sick Red Devil

[kailasma]

My red devil started to do dolphin type dances with his nose to the gravel about 4 days ago. By the 2nd day, he was sort of curved over and laying either on his side or completely upside down. He lost his appetite too. I was thinking that maybe he ate one of his feeder cray fish whole??? and has a possible obstuction??? he is about 12 1/2 inches long and about 2 1/2 inches wide. We checked the levels in his tank and the nitrates were off the wall. We do have another red devil in there as well- of coarse separated by a divider- its a 180 gallon tank- and there is nothing wrong with the other fish. I have read on how to use the peas, and to soak him in ebs. salt. Does anyone know if this will really work?? PLEASE HELP. I LOVE MY FISH!!!!!!!!

 

[DeLgAdO]

whats the temperature of your tank?

 

[guppy]

If the fish is still eating then green peas can help and food designed for vegetarians also can help some , I have never used epsom salts. Form fish that are not eating you can use cod liver oil, you need to remove the fish to a bucket for treatment (it only takes a few minutes). Just use an eye dropper to put 1/4 -1/2 teaspoon of cod liver oil into the back of the devil's mouth near the glottis, after several minutes you can return it to the tank, then don't feed fora couple days.
Constipation can also be a sign of hexamita so if you are seeing clear or slimy white feces treat the tank with metronidazole or forma-green and when it starts to eat use metro laced food for ten days.
Two other possibilities come to mind.
Is the fish showing signs of bloat? If so you need an antibiotic.
If the constipation has caused a swim bladder infection you will also need an antibiotic such as ttracycline or better yet a sulfa based one like TMP Sulfa.
Since the fish is not eating and acting like it's swimbladder is involved I think I would go ahead with the cod liver oil (at room temp) followed by a sulfa drug, or metro if tthe feces are clear or white.
You also need to find out why the nitrates are high as long term exposure is one of the thing suspected in advancing Hexamita and HITH. Your most likely culprits are build ups of dead/dying bacteria in your substrate or filter housings. A good gravel vac, wiping clean the filter housing, and a couple water changes should take care of it.