19 replies to this topic

[drukqs2369]

i got a small venustus the other day and when i put him in the tank i noticed his stomach was a little sucked in & it's made me paranoid ever since cause i remember by old boss saying that it's a sign of some disease & he pointed out a whole tank in the same store as i got this little guy from where all the fish had it..

and i sware a few more of my fish look like theyre stomachs are sucked in a little..


what is this & how do i know if this is really what he has & how do i cure it!!!

[gibbs]

What diet are they on? Are they all Malawi's?
Sometimes in fish shops some fish struggle to get food due to over crowded tanks and as a result they hollow out a bit. Not a good look.
What is your feeding routine?

[drukqs2369]

nah green terrors, jack dempsy, 1 peacock & rainbow sharks, i only just started the tank up pretty much but theyve had a few mealworms, blood worms, cichlid pellets and fed about every 2 days.. im going to slow down on the feeding tho

the venustus has been feed well since i got him but his stomach still is sucked in quite abit, it just doesnt look right...

[Cawdor]

Be very careful with the feeding of worms to cichlids - it often leads to bloat. If at all, it should be a little treat every few weeks only, to minimise the risk of your fish getting bloat.

[drukqs2369]

could that perhaps be why my baby oscar died today?

he's had quite a few over the past few days :/

[gibbs]

I believe blood worms can be fed to SA/CA cichlids, am i correct? I wouldn't feed land based animals to any fish try to keep the diet as natural as possible.
It is not reccommended at all to feed bloodworms, beef etc to Malawi's, as it often leads to bloat like Cawdor said. What is good for american's is bad for malawi's.
Is it just 1 fish with the problem or a few? May be parasite but i would first setup a good diet before i started any meds.

By the way what are your water parameters? It may be a factor and unsuitable for africans.

Steven

[drukqs2369]

im going to take a sample in tomorrow to get it tested

ph should be pretty spot on and temp is about 28

[Iamsam]

you said you'r aquarium has only just been started, how long has the tank been set-up? and what are your ammonia nitrite and nitrate level's? if the tank is new and there is already that many fish in there i would guess the ammoina is up and that is what would have killed the oscar, however as for the sunken stomach, as the others suggested it may just be from not getting enough food, so try and fatten him up with some good quality food, NLS etc. and if that dosen't work it may have a problem, ie parasites or worms which may need treating.

[drukqs2369]

i bought the tank off some one out the quokka, i used alot of the original tank water to set it up but yea you could be right, im gonna get it looked at tomorrow

[Iamsam]

only problem is that water holds very little good bacteria, most of it will live in the filter, and a small amount of it the gravel etc. did u clean the filters out at all?

[drukqs2369]

yea my mate kinda opened it up and cleaned it under the kitchen sink.. which is bad cause that would have killed all the bacteria.. although the whole thing was surprisingly very clean considering the guys tank looks like it hadnt been properly cleaned in a long time.. lots of shit under the gravel ect

[drukqs2369]

okay so now the venustus is dead & my baby green terrors stomach is really sucked in...

it's some kind of parasite obviously.. now i need to find how to treat it & actually what it is

[Iamsam]

Have you tested the water yet? and what are the results?
what are you feeding the fish and how regularly?
you should be able to go to any lfs and they should stock a parasite or worming treatment that should fix that problem

[drukqs2369]

yea i got it tested, everything was fine, ph was high but that's normal.. the amonia levels were quite high but thats probably due to it being a fairly new tank setup, so ive done a 50 water change & ill do another one in another 4 days after that

the guys gave me some meds for it to kill the parasites, hopfully it'll do the job, i just put 1/4 of a pill in their food and dropped the rest in the tank.. cant see there stomachs sucked in anymore cause they all got fat food guts right now

[Cawdor]

so what meds did you get?

[drukqs2369]

im not entirely sure, they just gave me 2 dissolvable white pills...

they said they were for internal parasites & that it should take care of it within a few days

[drukqs2369]

just wanna add that im pretty sure it's all worked already.. there stomachs are completely back to normal !

[drukqs2369]

I wouldn't feed land based animals to any fish try to keep the diet as natural as possible.

but it's like my life long dream to feed a mouse to a fish big enough to eat it!

[gibbs]

lol mine to. But none of the fish i keep as large as they get will ever eat a mouse. If you import pirana's let me know please.

Your fish were probably dying of ammonia poisoning, chances are you maye still lose a few more yet. I hope not but.

Just for reference what meds are your fish on, just so i know what helps clear it up

[drukqs2369]

im actually really unsure weather it's worked.. i used another treatment the aquarium shop gave me fluke & tapeworm tablets (praziquantel) & i treated but my peacock still looks real bad, his stomach is really sucked in

i spotted shitloads of fish in that store with the disease, i think im going to stay away from that shop for a while