Help with sick Flowerhorn

[anzo1993]

Hello , I’m not sure what’s going on with my Thai silk Flowerhorn , he was very active and eating great a a couple weeks ago with a nice hump, fast forward 2 weeks he’s not eating and his hump is completely deflated, I can’t seem to figure out what’s going on , I’ve treated for parasites a couple times now and he’s worse than ever, has anyone ever seen this before? Here’s a before and after pic from 2 weeks ago and then today

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

Hello , I’m not sure what’s going on with my Thai silk Flowerhorn , he was very active and eating great a a couple weeks ago with a nice hump, fast forward 2 weeks he’s not eating and his hump is completely deflated, I can’t seem to figure out what’s going on , I’ve treated for parasites a couple times now and he’s worse than ever, has anyone ever seen this before? Here’s a before and after pic from 2 weeks ago and then today

View attachment 1537637

View attachment 1537638

Is there any signs of injury? Perhaps he punctured his hump?

 

[koltsixx]

Unfortunately, it can be a lot of things. Can I ask what did you treat him with and how it was administered? What are your water parameters? FH share the same diseases as any other cichlid. They are more susceptible to certain things that other Cichlids are more resilient to but otherwise someone who can spot issues in a cichlid can help you with potentially diagnosing your FH. The nuchal hump can easily be affected by stress or incorrect PH which will cause a water hump to deflate.

I'm going to move this to disease. The forum isn't as active or interactive as it once was, and certain sections suffer more than others with their visibilty. Long story short I think more people will see your thread in Disease so you're more likely to get more help and it does fit in that forum as much as this Flowerhorn setcion.

 

[anzo1993]

Is there any signs of injury? Perhaps he punctured his hump?

No no sign of injury anywhere not even a scratch , look deflated almost starting to question the seller

 

[anzo1993]

Unfortunately, it can be a lot of things. Can I ask what did you treat him with and how it was administered? What are your water parameters? FH share the same diseases as any other cichlid. They are more susceptible to certain things that other Cichlids are more resilient to but otherwise someone who can spot issues in a cichlid can help you with potentially diagnosing your FH. The nuchal hump can easily be affected by stress or incorrect PH which will cause a water hump to deflate.

I'm going to move this to disease. The forum isn't as active or interactive as it once was, and certain sections suffer more than others with their visibilty. Long story short I think more people will see your thread in Disease so you're more likely to get more help and it does fit in that forum as much as this Flowerhorn setcion.

The water perimeters haven’t changed in the last couple weeks I did a test a few days ago everything was in a good range. I’ve noticed sometimes he tends to tip forward so I’m think maybe something swim bladder related, as for treating the parasites when I first got the fish I treated in an Epsom salt bath and since then I’ve added metro medication to his pellets, and as a final method I infused the metro into some frozen food and had him eat it

 

[koltsixx]

I'm sorry I'd like to know the parameters. I understand that you say that haven't changed but they may not have been what he needed from the beginning. The fact that you've had the fish as long as you did before seeing an issue suggests the issue is more than likely in your water. Any parasite he had might have had from the seller(if there were any) would have had him deteriorating much faster in a couple days at most in my humble opinion. Fish will look as healthy as possible as a biological imperative as not to appear weak and attract predators etc. Which is why they seem to degrade so suddenly. So, he could have been suffering from a water issue that he's now succumbing to.

As for it being swimbladder related usually it's fairly obvious as the fish struggles to maintain its equilibrium almost constantly. The unnatural increase in the fish's buoyancy constantly pulling them to the surface causing them to perpetually swim in order to fight to stay down. It could be possibly constipation, but the relatively empty belly would seem to make that unlikely and the sunken eyes indicative of a larger issue.

 

[RD.]

Weak genetics, this is why I stopped keeping FH years ago.

Where did you source this fish from, and when? Just curious if it has ever been properly dewormed with Levamisole?

Some sound advice from Kolt. Good to see you out and about amigo.

 

[koltsixx]

Thanks Neil RD. It's really good to see you too, I just started posting again. I agree with you about FH genetics. It's why I said they're more susceptible to somethings other cichlids aren't. An unfortunate sometimes result of hyrbidization and sometimes irresponsible breeding done in the attempt to make a quick buck. I still love Flowerhorns though. I currently have a female fader with a nuchal hump and would have more if I had tanks I could dedicate to a single specimen.

 

[anzo1993]

I'm sorry I'd like to know the parameters. I understand that you say that haven't changed but they may not have been what he needed from the beginning. The fact that you've had the fish as long as you did before seeing an issue suggests the issue is more than likely in your water. Any parasite he had might have had from the seller(if there were any) would have had him deteriorating much faster in a couple days at most in my humble opinion. Fish will look as healthy as possible as a biological imperative as not to appear weak and attract predators etc. Which is why they seem to degrade so suddenly. So, he could have been suffering from a water issue that he's now succumbing to.

As for it being swimbladder related usually it's fairly obvious as the fish struggles to maintain its equilibrium almost constantly. The unnatural increase in the fish's buoyancy constantly pulling them to the surface causing them to perpetually swim in order to fight to stay down. It could be possibly constipation, but the relatively empty belly would seem to make that unlikely and the sunken eyes indicative of a larger issue.

So I just did another test on everything, the water temperature is 81 the PH is 7.4, nitrite level 0.25 ppm, and the KH is at 6dkh, also just to say I use the same water for every tank I have and all the other fish are healthy with no problems

 

[anzo1993]

Weak genetics, this is why I stopped keeping FH years ago.

Where did you source this fish from, and when? Just curious if it has ever been properly dewormed with Levamisole?

Some sound advice from Kolt. Good to see you out and about amigo.

I received the fish from a more high end shop in my area where they import from Indonesia, I got the fish in November 2023