Sorry this is going to be a long post... I just need to write down all my thoughts.
I moved a month ago, and ever since then my convict hasn't been quite right. I made sure to acclimate him slowly to the local water. His appetite hasn't been good since the move, but he tends to be sensitive that way and picky about his food. His appetite has gotten drastically worse in the last week. Yesterday I noticed him repeatedly flashing his left side onto objects in the tank, and swimming around with his fins clamped. He also would intermittently sit on the bottom of the tank and stop moving (gills, even), and look as if he fell asleep. A minute or two later he'd swim again. He had one episode of stringy white poop yesterday, but then again he hasn't eaten in days so I think that's due to an empty GI tract.
He's housed with five healthy longfin zebra danios that I got at Petco. I worry very much that they have passed something on to him, but they were healthy through their two-week quarantine and show no signs of disease. My betta (in a separate tank) got velvet two weeks ago from plants I bought at Petco, and I'm successfully treating that. I haven't shared any aquarium equipment between the two tanks, but I'm starting to wonder if something similar is occuring with my con because I now know there was velvet in the tank system at Petco.
He's in a 29g tank. Water quality has always been great. Ammonia = 0, Nitrite = 0, Nitrate = 5-10 ppm. pH is 8.0 here. I do weekly 50% water changes and treat the water with Prime. Tank temperature is steady at 80 F. I always add one rounded tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons of water in the tank.
I'm a bit confused about his symptoms, but the clamped fins and flashing lead me towards external parasites (although I can't see any on him or any of the other fish). Over the last 36 hours I've increased the salt content in the tank to 1 tablespoon per gallon, and he's tolerated that well. I also added copper sulfate (a risky decision but it would treat both ich and velvet if he had either), and I'm slowly raising the tank temperature from 80 to 85-86 F. I don't know what else to do for him... sometimes he looks ok and then his fins will clamp, he'll sit on the bottom of the tank, and he'll look as if he's going down for the count.
He's my favorite fish, my first cichlid I ever got, and I'll be devastated if I lose him. He's 4 years old.
Do you all have any suggestions for what else I could do? Thanks...
I moved a month ago, and ever since then my convict hasn't been quite right. I made sure to acclimate him slowly to the local water. His appetite hasn't been good since the move, but he tends to be sensitive that way and picky about his food. His appetite has gotten drastically worse in the last week. Yesterday I noticed him repeatedly flashing his left side onto objects in the tank, and swimming around with his fins clamped. He also would intermittently sit on the bottom of the tank and stop moving (gills, even), and look as if he fell asleep. A minute or two later he'd swim again. He had one episode of stringy white poop yesterday, but then again he hasn't eaten in days so I think that's due to an empty GI tract.
He's housed with five healthy longfin zebra danios that I got at Petco. I worry very much that they have passed something on to him, but they were healthy through their two-week quarantine and show no signs of disease. My betta (in a separate tank) got velvet two weeks ago from plants I bought at Petco, and I'm successfully treating that. I haven't shared any aquarium equipment between the two tanks, but I'm starting to wonder if something similar is occuring with my con because I now know there was velvet in the tank system at Petco.
He's in a 29g tank. Water quality has always been great. Ammonia = 0, Nitrite = 0, Nitrate = 5-10 ppm. pH is 8.0 here. I do weekly 50% water changes and treat the water with Prime. Tank temperature is steady at 80 F. I always add one rounded tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons of water in the tank.
I'm a bit confused about his symptoms, but the clamped fins and flashing lead me towards external parasites (although I can't see any on him or any of the other fish). Over the last 36 hours I've increased the salt content in the tank to 1 tablespoon per gallon, and he's tolerated that well. I also added copper sulfate (a risky decision but it would treat both ich and velvet if he had either), and I'm slowly raising the tank temperature from 80 to 85-86 F. I don't know what else to do for him... sometimes he looks ok and then his fins will clamp, he'll sit on the bottom of the tank, and he'll look as if he's going down for the count.
He's my favorite fish, my first cichlid I ever got, and I'll be devastated if I lose him. He's 4 years old.
Do you all have any suggestions for what else I could do? Thanks...
hope everything goes well for you