UPDATE: Now my RPB is sick.

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Dez

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 9, 2007
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Canada
Hey again, for any of you who saw my recent-ish thread about my RPB suddenly not eating anymore (Which has lasted for a month or more already), here's a small update.

He still hasn't touched his food, and now he's horribly ill. A couple days ago I started treating him with Melafix because I noticed his eyes looked a little cloudy and his fins/scales didn't look their best, although not too long before he still had amazing color and looked healthy despite not eating. Well last night I noticed that there was literally almost a ruffle of white tattered flesh circling the base of his right 'forefin' (I don't remember the correct terminology) and he was kind of tipped over and awkward in his movements. Then this morning... I find him laying on his belly at the bottom of the tank, next to the filter, and looking absolutely terrible. His fins all have a vertical white stripe on them, from what I could see from my view angle his eye is totally blaring white, and he has whiteish splotches on his face and lips. Mind you, I can't provide much more detail than that because I had to rush into work this morning, but I'm sure you can imagine how bad it is.

I gave him his dose of Melafix before leaving but beyond that I really have no idea what to do. I know that the pH of his tank was a bit low and the ammonia a bit too high, so I did a small water change a couple days ago. The man at the fish store also mentioned that I could give him a bath in a bucket of water with a teaspoon of epsom salts, as he said it could clean the fish's system if him not eating was an internal issue. Might this still be a good idea? He may even die before I get home for lunch but anything I can do, I will... I aleady had my beta mysteriously get ill and die extremely quickly only days after buying him, and most recently lost my rats to what seemed to be illness as well. I'm at the end of my rope here. I don't know what the hell I'm doing wrong but if there's even a chance I can save my piranha then please let me know.
 
lymphocytis?
 
How long have you been treating with melafix? couple of days is vague answer. and at what doses?

tank size?

What have you been offering it to eat?

Regular tank maitence routine?

Any other info of bits and peices?

Prolly re-hashing questions already asked previously.

He prolly has some form of internal parasite, which can lead to lack of eating or was stressed in some other manner to avoid eating. Going so long without eating weakens any creature, and makes them prone to disease illness. which sounds like the why.

keep your tank lights off, RBP are very shy fish and this will help him feel secure. lowering any stress such as loud music, traffic, ect may sound silly but can help. as for any other advise. need to know more.
 
MonsterMinis;3540007; said:
How long have you been treating with melafix? couple of days is vague answer. and at what doses?

tank size?

What have you been offering it to eat?

Regular tank maitence routine?

Any other info of bits and peices?

Prolly re-hashing questions already asked previously.

He prolly has some form of internal parasite, which can lead to lack of eating or was stressed in some other manner to avoid eating. Going so long without eating weakens any creature, and makes them prone to disease illness. which sounds like the why.

keep your tank lights off, RBP are very shy fish and this will help him feel secure. lowering any stress such as loud music, traffic, ect may sound silly but can help. as for any other advise. need to know more.
Click to expand...


Melafix: Counting today its been 3 days, as he just got his third treatment of it this morning. I don't know if this has any relevance but prior to him no longer eating, I had treated him with Melafix for the full 7 days as directed on the bottle, because he had been issues with his eyes becoming a little bit clouded over and he was getting cuts and tears in his scales (likely due to charging around and hitting his root decor). They healed extremely quickly and his eyes looked better so I stopped after that, then the eating issue began. As of now, I've been giving him the recommended dose of 1 teaspoon per 10 US gallons. Maybe I should add one extra spoonful?

Tank size: 20 gallons. Yes, I know, its too small, but someone had told me its 20 gallons per piranha so I figured it was okay, and I can't yet afford a bigger tank, nor do I have room for one. He's about the length and height of my hand when I hold it flat with my fingers together, but I have small hands so I'm not sure if that info helps a whole lot.

Diet: Shrimp, krill, some times raw chicken... I don't live-feed and I know goldfish are junkfood but I did put two small ones in there just to see if maybe he was sick of pre-dead meals. He did chase them around a bit but every time he got close, he'd open his mouth as if to bite but would then back off and lose interest. He does this with his dead food too... goes to eat it but then backs off. Also, strangely, the goldfish died mere hours after they'd been put into the tank. Not sure if this was due to fear and stress but it makes me worry the water might be way worse than I thought. There's also a chance he may have eaten a piece of one of the goldfish, as I later found a bit of him floating in the tank after I had taken their bodies out, but I can't be sure.

Maintenance routine: 1-2 small water changes throughout the week and a big change at the end of it.

Additional info: Temperature is kept at about 82. Oddly enough, for the past couple of months his tank has been having a lot of problems with green algae, whereas before the tank wouldn't have so much as a spec of it anywhere to be seen. I've been scrubbing it off during the bigger tank cleaning sessions but it comes right back not long after. I find this peculiar because as I said, I NEVER used to see any in there, and I've had this fish for a good 2 years. Now all of a sudden its everywhere and he's stopped eating and gotten ill. Coincidence or no?


I have been keeping the light off as I figured it might bother him, so I've got that part covered. His tank IS near the tv but I'll tell my father to keep the volume down from now on, just in case. If he's still alive when I go home for my lunch, I'll try to get a picture and post it.
 
it's kind of hard to diagnose without pictures, but it could be columnaris if you're seeing white splotches on the fish. can you get some pics?

if you have an average size hand, i would guess the fish is around 6 inches long or so, which is way too big for that tank. i know you can't upgrade, but whatever is wrong with your fish was most likely caused by stress, and a small tank causes lots of stress. the "20 gallon per fish" rule really only applies when you are talking about multiple fish in a big tank, a solo natt really should have AT LEAST a 40 breeder to himself. i know you are already aware of the fact that his tank is too small, but you are going to keep running into problems when you keep a larger fish in such a tiny tank.

the multiple water changes during the week may also be stressing him out depending on how much you change out... on a small tank like that with a large fish, i would recommend 3 10-15% changes during the week.
 
shame. Quebecs got nothin on craigslist. I can find 55 gallons for as low as 50-100 bucks fully set up here and i'm not even in a big U.S. city.
 
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