole tank.
Most fish keepers try heat alone first and find this method is very satisfactory at controlling ICH.

Warmer water does not carry oxygen so be sure to use an air stone, that will help with fish stress and breathing. Temperature should be raised slowiy 1-2 degrees an hour until the desired is achieved, going up too fast will stress the fish. Watch your thermometer and don't go beyond 86 degrees. Corydoras get very listless with heat, this is normal... feed the fish good while they are being treated. Extend the treatment 1 week after the spots on your fish have disappeared to completely eradicate ICH. Using heat it can be used up to 2 weeks and then slowly decreased. The ICH cycle is 2 weeks from start to finish.

With salt it depends on what type of fish you have, as some scaleless fish are sensitive to it. More experience aquarists who use salt with loaches and catfish know the signs and use it carefully. For most other fish it is ok as long as it is diluted first and added gradually every few hrs. 1 tsp per gallon. Aquarium salt or pickling salt, not iodized.
Use either salt or meds but not both, not good to put your fish through the stress of both at once. Remember salt is hard on live plants. I might use some carbon to get rid of the medication before switching to salt.

Gravel vac every day with a small water change, when the parasite is off the fish and free swimming it can fall into the gravel... small water changes are helpful at this time. If you take out a gallon or 2 replace the salt. When the treatment is finished, a 50% water change then go back to your regular weekly changes.

Always quarantine any new fish before going into your main tank!

 

Agree with Elkwatcher it looks more like Ich now. Think it is strange it started with the head. Did it flash ?

 

Majority of the spots from yesterday afternoon have disappeared. She now has a red line under her dorsal fin near her tail fin. She still has spots on her head that have the thread like appearance of the beginning stages of HITH. I have not had that much experience with sick fish, I have been lucky in that department. So I don't know if it's lack of experience on my part or if this fish is from the Twilight Zone but every time I look into the tank, a symptom has disappeared and a new symptom has appeared.

There are no white spots on any of her fins nor were there yesterday. All spots appeared within hours. No other fish in the tank have a single spot on them. I'm not saying it's not Ich, I just haven't seen Ich that starts like this case. Plus with all of her other symptoms, maybe the Ich is a side effect of the more serious problem? I also have no idea what could have changed to bring all of this on, nothing has changed with this tank in months and the tank receives weekly water changes.

I will treat the tank now for Ich-X. I ordered some General Cure from Amazon with tomorrows delivery date. Today all I have is Ich-X so mine as well try it since she's still alive. If she's still alive tomorrow I can also try the general cure.

 

At this point, I am just updating the progression. Today she looks more like the day before yesterday. Only a few spots near her eyes and mouth. Still very heavy breathing, not eating and staying at the bottom of the tank. Only moving occasionally throughout the day. I haven't been able to check the red line near her dorsal fin today, so far I am only getting a clear view of her opposite side.

Dosed the tank with Ich-X yesterday. Waiting on delivery of General Cure sometime in the next few hours. Plan to remove her from the tank into her own isolation tank. Will dose isolation tank with Ich-x and General Cure to see if she shows any sign of improvement.

No other inhabitants in the tank are showing any signs of illness.

 

You can send general cure directly retour. Broadband meds are underdosed. Only stresses the fish and doesn't do anything. As it definitely has ich, you have to dose the main tank, though. It can take some days until the other fish show dots. Also catching and moving it can make it just worse, because the procedure will also stress the other fish.
Just keep the Ich-ex treatment up and wait. That's all you can do anyways. Patience.

 

At this point, I am just updating the progression. Today she looks more like the day before yesterday. Only a few spots near her eyes and mouth. Still very heavy breathing, not eating and staying at the bottom of the tank. Only moving occasionally throughout the day. I haven't been able to check the red line near her dorsal fin today, so far I am only getting a clear view of her opposite side.

Dosed the tank with Ich-X yesterday. Waiting on delivery of General Cure sometime in the next few hours. Plan to remove her from the tank into her own isolation tank. Will dose isolation tank with Ich-x and General Cure to see if she shows any sign of improvement.

No other inhabitants in the tank are showing any signs of illness.

View attachment 742500

Now I am puzzled even more.

These spots look quite big don't they ?

Do other fish show spots ?

 

Now I am puzzled even more.

These spots look quite big don't they ?

Do other fish show spots ?

It doesn't look like ich

 

It doesn't look like ich

nope

 

Now I am puzzled even more.

These spots look quite big don't they ?

Do other fish show spots ?

I missed that post on my mobile. They really look big. On the other hand, it's a relatively small young specimen, I'f I'm not mistaken.

 

The spots she has now don’t look like Ich to me at all. She only had spots that resembled Ich for a few hours and that was 2 days ago. Today the spots are much larger than typical Ich and have that thread like appearance again.

No other fish have any signs. They are all eating and behaving normal, none of them have any spots. The main tank is dosed with Ich-X, just in case.

I had already moved her and dosed her water with General Cure before reading any of the recent responses. She doesn’t seem any more stressed from the move. Her color looks better now than right before I moved her. She was starting to look pale and now she has her normal coloring. She’s been in there for about 3 hours and she does seem to be responding to me when I come check on her. She hasn’t acknowledged my presence in days, which is not her normal behavior. Granted, it could be that I am wishful thinking and just wanting to believe she’s improving.

 

??? I agree those are big spots. Is the appetite improving?

 

??? I agree those are big spots. Is the appetite improving?

Nope, she died that first night after I dosed the General Cure. Still at a loss as to what caused her to decline so rapidly with all those symptoms. All other fish that were in the tank with her, still completely normal and doing fine. I am assuming it wasn't contagious but still keeping a close eye on the tank.

I was convinced the Keyhole had some genetic abnormalities, I truly believe that's what caused her her eye issue. Maybe this was related to that in some way.

 

Nope, she died that first night after I dosed the General Cure. Still at a loss as to what caused her to decline so rapidly with all those symptoms. All other fish that were in the tank with her, still completely normal and doing fine. I am assuming it wasn't contagious but still keeping a close eye on the tank.

I was convinced the Keyhole had some genetic abnormalities, I truly believe that's what caused her her eye issue. Maybe this was related to that in some way.

So sorry for your loss crystalmemphis. I have had a few GBR cichlids that presented with inside strange looking tumours. It was suggested due to genetic's, related to poor breeding. Since breeding my own I have learned how hardy they can be though. We learn from these mistakes which is a good thing.