Losing my mind trying to fight this

[letstalkfish]

I have been treating my green terror for internal parasites that he has had since I bought him. Sunken in belly/white stringy poop. I began by feeding food soaked in an epsom salt solution. I did this for 1-2 weeks with no real success. I have since treated TWICE with prazi pro and TWICE with tetra parasite guard, but it appears that I am losing this battle. He still eats well and has grown, but his growth has undoubtedly slowed and it appears that the 1" JD in the tank is now infected as well (I didn't/don't have anywhere to move him.)

It seems that it has only affected the two cichlids. Giant danios show no sign of it. I am at a loss. Any and all help would be appreciated.

 

[Aquanero]

What are you feeding the fish? This is important so please be honest, mention everything?

 

[tomomothy]

I havent heard of internal parasites passing like that, unless the root cause is from something in your tank or food. can you also post your w/c change routine and parameters?

 

[letstalkfish]

My parameters:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: currently 20 ppm, obviously changes up and down

The fish in the tank currently get NLS and Hikari Bio Gold pellets

I do one 50% water change every week

 

[Aquanero]

Sometimes depending on how far the infestation is they don't recover, that is the unfortunate truth of the situation. The NLS is fine, and what you have tried is a pretty good treatment. If you want you can try this, it's a little old school but sometimes it's not a parasite but a bacterial infection of the digestive system. Soak some skinned green peas in fresh garlic juice (chopped mashed fresh garlic) if it eats a few peices of garlic even better. Feed this to the fish once a day for a week nothing else. After a week starting feeding the NLS leave the Hakari out of the diet. I've always used NLS Thera A+ and Omega One Super Veggie Pellets on GTs think of feeding African cichlids when it comes to feeding and avoid foods too high in protean. Keep us posted on your results.

 

[letstalkfish]

Thanks, I really appreciate your help. I'll let you know.

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[letstalkfish]

Well I have been feeding hikari, peas, and NLS soaked in garlic that I have mashed up. Both the JD and the GT seem appalled by the taste, but the JD will eat it and the GT will eat the peas and some of the hikari. I have noticed over the last couple weeks that I have NOT seen any white stringy poo, and have seen him poo normal a couple of times. The sunken in belly remains though.

Surely someone knows what this is? I have done some research and read probably 50 cases but no one ever seems to know what it is and they never come back to say if what they tried has worked or not.

 

[knifegill]

I tried everything, nothing worked. Gave the fish back when he shrank instead of growing.

I don't know how to find it now, but I later read something about never feeding GT's any grains or pellet foods, but primarily actual vegetables, like canned peas, etc. And then supplement with small, meaty live foods like SMALL earthworms, rolly pollies, crickets, etc. He said the white slime is bacterial overgrowth from imbalanced gut bacteria, like the yeast overgrew the tract and caused blockage, etc.

 

[Aquanero]

I consider this foward progress if you saw them poop normally that's an excelent sign. The bacteria in the gut is the root of this issue as i suspected not IP's that's why the meds had no effect. When you finish with the garlic and peas remember feed a GT as you would feed mbuna. GTs have a long digestive tract that is good at breaking down veggies but not great with meaty foods. Keep us posted on the results.

 

[letstalkfish]

I tried everything, nothing worked. Gave the fish back when he shrank instead of growing.

I don't know how to find it now, but I later read something about never feeding GT's any grains or pellet foods, but primarily actual vegetables, like canned peas, etc. And then supplement with small, meaty live foods like SMALL earthworms, rolly pollies, crickets, etc. He said the white slime is bacterial overgrowth from imbalanced gut bacteria, like the yeast overgrew the tract and caused blockage, etc.

This sounds great, and I can't say I've even seen any GT's in lfs that DON'T have a sunken in belly, so I'm sure it has something to do with it.

The garlic/pea thing doesn't seem to have helped the sunken belly. I started to think callamanus worms initially because I couldn't figure out what else it would be. There are no obvious worms hanging from his vent, but there is a tiny red line maybe a millimeter away that looks more like a stretch mark. Could it be callamanus? Most cases I have seen have been much more obvious and it is likely that I am just digging for a problem to try and find an answer.

I have seen other members who have raised GTs on strictly nls, but I think I will begin feeding peas, veggie pellets, and actually vegetables as well to see what happens. I appreciate all of the help and follow through guys.