HELP Possible Parasite Advice?!

[JoeBel]

Ok, so I noticed a few days ago that one of my Red Zebras had a long stringy white feces. At the time I thought it was a normal movement and believed the light was making it look white. Well after a few days of the Zebra not eating and acting uncommonly reserved, I realize that something is wrong & it must be fighting off whatever it is.

More annoyingly, today I noticed one of my Cobalt Blue's & other Zebra's also have the stringy white feces. I feel like my tank is basically contaminated at this point. I do not have a quarantine tank and don't really want to dose the tank with any chemicals that will alter my water. I am very meticulous about keeping the tank clean, nice water params, and don't overfeed. I've been lucky to never have had any probs like this in my years of fishkeeping.

I did a bigger water change & added some cichlid salt and have been feeding less to see if they will pull through. The one Red Zebra is the only one not eating at this point.

Is it possible the fish will all recover, or do you think I will lose everything. I have 14 altogether and I love them all.

Thanks for any help!
Joe

 

[mahemaheman85]

the sooner you treat the better the odds of survival, i would treat them with some melafix asap, if they do have parasites salt wont do it, i wanna emphasize the longer you wait the worse the odds

 

[JoeBel]

the sooner you treat the better the odds of survival, i would treat them with some melafix asap, if they do have parasites salt wont do it, i wanna emphasize the longer you wait the worse the odds

Thanks for the advice. A few quick questions:

Does this sound like an internal parasite, I've searched online and there are some conflicting things I've read. Some point to Malawi Bloat (but I don't overfeed), some say parasite (because it's spreading I guess it must be)?

Will dosing with Melaflix disturb my cycle/media/water?

Thanks again,
Joe

 

[Knowdafish]

Melafix is one of the FEW that won't hurt your BB. So it won't effect your cycle.

 

[Lupin]

You won't need a quarantine tank in cases where outbreaks have already happened. It seems to me your fish ae suffering from infestation of internal parasites. You may try metronidazole and praziquantel combination but not as effective as levamisole hydrochloride which is restricted in most states. By the way, Melafix is not effective for this job. You need another med which I suggested earlier, not this one.

 

[JoeBel]

You won't need a quarantine tank in cases where outbreaks have already happened. It seems to me your fish ae suffering from infestation of internal parasites. You may try metronidazole and praziquantel combination but not as effective as levamisole hydrochloride which is restricted in most states. By the way, Melafix is not effective for this job. You need another med which I suggested earlier, not this one.

Thanks, I've read conflicting things about Melafix & Primafix, some seem to have used it successfully for internal/external parasites, but neither product is geared towards curing those conditions.

 

[JoeBel]

I bought some Jungle Parasite Clear and just made my first dose last night. I haven't had time to see how the fish were, hopefully JPC was a good choice.

- Joe

 

[s2convt]

Try changing the food you feed the fish. Different foods cause different stool, I'd be certain that the problem is related to parasites before dosing with meds.

No point in treating healthy fish.

 

[JoeBel]

Try changing the food you feed the fish. Different foods cause different stool, I'd be certain that the problem is related to parasites before dosing with meds.

No point in treating healthy fish.

I feed them only Spirulina flake food, never had any problem before so I'm doubtful it's the food, but thanks for the advice.

 

[Uncle.Ned]

The first sign of bloat is failure of the fish to feed enthusiastically.​

Cichlids love to eat. Unlike some other fish (guppys and mollys feed even if they’re sick), african cichlids love to chow down, unless they are females holding a mouthful of eggs, or they have already stuffed themselves. Treatment should be immediate:

​

Ideally the affected fish should be isolated in a separate small tank without gravell.
.

Use any kind of biological filter, such as a sponge filter, or an airstone.

The water should be heated to about 82 degrees F.

(Don’t use carbon in the filter because it will lock up the metronidazole, the medicine of choice described below.)

The water should be hard and alkaline.

Add about 2.2 teaspoons of salt per gallon, I use Instant Ocean, but any non-iodized sodium chloride is fine.

Use 2 tabs (or capsules, or 1/8 teaspoon scoops) of Metronidazole per 10 gallons of water the 1st day.

The following day change about 90% of the water (maintain the same salinity of 2.2 teaspoons per gallon, maintain the temperature at about 82 degrees F.)

Now use 1 tab (or capsule, or 1/8 teaspoon scoop) of Metronidazole per 10 gallons of water.

Repeat the water changes and the re-treating with metronidazole and salt for at least 7 days.

If the "Malawi Bloat" problem is diagnosed and treated early enough, the treatment described above works 50% of the time.

Preventing Malwai Bloat:

Feed only green spirulina foods to all herbivorous cichlids.

Make sure all food is fresh … don’t buy more than a 12 week supply.

Keep food covered, clean, and dry.

Always make sure the tank water is hard, alkaline, slightly salted, well-filtered & oxygenated.

Frequently perform substantial partial water changes

Pick fish from a dealer’s tank where all the inhabitants are healthy, active and feeding well.