help my 22 inch endli is sick

[MsMassPoly]

One of my big guys has been breathing heavy and keeps slimming.There is fish slime all over the place:(.His breathing seems to be not as fast but i still see this gross slime coming off of him.there are 27 other polys in the tank with him and they all look great.Maybe old age?Maybe he ate a rock?Any ideas.The tank is 300 gallons and i do 50 percent water changes every three days because of all the polys and i have never had any problems?I feel so bad for him:(.I added some salt did the normal water change and all i can think of now is:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

[MsMassPoly]

his breathing is fast again but i noticed he has surfaced for air and the slime is not as bad?I am baffled.Any ideas??

[andyjs]

I've got no clue. I'm very new to polys. It sounds like he may be improving thought.

[eman b115]

Oh no.....not blondie is it....Hope things work out.. dang MsMassPolly 22" WOW

[MsMassPoly]

no its not blondi,bertha,big red,or bubba its Cornelius:{,he was the very mellow male,one of the over 20 inch gang:{

[CDM]

Loosing slime coat is pretty dangerous for a bichir. I would say isolate it to a treatment tank and treat it with salt and anti-bacteria before you figure out the cause. Is there any change in the tank recently? Any new member introduced? How old is this 22" endlicheri? Btw, not sure why you do 50% every three days, I only do 25% water change each week for my 180gal. Good luck on saving it.

[MsMassPoly]

i have 28 polys and three huge arowanas and that is reason enough for the water changes and it works for me.No new fish,everyone has been in that tank for 6 monthes?I did get this endli from an older woman in my town,she said the fish was at least 15.How old do they live.I heard a long time?

[MsMassPoly]

he still hanging in there.

[jiapei]

i would say it's inner parasite and bacteria infection, it may die soon if u dont take action!
isolate and treat with medicine asap.

[michael]

weird but I noticed some type of slime floating around in my tank recently. Thought it was sperm LOL

[MsMassPoly]

ok i just learned a lesson,it looks as if the big guy ate my 8-9 inch poly sen:{ will he live or was this meal his last?why is he slimming?

[jiapei]

changing 50% water every 3 days is unreasonable and may harm ur fish no matter how many u stock..

[jiapei]

slimming is simply because of inner parasite

[MsMassPoly]

after 6 months it just gets a parasite?

[MsMassPoly]

i never heard of a rutine water change every three to four days being unhealthy?you must not keep rays.

[johnptc]

changing 50% water every 3 days is unreasonable and may harm ur fish no matter how many u stock..



:confused::confused::confused: is it better to have high nitrates ???

[MsMassPoly]

maybe he did not read there are three arowanas(30 inch,27 inch,and 25 inch)and 27 polys(7 of the polys are 18-22 inches)I feed them a bunch i like sausages so i do good water changes,I have never had a problem before?

[dbcb314]

changing 50% water every 3 days is unreasonable and may harm ur fish no matter how many u stock..
huh?

[pounder]

changing 50% water every 3 days is unreasonable and may harm ur fish no matter how many u stock..

I am very curiuos as to where you got this info from? so I guess that everybody here who are running a drip system are actually harming their fish.
I believe Neo is running a drip system and is harming his fish:nilly:
I have been changing up to 70% on my ray tank 3x a week and 100% once or twice a week on my Endli tank for a couple of yrs already with no harm.depending on your fish load some ppl have to change much more water than others.

[jlnguyen74]

All I can think is he's hurt inside from swallowing the little guy. Let's hope he can digest the lil guy. Slimming could be like human sweating

after 6 months it just gets a parasite?

Parasite always presents in tank and fish. It's just the matter of who's in charge, fish or parasite. That's why one fish could get sick, while the other is healthy, although both are in the same tank

[andyjs]

Yeah, when I raise fry, I change the water daily for a couple weeks while I'm pumping them full of food. As long as the biofilter stays intact, you could change 50% of the water every 3 hours and it shouldn't hurt anything. A good majority of the bacteria live in the actual filter media and on other surfaces. Doing water changes doesn't deplete anything other than harmful contaminants in the water.

[Infblue]

hope it manages to digest the food. the big meal may have stressed its system out. hope the senegal didn't cause any damage internally. good luck!

as for parasites, its true some internal parasites could stay in the fish for a while before causing issues and killing the fish. i know of a congicus that eventually died of tapeworms after it's been in the tank for at least over 1.5 yrs. And the worms were in the body all that time since it could only have caught it in the wild. But since you got yours from someone who's had it for many years supposedly, chances of this is very small, unless the previous owner fed unquarantined live food, i suppose.

[johnptc]

update ???

[MsMassPoly]

he stopped slimming and his breathing looks better,he even has some color coming back:)

[johnptc]

he stopped slimming and his breathing looks better,he even has some color coming back:)


:):):) :popcorn::popcorn:

[MsMassPoly]

i hope he is all better,he really looks better and the other polys are bu his side again.

Yesterday he was on his own at the other end of the tank like they left him there to die,today he is with the gang again.

[flamenco-t]

good to hear....

[quintas14]

:bs:changing 50% water every 3 days is unreasonable and may harm ur fish no matter how many u stock..:bs:

I n the words of my daughter "you make me laugh" where the hell did you get that idea from???? I have the fish in my sig in a 100ukg at the moment and none of them are particularly big and i still do 2x50% wc's a week. Nothing detrimental to the fish in the slightest...

And as for the poly he probably just eat far to much and got fish indigestion and the way he reacted was the way that alot of fish react when they're ill.
People sweat when they're ill. Cold, flu, heartburn, indigestion. It may sound stupid but if something was trapped then that is what the body reacted to. Which is proven a little bit more in the evidence that you now have of him eating a biggish fish which may well have blocked him and that is why he couldn't get air in properly either..

Good luck with the recovery ........

[MsMassPoly]

My big endli just died:cry::cry::cry:,I cut it open and found my 8 inch sen:WHOA:,I believe the problem was the fish went down backwards and was stuck in there good:(:(

[MsMassPoly]

a double burial today for me:cry::cry:

[johnptc]

a double burial today for me:cry::cry:

rip very sorry to hear :(

[likestofish]

What a pity damn shame that happened.

[MsMassPoly]

sucks!

[fugupuff]

did you get some pictures, would be interesting to see and for us to learn from...

[CHOMPERS]

Just don't flush them. They'll plug the can for weeks.

[flamenco-t]

oooh I am sorry to hear that..

stan

[MsMassPoly]

when i cut it open there was a smell that i can still smell in my apartment.I never experienced such a bad smell. i quickly got the fish outside and into the compose pile.


all you can learn is do not put smaller polys like sens in with a monster endli,even if they are fed really well.

[uwe]

Hi,

what a bad experience! Sorry for your loss!!!

You hadn't any chance to help your big endli (the sen also) - sometimes it's horribly astonishing what bichirs can do!
I think, the endli was injured internally when he ate the sen - obviously the reason for the bad smell when opening him (the injuries had been infected and caused an internal bacterial rot). Those finlets on the back are sharp ...
I've lost two bichirs over the years: One sen that couldn't stop to eat and "exploded" internally and ... an endli after 2 days. He also slimed out in a way i'd never seen before - also an internal bacterial infection, but this one was caused by hidden Macrogyrodactylus polypterii - they had hidden in his gills and damaged the gills and the immune system.
Normally those parasites are external - normally. But i found them in his gills, in his mouth, but NOT on his body!! He had been quarantined well with Praziquantel months before and did not came in contact with new bichirs in the following time. I know my dealer very well and he has enough experience to do the right things ...
Unfortunately all my other bichirs were infected with this parasite - obviously! Except the new ones i got with the endli: my lap and my weeksi.
I treated my fish and tanks with Flubenazol and after a week there were no parasites at all ... during this time my dealer contacted me and told me that there was something wrong with his endlies. Suddenly i asked him if he could see any parasites on them - no! They did not eat any more, were sliming and showing a very lethargic behaviour.
So i sent him from my Flubenazol and he treated his endlies the way i told him. After a week all the endlies (over 20!) were ok - eating, swimming ...
He sent me a very special "thank you"-present: the Teugelsi!

Maybe ... is there the possibility of an infection from new bichirs? It's a very special situation that an external parasite hides in the gills or mouth - but i've made this curious experience!
If any other bichir is showing a strange behaviour - there is a possibility of a strange internal infection of external parasites! The best you can do in this case is to medicate all your bichirs and tanks against these specific bichir parasites!
Anne had written much about the medication - i do not know if Flubenazol is allowed in the US ... but i do not trust Praziquantel anymore. I've heard from other keepers in Germany about the possibility that the parasite came back, even after months!

I've written so much words now - but i wanted to describe all the possibilities i know about the described symtoms. Other possibilities - "classic" internal parasites to name one - you could read in the other posts to the theme.

I hope your other bichirs will be healthy and that it was a tragical accident ...

Greetings

Uwe

[jiapei]

Hi,

what a bad experience! Sorry for your loss!!!

You hadn't any chance to help your big endli (the sen also) - sometimes it's horribly astonishing what bichirs can do!
I think, the endli was injured internally when he ate the sen - obviously the reason for the bad smell when opening him (the injuries had been infected and caused an internal bacterial rot). Those finlets on the back are sharp ...
I've lost two bichirs over the years: One sen that couldn't stop to eat and "exploded" internally and ... an endli after 2 days. He also slimed out in a way i'd never seen before - also an internal bacterial infection, but this one was caused by hidden Macrogyrodactylus polypterii - they had hidden in his gills and damaged the gills and the immune system.
Normally those parasites are external - normally. But i found them in his gills, in his mouth, but NOT on his body!! He had been quarantined well with Praziquantel months before and did not came in contact with new bichirs in the following time. I know my dealer very well and he has enough experience to do the right things ...
Unfortunately all my other bichirs were infected with this parasite - obviously! Except the new ones i got with the endli: my lap and my weeksi.
I treated my fish and tanks with Flubenazol and after a week there were no parasites at all ... during this time my dealer contacted me and told me that there was something wrong with his endlies. Suddenly i asked him if he could see any parasites on them - no! They did not eat any more, were sliming and showing a very lethargic behaviour.
So i sent him from my Flubenazol and he treated his endlies the way i told him. After a week all the endlies (over 20!) were ok - eating, swimming ...
He sent me a very special "thank you"-present: the Teugelsi!

Maybe ... is there the possibility of an infection from new bichirs? It's a very special situation that an external parasite hides in the gills or mouth - but i've made this curious experience!
If any other bichir is showing a strange behaviour - there is a possibility of a strange internal infection of external parasites! The best you can do in this case is to medicate all your bichirs and tanks against these specific bichir parasites!
Anne had written much about the medication - i do not know if Flubenazol is allowed in the US ... but i do not trust Praziquantel anymore. I've heard from other keepers in Germany about the possibility that the parasite came back, even after months!

I've written so much words now - but i wanted to describe all the possibilities i know about the described symtoms. Other possibilities - "classic" internal parasites to name one - you could read in the other posts to the theme.

I hope your other bichirs will be healthy and that it was a tragical accident ...

Greetings

Uwe

yes, some external parasites can get inside of fish, even the anchor worms can do so, u can find anchors in fish month and gill if the fish is infected seriously.
and msmasspol, sorry to ur loss. i thought that u r doing 50% change once every 3 days at one time, but if u mean u change water everyday and totally 50% in 3 days, i think that is ok. changing too much at one time can NEVER be good to ur fish, to keep a stable water condition is very important, especially when u keeps asian aros and rays, dont think u r the only one who keeps rays and aros, they r so common here..and we always like to overstock

[sabotage]

My big endli just died:cry::cry::cry:,I cut it open and found my 8 inch sen:WHOA:,I believe the problem was the fish went down backwards and was stuck in there good:(:(

dang girl!!!! CSI, can you determine what time it died?????