My 4 inch GT keeps spitting out his food. For about two minutes he will keep going after one and then immediately spit it out. He seems to be fine, not acting strange at all except for the spitting. I noticed it a couple of days ago. His colors are beautiful and he's swimming around like he always does. Any ideas why this is happening. He's in a 55 Gallon with 3 small bala sharks and 1 small pleco.
GT spitting out food
- Thread starter hoofy888
- Start date
Could be the food is too hard/big and it’s drying to break it up. Or is this food it previously had no problems with?
Might be a good idea not to feed the GT for a few days. Maybe a 50% WC with thorough gravel vac. To ensure pristine water conditions during this period. Hopefully this will give the GT enough time to flush out what ever has tied up his intestines. As noted above, the problem might be as simple as changing up the food to a more palletable variety.
If the GT has the stringy white poop, you might as well stock up on meds.
If the GT has the stringy white poop, you might as well stock up on meds.
Try flakes or something like brine shrimp. My Terror had a case of internal parasites and stopped eating for a couple months. He would only mouth any of the pellets. I eventually tried flakes and sure enough that triggered him to start eating again. Now he is back to his normal aggressive eating style.
I wouldn't treat the tank with medicine unless you see other signs. Like I mentioned, my terror went a couple months without eating and is doing just fine. Give it a couple days of fasting and then try the flakes again. You may want to check your water parameters to make sure everything is in check and give him a nice big water change. Have you been feeding veggies regularly? It could be that he is just blocked up.
Are there any other signs of trouble other than not eating? Typically there are signs other than not eating when parasites are to blame but not always. Is his stomach bloated or eyes bulging? Are the gills redder than normal? Have you noticed white feces or any feces at all for that matter? Are his colors the same as always or is he pale? If none of these symptoms are showing now, keep your eye on him to see if you notice anything out of the ordinary pop up.
Are there any other signs of trouble other than not eating? Typically there are signs other than not eating when parasites are to blame but not always. Is his stomach bloated or eyes bulging? Are the gills redder than normal? Have you noticed white feces or any feces at all for that matter? Are his colors the same as always or is he pale? If none of these symptoms are showing now, keep your eye on him to see if you notice anything out of the ordinary pop up.
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Mine does that too. If I feed him one pellet at a time there's no problem. But if I give him two pellets at the same time, he grabs one, sees the other one, spits out the first one to grab the other one, then spits that one out to grab the first one again, etc.
So... one pellet at a time for him. lol
He also does this with flakes and frozen food if there's too much food to grab at the same time. So I feed him little by little to give him time to chew.
So... one pellet at a time for him. lol
He also does this with flakes and frozen food if there's too much food to grab at the same time. So I feed him little by little to give him time to chew.