What causes these symptoms with eating?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
MonsterFishCreeper

MonsterFishCreeper

Candiru
MFK Member
Sep 30, 2015
518
192
46
Md
My big male GT is still not eating right months later. It seemed to get better for a while but I may have been deluding myself. Here's whats going on... He eats almost nothing, like he may choke down one krill a day if I'm lucky. What always happens is he grabs almost any food but seems to have it like half in his throat and a few minutes later spits it out. He hardly poops so I don't see any stringy white poop like he had months ago before I treated with metro. Occasionally when he eats an earthworm I will see his poop and it's large and brown. Water parameters are ideal. I do a medium or large water change every week without fail, between 30-60%.

Here's the symptoms if you didn't read all that:

Nearly no appetite.
Spits out food almost every time.
Begs food food constantly but spits it out as soon as he eats it.
Will go and grab the food over and over but keeps spitting it out.

I don't know where else to turn for help and I'm getting way frustrated with the situation. I'm going to try and keep this bumped for a while so it gets some exposure.
 
Praziquintel, then leave water for a week or so then stick to 50-60% if you can match temp etc.

Also try and get garlic food for him, and wriggly foods to entice him short term.
 
just want to back track for a second. Did you say he would eat worms if given to him?
 
Charney said:
just want to back track for a second. Did you say he would eat worms if given to him?
Click to expand...

Its the only thing he seems to end up keeping down I don't know if it's because they're soft or what. At first I thought that was all he would eat but he grabs shrimp and pellets without hesitation only to spit them out. I would just keep feeding him worms forever but with such a high fat content he wont live very long. Despite the fact that he will eat the worms his appetite just seems weak. I have withheld the little food he does eat multiple times for several days at a time and he starts acting crazy hungry. When I drop some pellets in he slams them and spits them out multiple times before eventually losing interest.
 
From a third party it sounds like he will only eat the most desirable food. This is usually indicative of water conditions for cichlids. If you test your water and see good parameters my first go to would be prazi. Even when prazi is ideal they might not take the most desirable food, so I would check, check and recheck water conditions.
 
Wailua Boy said:
One other consideration, GTs do require some plant matter in their diet; despite their reputation for being carnivores.
Click to expand...

I have tried to get him to eat leafy greens in the past and he may have nibbled at them or they may have just started to fall apart it was hard to tell. I have a veggie clip in there and occasionally still offer plant foods.
 
Try a veggie pellet in the mean time. I thought I remember hearing something about them having a longer intestinal tract and therefore being susceptible to gastrointestinal issues. Krill is something I would remove from their diet, keep it low protein for a while.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom