Throwing in the White Flag...

NorCal

Exodon
MFK Member
Mar 20, 2015
77
0
21
Marina, CA
Ok, so it's been a long 5 months or so with my 40 gal long cichlid tank. I'm ready to throw in the white flag and start from scratch. Very Long story kind of short... Set-up tank after a couple year break, fully cycled, added 5 mbuna (everything good for over a month), added 4 more mbuna (mistake! Didn't quarintine new fish), fish acting normal till I started noticing white feces a lack of appetite and a dead fish all within a week, returned the first dead guy along with the other 3 that were purchased together (sick or not), after long Google hours of reading later I concluded bloat and treated the tank with the original 5 mbuna in it with API general cure (metro,praziquantel) and Epsom salt, lost all my fish anyway within a 3 week period (except my pleco, he's the only fish that's lived), so I figured what ever killed these guys died with my mbuna, treated tank with one round API did 60% WC and went out and bought me 5 assorted Lake T cichlids, same story, started with white feces then lack of appetite then heavy breathing then dead fish. Tried everything from Epsom salt to the Clout bomb with no success. Clout actually helped the first day but I think killed them in excess (on day 4 of the 6 day "bloat" treatment with clout). Went to my LFS and the guy there specializes in cichlids. He said he never heard or had such a problem. Suggested I tank out anything that wasn't meant for the tank (rocks, wood, etc) and made me up a cocktail that "fish shop keepers" use to treat a broad spectrum of illness. So now on my 3rd set of cichlid I decide to give mbuna another chance, added 4 and all good for a week, added 2 Haps a week later all good, added 2 Blue something (can't remember the name of them) a week after and all good. In the clear right? Wrong. For the past month I've been combatting the white feces internal super parasite of some sort with the General Cure and epsom salt. I have lost 3 mbuna so far with the fourth on his way out. Have been doing 50-80% WC every 3-4 days but Im ready to let nature take its course. I've soaked pellets in Epsom salt and the API General Cure as a last attempt since 4 of the 6 remaining guys are still eating.

I figure I've gave it my all and did what I can for these guys. If they all die as the past sets I will be sanitizing my entire tank and starting over.

The reason I'm posting here is get some thoughts on what it is and what've you done to treat similar illness?

for the record water has been kept clean and up to par the entire time 0 Amonia 0 Nitrite 5-20 Nitrate 8-8.2 PH

any and all input is encouraged. By the way hi guys I'm new to this forum.
 

ragin_cajun

Silver Tier VIP
MFK Member
Sep 8, 2013
2,757
996
1,600
53
South Louisiana
Sounds like Hex to me. It's what I've been dealing with last few weeks. White poop, then they quit eating. I don't see bloat, but I have CA cichlids, not Africans.

I've had good results with Epsom salt--15 grams Epsom salt per 500 mL of water. I soak freeze dried krill on it. Feed twice a day. Fish that won't eat, I syringe it down their throat with a plastic tube. If it comes out their gills, no good try again--it's gotta go down tbe throat and into the stomach.

Mine are getting better, but it's a daily treatment thing for a week or two.

You could go to jehmco.com and buy powdered Metronidazole, try soaking food in that. Treat the water with it too.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 

NorCal

Exodon
MFK Member
Mar 20, 2015
77
0
21
Marina, CA
Sounds like Hex to me. It's what I've been dealing with last few weeks. White poop, then they quit eating. I don't see bloat, but I have CA cichlids, not Africans.

I've had good results with Epsom salt--15 grams Epsom salt per 500 mL of water. I soak freeze dried krill on it. Feed twice a day. Fish that won't eat, I syringe it down their throat with a plastic tube. If it comes out their gills, no good try again--it's gotta go down tbe throat and into the stomach.

Mine are getting better, but it's a daily treatment thing for a week or two.

You could go to jehmco.com and buy powdered Metronidazole, try soaking food in that. Treat the water with it too.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
yeah not one of my fish has bloated up at all. If anything they loose weight from not eating and seems like they suffocate to death. Oxygen in the tank is good too so yeah I'm stumped. The Genral Cure has mainly metro in it and states it cures Hex so we'll see if it works. I'm thinking my guys are too small for the syringe, only about 2.5 inches. I want to say the ones eating are improving because they show no other symptoms other than the white feces and 50% of the time it comes out normal not white and stringy.

Any idea how long I should feed the metro/ Epsom salt soaked food for?

been feeding soaked NLS pellets in the API/ Epsom salt mix with garlic juice I seen online some where for about 6 days now.
 

ragin_cajun

Silver Tier VIP
MFK Member
Sep 8, 2013
2,757
996
1,600
53
South Louisiana
How long depends on the fish. I had one fish get it real bad, then he got beat up because he was so sick he could barely move. I hit him with the syringe once, he was eating the next day. 3 days later he healed up from his beating completely, he was hitting pellets at the top of the water--miraculous recovery. I have 4 other fish I've been feeding epsom salt soaked food twice a day for over a week, and they're just today and last night starting to eat well. and 2 of them weren't that sick when I quarantined them. Depends on the fish.

The smallest fish I put the syringe to was about 3-4 inches. I don't use the syringe if they'll eat. Mine almost all quit eating. Seems like they quit eating first, you start to wonder what's wrong with them, then a day or 2 later you see the stringy poop. By then, they won't eat anything, so I have to syringe them. But 2 or 3 times with the syringe, they start eating again, so it's all just soaked food after that.
 

NorCal

Exodon
MFK Member
Mar 20, 2015
77
0
21
Marina, CA
Nice. Might have to get a syringe for my non eaters. Appreciate the help rajin_cajan I'll give it a go. I'm hoping they pull thru because they're all nice looking but have accepted the fact they might not make it. We'll see. Only time will tell.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 

duanes

MFK Moderators
Staff member
Moderator
MFK Member
Jun 7, 2007
20,938
26,161
2,910
Isla Taboga Panama via Milwaukee
The problem I find with these opportunistic infections is that once they become established in a tank, they are very hard to eradicate. I'm not sure if its because they have become antibiotic resistant, or that they have the ability to remain dormant for long stretches without a host.
I just had a bout with one of these that appeared as a secondary infection after a successful ich cure.
I ended up euthanizing a half the fish in the tank, rather than prolonging the inevitable and then using hydrogen peroxide to oxidize whatever bacteria was left in the tank.
If it were me, before putting any new fish in, I'd pour a quart of hydrogen peroxide in the tank, and a few days later after a major water change and vac, I'd do it again, maybe even a third time.
The pleco could be an asymptomatic carrier, and if it lives thru the oxidation, that's good luck, if not, it may be the price paid to rid the tank of a stubborn bacterial scourge.
I feel lucky half my fish survived, and seem to be healing well.
 

NorCal

Exodon
MFK Member
Mar 20, 2015
77
0
21
Marina, CA
Whatever is in the tank is on its 3rd set of fish so yeah that's why I'm throwing in the flag if it kills these guys. I plan on doing the hydrogen peroxide thing and starting over once and if these guys die. Never felt with anything like it before. I have a 10 gal tank I'd throw the pleco in when the time comes to begin fresh in the 40. I'm still just at a loss to how it came to this. The wonders of fish keeping I suppose.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 

duanes

MFK Moderators
Staff member
Moderator
MFK Member
Jun 7, 2007
20,938
26,161
2,910
Isla Taboga Panama via Milwaukee
Sometimes it seems best to work on only the ones that appear to be recoverable.
The 2ndary infection that hit my tank after the bout of ich, while not species specific, hit some fish harder than others.

It became so severe in the Guianacara, I put all 9 of them in a bucket outside, next morning there were nothing but scales on the sidewalk (raccoons).
Yet a pair of Crenicichla belly crawler have completely recovered after the hydrogen peroxide treatment.

I've tried to bring the ornatum back, but they look blind, and will probably soon become raccoon fodder.
 

REDTAIL1928

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jun 3, 2005
124
1
16
45
Stop buying fish from ****y ass stores and look for quality home bred fish in ur area, problem solved#

Sent from my SGH-M819N using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 

NorCal

Exodon
MFK Member
Mar 20, 2015
77
0
21
Marina, CA
Oh believe me RedTail I no longer buy fish from chain stores. The last 4 cichlids I got from a LFS that specializes in cichlids and they're the only ones that are eating. Although they do still have some white stringy feces but it seems to be going away.

My fish never really really got that bad looking. They normal when they died. Just kinda died from Im assuming can be starvation or organ failure that the disease caused.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store