My sevrum is dying

[FishMerch.com]

So I have a Male red spotted gold sevrum. I normally do not keep chiclids. He hasent been eating for about a week and a half now. I moved him from my 180 to a 10 gal hospital tank. He is breathing heavily and has been doing so for the week and a half. It appears his slime coat is coming off. I see clear trails of what looks like snot coming from his body. It is clumping up and floating around the bottom of the hospital tank. I have been dosing his hospital tank with Metro+. It says to discontinue after 3 days. I have done the three days with water changes too. He looks like he is slowly getting worse.

Hardest part is that this is my second adult sevrum to do this. When the last one died this way I bought this new guy and grew him out. I'm so bummed to have to deal with this again.

ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40ppm

I have my big tank on a 24/7 drip system and check to make sure no chlorine was getting in. All my other fish in the tank are doing just fine. They were all present for the last one when it died and they are all still living. So I know I'm doing something wrong according to chiclid law.

I just read that they should have a primary diet of veggies. I have only been feeding that tank massivor pellets. Would this cause his issues?

I think he only has a day or two left. Please help. Any other information I am leaving out please ask questions. I've been keeping monster fish for 4 years not and done a pretty good job. So I'm not in the beginner category. I know the basics.

 

[Mythic Figment]

So I have a Male red spotted gold sevrum. I normally do not keep chiclids. He hasent been eating for about a week and a half now. I moved him from my 180 to a 10 gal hospital tank. He is breathing heavily and has been doing so for the week and a half. It appears his slime coat is coming off. I see clear trails of what looks like snot coming from his body. It is clumping up and floating around the bottom of the hospital tank. I have been dosing his hospital tank with Metro+. It says to discontinue after 3 days. I have done the three days with water changes too. He looks like he is slowly getting worse.

Hardest part is that this is my second adult sevrum to do this. When the last one died this way I bought this new guy and grew him out. I'm so bummed to have to deal with this again.

ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40ppm

I have my big tank on a 24/7 drip system and check to make sure no chlorine was getting in. All my other fish in the tank are doing just fine. They were all present for the last one when it died and they are all still living. So I know I'm doing something wrong according to chiclid law.

I just read that they should have a primary diet of veggies. I have only been feeding that tank massivor pellets. Would this cause his issues?

I think he only has a day or two left. Please help. Any other information I am leaving out please ask questions. I've been keeping monster fish for 4 years not and done a pretty good job. So I'm not in the beginner category. I know the basics.

First off, what are the hardness (GH & KH), pH and temperature parameters of the tank? A decline or increase in the pH value could be causing this and it could be coming from the drop system (I assume it's connected to well water source?). Line bred fish are often much more sensitive to changes in water parameters than wild or early generation captive bred fish. Also, your nitrate levels are a bit high and you should look into doing a water change. While I'm sure the nitrate spike isn't causing your problems, it could potentially make things worse for the healing process.

The symptoms you described could be Chilodonella or Costia (slime disease). Both can be treated with aquarium salt. Treat the hospital tank at a dosage of 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons. Boost the temp of the tank up to 85-88. Leave all lights off during treatment. If you don't see marked improvement in 2 days, repost in the Disease section of the forum and you will probably get a lot more responses.

As for food, they definitely need to stop eating the Massivore. Too much protein for an omnivore. I'm not sure what else you have, but omnivores do better on a more balanced pellet like NLS, New Era, Xtreme and Southern Delight (just to name a few good brands). Hikari Massivore is for fish whose entire diet in the wild would be other fish (piscivores). I feed NLS to my sevs with no issues. They love the stuff. But you can't go wrong with any of those other brands either.


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[FishMerch.com]

Thank you for responding. You probably saved this guys life.

PH is around 7.8, It has been consistent ever since he was in my tank. I do not have a test for GH & KH. The temp has been between 79-83 degrees. It got really hot a few weeks back and my temp rose to 83. I have a rancho controller on my big tank that is set at 80. His hospital tank was set at 79 degrees but I raised it up after reading your post. It is now at 83. Ill turn up the heat tomorrow if the heat of the day dosent raise the temp on its own.

I always use aquarium salt when I do water changes. I have changed his hospital tank water twice and used that dosage of salt each time.

My drip system is connected to a spliter that come off my hose spicket in my back yard.

My Nitrates are actually lower than they ever have been. on my API drop test kits it registers between 20ppm-40ppm. It has only been a week since my last water change. I am fairly consistent with weekly water changes. But I will step it up if it means keeping healthy fish.

Thank you for the food suggestions. I used to prep fresh veggies a few years ago but life got real busy and I only have time for pellets. So I will be purchasing some appropriate food.

Again thank you. I totally forgot their was a disease thread. I will post their if he continues to have issues.

 

[neutrino]

As for food, they definitely need to stop eating the Massivore. Too much protein for an omnivore. I'm not sure what else you have, but omnivores do better on a more balanced pellet like NLS, New Era, Xtreme and Southern Delight (just to name a few good brands). Hikari Massivore is for fish whose entire diet in the wild would be other fish (piscivores). I feed NLS to my sevs with no issues. They love the stuff. But you can't go wrong with any of those other brands either.
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+1 in my opinion. IME sevs love NLS and look good on it. Not saying that as someone who always pushes NLS, since it's not the only food I like. As far as the Massivore, besides the high protein and high ash content, with the reading I've done on nutrition studies, I have a problem with soybean meal as an ingredient and whatever their generic, unidentified "starch" is supposed to be. Couple of quick references:

Report on nutrition

The increased use of plant materials results in many cases to less growth and presents a hazard to the digestive health of many fish species, including salmon. Salmon living in seawater and given feed containing soy and certain other pulses, such as peas, develop a serious inflammation of the distal (posterior) intestine.

Salmon study

Replacing marine ingredients with plant-based ingredients exposes fish to a series of "foreign" components, for example, starch and anti-nutrients that may upset natural processes occurring in the intestine.

The use of plant ingredients in the feed may expose the salmon to too much starch. The nutritive value of starch is limited, since salmon digest starch very poorly.

Also agree with Mythic on severums being omnivores. The fact is most fish are omnivores in an aquarium situation, where we seem to overlook that the stresses and cycles are not the same as in the wild. Some people misinterpret the nutritional needs of some fish imo. Just because fish like severums like greens doesn't mean they need a diet heavy in greens in an aquarium situation. A few fish may have very specialized nutritional needs, but in truth what the greatest majority of fish need is balanced nutrition to be healthy in an aquarium.

Not saying it hurts anything to give sevs some greens as a treat, but I've kept a lot of severums, one of my favorite fish, and it's certainly not something they require to stay healthy. And some people, without realizing it, can be shooting themselves in the foot in their zeal to add variety. by creating food combinations that aren't necessarily healthy-- like feeding peas, which a lot of fish love as a treat but from what I've read should be fed sparingly at most, to a fish that's gets a pellet with soy ingredients:
peas and soy

Not posing an expert aquaculture scientist, just giving reasons for my opinion...