Flowerhorn Anus

[odst223]

Hello Everyone,

I work at a LFS and received my very expensive blue diamond flowerhorn from our fish provider. It is 4" in a cycled 90 gallon that gets 1/4 water changed every other day with a moderate stock load of other fish. It has no predators also. I have noticed since it came in that it has an inflamed anus and I don't know what to do? It seems large and red. Cost was $150, so I'm very worried . I have had it for two days. Any idea what this is?

 

[odst223]

better quality

 

[koltsixx]

In my experience Flowerhorns are very susceptible to internal intestinal parasites(possibly hexamita) and therefore a inflamed or prolapsed anus is usually a symptom. Your pic is really blurry but it looks to me as though it's just inflamed. As such the best recourse would be to move him/her to a quarantine tank and treat with Epsom salt. You can choose to treat in a variety of ways, stop feedings and add Epsom to the water or make a solution and soak some food in it and see if the fish will eat it assuming they haven't already stopped eating, if he/she has feed via pipette. Generally you want to add(in my experience) 1-3 per 5 gallons of water to the quarantine tank or for the soaking you can use a 3% solution add 1 level tablespoon (15 grams) to approx. 2 cups(500 milliliters) of tank water and then soak the food.

Here's athread on MFK that deals with Hexamita and Epsom salts http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?339362-Treating-Hexamita-aka-Spironucleus Hope that helps you out some.

 

[odst223]

Sounds like treatment will start soon, I have an empty 20 long and it can house his 4" for two weeks just fine. What about the remaining cichlids in my tank? Can it spread in two days. Basically, should I still do a QT or should I treat the display?

 

[koltsixx]

Internal parasites are always present in the fish they(the Fish) just become susceptible to them when in a weakened state like stress as such unless the others are showing signs you should be okay leaving them in the display without treatment. Assuming that the LFS provider imported the FH(which is almost guaranteed) the FH has just been through an arduous shipping process that usually farms or distributors deal with but has been passed on to you since you probably special ordered the FH. So instead of the FH being quarantined at their facilities and treated once the fish came in it was shipped to you immediately. So basically the FH endured probably 14 to 20 hours shipping then was unboxed and shipped out again causing extreme stress making him susceptible to the parasites.

By the way welcome to MFK and feel free to look through the vendors on here next time you want a FH as you can find great deals.

 

[odst223]

Sorry for the late reply and thanks for the help! My goodness, I would've easily bought a SRD Flowerhorn if I would've known the vendors. Meanwhile, I pulled my Blue Diamond FH from the 90 and gave his 4" self a 20 long alone. Sadly, the white stringy poop has now shown from fish in the DT also, so I am treating with Epsom'd food in both. Any additional advice?