Striped raphael catfish not eating!

[convict360]

First off, in terms of not eating, 11 days sounds like a long time but raph's usually have a lot of fat, and fish can go a couple of weeks without eating if its not a regular thing.

Secondly, you could just put off all the lights until you get the driftwood, your Raphael will de-stress a bit that way. When he's less stressed he'll eat, dont expect them to do anything except stick their spines out and lie motionless when they're shocked

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[divemaster99]

First off, in terms of not eating, 11 days sounds like a long time but raph's usually have a lot of fat, and fish can go a couple of weeks without eating if its not a regular thing.

Secondly, you could just put off all the lights until you get the driftwood, your Raphael will de-stress a bit that way. When he's less stressed he'll eat, dont expect them to do anything except stick their spines out and lie motionless when they're shocked

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Well I feed and fed him daily so it was and is a regular thing.
Will my danios and pleco be able to find food in the dark, they weren't once when I tried it.
Oh and my raph always comes out during the day to eat as well, he sort of adapted to be that way, it's nice but id rather have him eat in general at this point.

 

[divemaster99]

Day 14 no signs of eating. He has also started shedding his slime coat for some reason. He backs shakes around vigorously and pieces of slime coat go flying. The remaining stuff on him looks tattered and messy, why is he doing this and could is be linked with not eating?

 

[divemaster99]

Day 15: tried and tried to swallow a TINY piece of algae wafer (he has eaten whole pieces before) but couldn't get it down. He also keeps hacking up slime coat so I fear he may be diseased

 

[heatherbeast]

Eeep, this sounds like a protozoal parasite. That may explain the lack of appetite, these can attack and inflame the gut. I would recommend metronidazole and soaking food in 3% epsom salt, or bathing the fish daily in an epsom salt bath at a rate of 1 tbsp/gallon for 30 minutes.

I think the excess slime may be from pH fluctuations, check your water parameters again. If that is fine and the fish isn't improving, look closely at your raphael to see if there are yellowish, tan or gold flecks in it. That may be velvet, which also has specific drugs for treatment.

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[divemaster99]

Eeep, this sounds like a protozoal parasite. That may explain the lack of appetite, these can attack and inflame the gut. I would recommend metronidazole and soaking food in 3% epsom salt, or bathing the fish daily in an epsom salt bath at a rate of 1 tbsp/gallon for 30 minutes.

I think the excess slime may be from pH fluctuations, check your water parameters again. If that is fine and the fish isn't improving, look closely at your raphael to see if there are yellowish, tan or gold flecks in it. That may be velvet, which also has specific drugs for treatment.

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oh jeez, well I have Epsom salt and can give him a bath in it (just regular Epsom salts).
Um I just realized, can people get this exact parasite my fish might have and are my other fish susceptible to?
what are some other things I can do to help?