Declining Uaru

[DaveB]

My old-ish female Uaru isn't quite herself anymore.

Part of this, I think, is that one of the juvy Uaru (same size at this point - 7"+) is being a jerk. He's not super violent, but he does chase and nip sometimes... even goes after a 16" Arowana. I had a colony of 7 of the Uaru but knocked it back to 3 as they got big... I wish I'd kept one more. (That was two months ago. Jerkiness started about 2 weeks ago.) I was worried this might happen. They were all best friends before without any dominance type behavior.

Anyway, she's still eating and comes to the glass, but her rear is starting to fall a bit and sometimes she tilts to one side. It's like the beginning stages of losing equilibrium.

Water's fine - 83°, nitrates under 10, overfiltered, etc... it's not a water quality or tank-wide disease issue at all (that I know of). She has no visible wounds or anything, but behavior-wise it's clear she's declining.

Clean salty water in a 29g is going to be my first step. I can't do that til tomorrow though (when I'm sure the tank is clean and clear - had a messy death in there today and need to make sure the biomedia is still alive after the rinse-off) so hopefully she doesn't get too bad and thus get picked on to death. Is there anything else I should do? Meds? Extra food? Less food? (They've not been getting a ton of food lately, which makes me wonder if that has led to some weakness.)

 

[xinchavoc]

mayb some pics and if its really bad put her in a hospital tank..

 

[Lupin]

I'm not sure what you mean by "her rear starting to fall a bit". How? Any pics? How does the poop look? Are the gills still healthy red?

If you have observed lack of appetite coinciding with white stringy poop and/or hollow stomach, the best approach is to include metronidazole in the food. Keep the sick one separated in case she is bullied as any additional stress will contribute to her failing health. Feed them as you usually do but vacuum leftovers if there are.

 

[DaveB]

I'm not sure what you mean by "her rear starting to fall a bit". How? Any pics? How does the poop look? Are the gills still healthy red?

Like her rear end is getting heavier, so she swims at an angle.

This isn't 100% of the time. But sometimes. And she hangs out lower in the tank than she used to.

No change in gills or poop that I can tell. Will have to confirm on poop though.

Internal metro is preferable to external? That is good to know in this case since she eats. (Not so useful in the case of my hunger striking discus, though, just have to use the powder for him...) I have plenty of the metro food. DMSO too, if that's useful. I picked that up on the theory that it'll help stuff get absorbed even if they don't eat it. Haven't used it yet though.

 

[Lupin]

Use the metro food, Dave. That's the best we can do.

 

[DaveB]

Well it was definitely from the bullying. I think the lilting/droopy positioning was simply weakness from bullying and not eating. I isolated her and she immediately got better and started eating... though, of course, she wouldn't touch the metro food.

I powerfed for a week and put her back and it was just more of the same. I guess I'll be putting the last two orange Uaru (who I suspect are a pair, hence the extra aggression) up for sale...

 

[DaveB]

OK, she is back in the main tank and perfectly happy since selling the bullies. But she's pickier about food now... won't touch the usual pellets anymore. She eats shrimp and worms and veggies greedily, so I'm not worried, but she used to eat everything.

She also has a white zit on her gill. I wonder if this is evidence of some kind of infection that came when she was weaker. I took a few photos.

I'm also curious if anyone thinks the S. leucosticta pictured is just underfed, or sick. The last time I saw it poop it was a little stringy at points, but a solid color, no white. I think it just gets less food than the others, but want to be sure it's not something else that jumps out at the more experienced folks. It does tend to be more clamped than other fish, fin-wise, but I wouldn't say it's as deliberate as in some really sick fish. The photo makes it seem worse than it is.

 

[Lupin]

Good to hear about the uaru. The last fish is skinny to me. If it's having trouble getting its food, try to get it a divider during feeding time and let it eat by itself. Time to add garlic in foods for everyone to help for possible internal parasites. It's hard to pin down those pests but garlic can work as a precaution.

 

[DaveB]

Oh he's definitely skinny. I just wonder if it's due to sickness or just being last in line. We'll know soon enough. Garlic certainly can't hurt.

So you don't think the white dot on the gill there is reason for concern? It's more noticeable in person than in the pics. Like a pimple.

Doesn't seem to bother her at all though.

 

[Lupin]

Now I see the white dot. Does it look raised? Doesn't seem concerning to me though.