Lethargic WAL Help Wanted

[pepetj]

Hi you all.

Wally, our West African Lungfish (P annectens annectens) had some dried krill for a snack a few days ago. He/she seemed to like the stuff so I indulged him/her a day or two later. It's main diet consist of small fish that lives in the tank, Hikari Algae Waffers -go nuts about, and TetraCichlid Crisps.

He/she has grown from a bit under 16" to almost 20" since April 2010 (4 months).

Problem began shortly after I made a huge water change after the last krill meal and since then Wally vigorously re-escaped the tank and them just became quite lethargic. For the first time he/she is caught by hand effortlessly.

Today I noticed uneaten algae wafers from yesterday.

I took him/her out to inspect for anything strange and noticed he/she had some white-gray thin layer of mucus. I though this fish was getting ready for aestivation.

So I placed him/her on a wet towel and tried to keep it fresh with somewhat frequent RO water (to simulate rainwater).

I lowered the tank water level so he/she can breathe easily. I am afraid he/she might be sick or that my previous intervention, along with the actual high summer temps (82F-84F) may have triggered Wally into aestivation.

Is there anything I'm doing wrong? Is there anything I should do or not do?

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

 

[pepetj]

Sorry to inform you this: Wally passed away.

I have no idea what went wrong. I was building his/her new tank (225gal) but now I'll stop working on it.

My wife and daughter are crying as I write this. I'm still holding my tears.

We really embraced this fish.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

 

[Hao]

Wow, sorry for the loss, I should have seen this thread earlier.
I think your Lungfish was just stressed from the big waterchange and the jump. You shouldn't have lowered the water or anything, should have just put it back into the tank and let it do it's thing and relax.

 

[pepetj]

Looks like a severe bacterial infection took over him/her.

Once dead, I could see massive internal hemorragh took place.

I made an experiment and place a few feeder fish tilapia I keep for my predators, which are quite healthy and well fed, placed them in a bucket with water from their original reservoir and added a bunch of substrate and a cup of water from the tank Wally was at.

Within 24 hours all specimen died with the same internal hemorragh symptom.

I am dismantling this tank, dumping the substrate (after using bleach to sterilize it) and clean it thoroughly.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

 

[kevinfleming21]

wow, sorry to hear about this tough loss....

 

[Hao]

Looks like a severe bacterial infection took over him/her.

Once dead, I could see massive internal hemorragh took place.

I made an experiment and place a few feeder fish tilapia I keep for my predators, which are quite healthy and well fed, placed them in a bucket with water from their original reservoir and added a bunch of substrate and a cup of water from the tank Wally was at.

Within 24 hours all specimen died with the same internal hemorragh symptom.

I am dismantling this tank, dumping the substrate (after using bleach to sterilize it) and clean it thoroughly.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

Dang that sucks. Sorry to hear man.