Iv had my guy for over 1 year. He is in 130 gallon tank with 3 silver dollars and 2 Jags that are about 4 inches that i added 1 week ago. Anyway, over the past while my gt has been losing appetite and the one thing thats bugging me is when he try to eat or just swimming, he does this thing where it looks like hes coughing pretty hard while shaking his head from left to right. Today i seen him do it when he was tryin to eat a pellet,coughed up the pellet and kept doin the cough thing for a minute. Its causing him not to eat, his belly is starting to get sunken in, color is great, swims around alot. My water is spot on, havent changed my feeding schedule or anything. Iv lost gt's to other parasite stuff and im finding that ALOT of gt's end up getting some kind of sickness. He is about 8 inches and looks real nice.
Bout to give up on Green Terrors!
- Thread starter yeroc1982
- Start date
I've been keeping and breeding GTs for about 10 years now, and I have occasionally seen a young one fail to thrive (which I presumed was a genetic/congenital malformation), but other than injury I haven't seen a mature GT have problems like you are having. I suppose that it could be some sort of stricture in the esophagus or stomach from trauma or a tumor, but it doesn't sound like an infectious disease. I suppose exploratory surgery is out---it is difficult to get a GT to sign a consent form, and MRIs are too exensive!
Sorry, dude, but even if he doesn't make it, don't give up on this cool cichlid.
Sorry, dude, but even if he doesn't make it, don't give up on this cool cichlid.impjd;3956491; said:I've been keeping and breeding GTs for about 10 years now, and I have occasionally seen a young one fail to thrive (which I presumed was a genetic/congenital malformation), but other than injury I haven't seen a mature GT have problems like you are having. I suppose that it could be some sort of stricture in the esophagus or stomach from trauma or a tumor, but it doesn't sound like an infectious disease. I suppose exploratory surgery is out---it is difficult to get a GT to sign a consent form, and MRIs are too exensive!
Iv tried everything i can think of, different food, new dithers, i dont know what else to do.
Never heard or had that problem. Maybe try live food (earthworms you can buy at Sporting goods) or try smaller pellets.
I had a Blue dolphin that once grew tired of pellets. Fed him earthworms and weened him off and back onto pellets.
Keep us updated and good luck!
I had a Blue dolphin that once grew tired of pellets. Fed him earthworms and weened him off and back onto pellets.
Keep us updated and good luck!
yeroc1982;3956408; said:
This sounds like a display of dominance. My GT (and a lot of my other CA/SA, even my ctenopoma kingsleyae) does this. Its like a jerking of the head/body sideways, back and forth.
Watch your GT closely and see if he does this towards the other fish when you are not feeding.
My GT just went through about a week of not eating also. He would suck the pellets in and then spit them out. Don't know what was up with him but he is eating like usual again...
Burt
Burtess;3957317; said:This sounds like a display of dominance. My GT (and a lot of my other CA/SA, even my ctenopoma kingsleyae) does this. Its like a jerking of the head/body sideways, back and forth.
Watch your GT closely and see if he does this towards the other fish when you are not feeding.
My GT just went through about a week of not eating also. He would suck the pellets in and then spit them out. Don't know what was up with him but he is eating like usual again...
Burt
I have been watching and no its not a sign of dominence, hes doin it when others arent around, there is somthing wrong with him but cant figure it out. He will spit the food and u know when fish sample water and open up their mouth really wide? well hes doin that but keeps his mouth open and it really looks like hes tryin to get somthing out of his throat. I dunno what it could be, like i said, iv had him for over 1 year and never had this problem before. I have seen him shake his head at a female when i used to have on with him, this is a totally different thing.
I think he's stressed. A GT in my opinion can't hang with those jags and he probably knows it too.
You say "for the past while he's been losing his appatite" how long is the past while? Does it have any corralation with the intro of the Jags? That has been your GT's tank for a year and now you upset the order of things. IMO 2 Jags and a GT in a 130 is alot. If there is a corralation between the intro of the Jags and the GT's odd behavior he is either stressed of trying to assert dominance. I would put him in his own tank and watch him if he's sick you probelbly just transmitted it to the Jags if he's not then the envoronment is no longer to hes liking. Is he still top dog or is there any fighting over turf going on?