I'm on my 4th Green Terror in the last 3 years, this male looks great has grown pretty quickly and is quite a hog. He's about 7" and is probably a little over a year old. He is in a 270 gallon tank and is about the largest fish in the tank, and most dominant outside of a Jack Demspsey, but they usually don't quarrel. I feed him a variety of different pellets, occasional krill and river shrimp freeze and black worms freeze dried, and some lettuce. He looks fine, but he has stopped eating/going after food for the last 3 days. I'm worried, because I've lost 3 others that attained his size and for whatever reason something happened to each one of them. One had a swim bladder issue, another I couldn't determine. No other fish in the aquarium are showing any signs of illness. What should I do, quarantine or give him a few more days and see what happens?
Over 20 years experience, but no success with Green Terrors
- Thread starter Scottfree
- Start date
Anyone have any suggestions, he's now clamping his fins, however, he did actually eat a pea today, so one bad sign and one good. I think I'll quarantine tomorrow, but not certain what to treat for, should I heat/epsom salt?
Could be a few things.....They are know for internal parasites, bacteral problems and constipation!.....
I would quarantine him first. Epsom salt helps. Starve him for a few days and then feed him peas. Between the peas and the epsom salt you should eliminate any constipation problem. There is something about that digestive track of their's. You have to give them some type of veggie matter and you have to keep it moving. Peas are excellent. Blanch them then pop them out of their shells. Mine eat them like candy lol!
HBH Sprio pellets are good too. They are soft and east to digest. Your Terror probably didn't have a swim bladder problem but an excess of gas in his digestive track that he couldn't displace. It mimics swim bladder to some extent. True swim bladder the fish cannot swim usually stays on it's side or upside down and cannot dive.
A friend had a Terror that was a nose down swimmer. Thought for sure it was a goner.
This person put it in a another tank put a cup of epsom salt in the tank every other day and in a week it was swiming upright again!
If it is not contipation then it is either parasitic or Bacterial.
Since most vets don't do fecal samples on fish lol! I would do parasites first.
If he is still eating you can try Jungles Parasite food. It has both Metro and Praziquil in it.
You may have to stave him again before he eats it. Not many fish in my experence eat it.
You can make your own paste food and add Metro to it. I am sure there is a section on this website or the internet on doing that or join your local fish club!
In reality fish don't absorb most meds very well. To fight internal problems in most cases they need to injested it. Metro is a great drug but really needs to be injested to work.
I have done a lot of work work with these fish and found one drug that works really well.
Flubendazole. It is readly absorbed by the fish. In my experience safe and it works!
I found it to be effective against a wide variety of internal parasites including heximatia, nemotiodes and flukes. However you have to use for a month. Then follow up every three months or so. Before every treatment you do a 50% water change. You have to dilute it with very hot water or clear alcohoL like vodka. I always add Stress Zyme after my water changes to make sure my bacterial bed is good.
If that isn't it that I would go with Maraycyn II. It is Minocycline which is one of the few antibotics that is actually absorbed by fish. Do the full ten day treatment.
They are a tough fish to keep healthy as they get bigger. Some people have no problems at all. I think a lot of this has to do with diet and water conditions.
Hope you find this helpful.....
I would quarantine him first. Epsom salt helps. Starve him for a few days and then feed him peas. Between the peas and the epsom salt you should eliminate any constipation problem. There is something about that digestive track of their's. You have to give them some type of veggie matter and you have to keep it moving. Peas are excellent. Blanch them then pop them out of their shells. Mine eat them like candy lol!
HBH Sprio pellets are good too. They are soft and east to digest. Your Terror probably didn't have a swim bladder problem but an excess of gas in his digestive track that he couldn't displace. It mimics swim bladder to some extent. True swim bladder the fish cannot swim usually stays on it's side or upside down and cannot dive.
A friend had a Terror that was a nose down swimmer. Thought for sure it was a goner.
This person put it in a another tank put a cup of epsom salt in the tank every other day and in a week it was swiming upright again!
If it is not contipation then it is either parasitic or Bacterial.
Since most vets don't do fecal samples on fish lol! I would do parasites first.
If he is still eating you can try Jungles Parasite food. It has both Metro and Praziquil in it.
You may have to stave him again before he eats it. Not many fish in my experence eat it.
You can make your own paste food and add Metro to it. I am sure there is a section on this website or the internet on doing that or join your local fish club!
In reality fish don't absorb most meds very well. To fight internal problems in most cases they need to injested it. Metro is a great drug but really needs to be injested to work.
I have done a lot of work work with these fish and found one drug that works really well.
Flubendazole. It is readly absorbed by the fish. In my experience safe and it works!
I found it to be effective against a wide variety of internal parasites including heximatia, nemotiodes and flukes. However you have to use for a month. Then follow up every three months or so. Before every treatment you do a 50% water change. You have to dilute it with very hot water or clear alcohoL like vodka. I always add Stress Zyme after my water changes to make sure my bacterial bed is good.
If that isn't it that I would go with Maraycyn II. It is Minocycline which is one of the few antibotics that is actually absorbed by fish. Do the full ten day treatment.
They are a tough fish to keep healthy as they get bigger. Some people have no problems at all. I think a lot of this has to do with diet and water conditions.
Hope you find this helpful.....
deadhead;4634843; said:
Great info, much appreciated...I have him quarantined and am noticing that his stomach is concaved a bit. I soaked some pellets in Metro and than froze them, I think he may have eaten a couple, hard to tell since he didn't go after them immediately. I also have added epsom salt and turned the heat up to 84, and doing water changes every 2 days... We'll see...
Ok here's an update on this GT, have him QT'd, he's eating some, and have his food treated with Metro. Also have fed him peas and have used some epsom salts. Been doing this for 2 weeks seems like he's doing ok, but notice sometimes his fecal matter is regular/brownish other times it's long string white/clear. How much longer shall I treat him? Any other suggestions?
whitish fecal material is indicative of parasites. I would continue the good job you are doing for some time more
Ok, another update, I'm still treating this Green Terror, he's still eating pellets that have been soaked in Metro and then frozen, but he doesn't seem to making any progress. He still have a very indented side, and just doesn't really look correct, it's been 6 weeks. At what point should I give up and euthanize?