Something wrong with my midas

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Sinister-Kisses

Sinister-Kisses

Aimara
MFK Member
Jan 19, 2022
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BC, Canada
Not really sure what's going on with my boy here. He's about a year old (guessing, based on his size when I got him in April of last year) and has always been totally healthy. 2-3 days ago I noticed him swimming mildly with this nose down/butt in the air and his anal fin really clamped, but he straightened out when he saw me come into the room so I've just been keeping an eye on him. Yesterday I added salt to the tank, which is my default move when a fish starts acting wonky before I get into actual medications. This morning, when I peek around the corner into the fish room and he doesn't know I'm there, he's almost entirely vertical sometimes like in the video. Anal fin totally clamped up, but tail and dorsal not. No visible marks or things I'm concerned about, except that he's maybe looking a bit thin where his anal fin meets his body - though maybe I'm being paranoid now that I'm LOOKING for issues. Has been eating, watched him take a couple pellets last night at dinner before I walked away to feed the others. The fry look totally fine as you can see. He moved into this tank - 6 ft, 125gal - at the end of December with his mate, and these fry were a result of their spawn less than a week after that. I removed the female a week ago when he beat on her, so now it's just him and the fry. No new additions, nothing changed except the female being removed. Water changes are 40-50% every Saturday. Tank is filtered by an Aquaclear 110, and two medium-sized sponge filters.

Out of concern this morning at seeing him like this, I have dosed the tank with Metroplex. I've read that swimming head down like this can be a symptom of hexamita, but I've never ever actually had to deal with hexamita before so it was kind of a knee-jerk reaction.

Could be swim bladder? Looking for some help diagnosing and what I should do for him.

https://flic.kr/p/2n69qpY

https://flic.kr/p/2n68f1C
 
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I know this may sound silly, but?
Are the fry picking at his slime coat when he assumes the odd/submissive position?
I had a haitiensus male, that would go into that same subordinate position, and when he did, the fry (similar in size) would pick at his sides.
It got to a point where they ate a gaping hole in his side, and to save him from sacrificing himself to his fry, I removed him.
Although he would occasionally shake them off, most of the time he just allowed them to graze.
 
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...they totally do pick at him particularly on his underside. They have always done, used to pick at mom too when she was in the tank, but didn't realize it actually could get to the point of being harmful to the parents. I honestly kind of expected him to start snacking on them once he and mom split up, but he's left them be in the last week since she was removed - and the week before that when she was divided in the tank to protect her.

Hmm. Maybe time to go baby fish hunting. Will fry only pick at their parent's slime coats? I don't *really* want to cull the fry, they're starting to marble now and I'd like to see if I get a "stunner" out of the group. But I don't have an extra tank for him to go into...so to save the try, I'd have to move them into my 8ft tank with the other, one-month-older midas spawn from a different pair. There are other fish in the tank though...a pair of marbled fenestratus about the same size as dad here, a couple of juvie cutteri, etc. I don't want to move them and have them do the same thing to a different fish.
 
I would remove the father to a different tank.
I don't think he is diseased or needs meds.
He is martyring himself to the fry.
The fry need to be fed lots of small meals (8-12) throughout the day, or they will canalize the parents, and good parents allow it.
Other cichlids (other than parents may just eat the fry, or ....if they do (and they do sometimes) adopt the a school of fry, may meet the same fate.
 
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Okay thanks. Will go baby fishing after work and pull the little buggers out. Hopefully Tolken (dad) gets some peace and goes back to normal after that. Thanks!
 
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Alright, just finished up removing all his needy little vampire children lol. He now has his 6ft tank entirely to himself for the first time in his life, and that's how it will stay. He got a 50% water change (partly to get some clean water to help him recover, and partly because there was no way I was catching like 100 or so 1" or smaller fry with it full. I threw in some StressGuard as well to help his slime coat recover. Will see how he does in the next few days. The more I think about it, the more I think the fry over eating his slime coat is the likely issue. All was fine until not long after mom was removed, and the fry were picking at him exclusively rather than split between the two parents.

I did save 5 of the fry who had clearly started to fade, threw them into the 8ft with the older midas spawn and tankmates. Even if the larger cichlids allow them to pick at them, 5 isn't enough to do any damage. The rest were culled.
 
He seems much better today. Swimming normally again now, and no clamped anal fin. Thanks for the help! Looks like I missed two of the little vampires though, not enough to be a bother for him so I'll see if he snacks on them at some point or continues to let them share his space in peace.
 
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Sinister-Kisses said:
He seems much better today. Swimming normally again now, and no clamped anal fin. Thanks for the help! Looks like I missed two of the little vampires though, not enough to be a bother for him so I'll see if he snacks on them at some point or continues to let them share his space in peace.
Click to expand...
Cool beans glad to hear!
 
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