Jewel Cichlid Sunken Belly

[ThaDude]

Bought a new Jewel Cichlid recently, and upon transferring him I noticed he has what looks like a sunken belly.

It is difficult to tell unless his bottom fins are expanded, but I gathered the best picture I could.

(This is why I didn't notice it earlier)

His poop looked a little stringy.. However it was a brown/green color..
It was just hangin outta his bum for a while and the bottom piece seemed attached to the top piece.
(graphic, huh.)

Does this look like a job for Prazi?

On top of that, he's in a brand new 55. Should I take him out so the poop doesn't potentially effect the future tankmates?

 

[ThaDude]

Or is it possible that this is a trait of these fish?

I did some looking at pics online... half showed a kind of sunken belly half did not...

(It would also like to add that the poop didn't have that white ghosty looking stuff connecting it.)

 

[Lupin]

Are you saying he had a "poop" that is almost brown and hanging on his butt for awhile? How is he eating at the moment? Any tremendous loss of appetite along with the suspected hanging out of the "brown poop" might just indicate presence of nematodes. You'll need levamisole hydrochloride for that. Do you have access to Jungle Anti-Parasite medicated foods? Prazi only kills cestodes (flatworms) which is not what I am suspecting here. The Jungle product I recommended to you contains the three popular and effective anthelmintics: metro, prazi and levamisole so hopefully it should cover the 4 types of internal parasites (trematodes, cestodes, nematodes and flagellates) even if only nematodes are suspected so far.

Please make sure when you buy your fish, every new fish should be quarantined in a spare tank or at least 3-4 weeks and treated with 0.3% salt solution and prazi on that period. Do not take quarantine process for granted. You will need it. Nematodes are far more common than some of us think and they are the most difficult internal parasites to eradicate yet followed only by flukes.

 

[ThaDude]

It was a brown/green that was hanging out his bum for a lil while. it was all kinda connected. I plan to observe his poo a little bit more.

He's eating normally, and his food is green so it makes sense that way.

I'm still working on tracking down the jungle meds in my area.
(as you may recall I have a jack dempsey i'm about to treat as well, with the same med - these two fish were never in the same tank.)

Should I immediately remove the jewel from the new tank so he doesn't spread this via his poo?

 

[Lupin]

Separating is fine. Could you get photos of the poop once you are able to grab a sample of poop?

 

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

if it is already in the tank, you should treat the whole tank as the others could very well be exposed to the parasite

 

[ThaDude]

It's a brand new tank - just filled. He maybe crapped in it twice.

Should I really treat the whole tank? He has no tank mates yet.

Or would it be more realistic to immediatley vac the 2 poops up.

 

[Sparkyreed123]

I have a Texas who sometimes has a sunken belly. But it goes away. I think this is more like constipation. You may need to add some peas with the skin peeled off, this works as a lax and should get rid of its constipation.

 

[ThaDude]

I threw some shrimp in there a bit ago.. he went right to work on it.

Musta had to make some room cause...
I Captured the poo.

Unfortunatley, the flash was making him dart around the tank...
the poo disconnected, and right as it did... it flew right up the filter intake.

If this is disease (and not just him being underfed)
What course of action should I take??

As I've stated, it is a new tank that's been setup for about 3 days,
and I have 5 more fish I plan on introducing to the tank over the next 4 weeks...

How should I handle this to make sure no other fish catch what he (potentially) has?

 

[Sparkyreed123]

You could treat the tank with a General Tonic or one for Internal Parasites. However it looks like something he ate has constipated him. I would give it till tomorrow or the next day. If he still has a sunken tummy then consider a mild treatment.

Or get him on some Blood Worm and see if it fills him up! My Texas is still very small and i see his tummy like this sometimes. I just give them a feed.

Can't promise i'm right but try it.