In a 55 I have 3 Angelfish all about 3 inches long TL. There is also a 4 inch Pimelodus blochii, and the intended stars of the tank are two Herichthys pearsei "red fin", one nearing 7 inches and the other about 5 and a half.
They are less than a month in the tank, but aside from thh blochii I've discovered something I've never experienced before; all the cichlids refuse any food except frozen and freeze dried Bloodworms.
I wasn't too concerned and figured in time I could get them to accept a wider variety. However, while looking and otherwise acting perfectly healthy, both pearsei (which started off as tentative eaters to begin with) were eating more and more tentatively. They got to the point of taking one or two bloodworms and then simply grazing the rest off the bottom over time.
I couldn't see any indication of problems otherwise in coloration, comportment, or skin, no pinched belly, nothing. Until a few days ago when while staring intently at them to see if anything was wrong, I noticed an extremely tiny white thread hanging from the smaller fish's anus. Aha! Something to fight and a reason for their timid and picky eating!
I was looking for PraziPro but the store I was at had Jungle's "Parasite Guard" which claims to include Praziquantel. So despite the otherwise normal behavior by the angels (aside from the finicky eating) I decided to treat the whole tank just in case. This was on Monday afternoon.
Tuesday night I discovered the larger pearsei on its side under a piece of wood. I figured maybe it was swimming through the crevices and got stuck, so I moved the wood and the fish shot to the top so hard that it slammed against the glass lid, then shot around the tank slamming into everything in sight before once again settling on its side now under a different piece of wood.
I did an immediate 25 percent water change thinking that it had to be reacting to the Jungle Cure (I'd have done more but was just about late for work already), and another one today. There is no change in its behavior. No other fish shows any change in behavior, and I've not seen any sign of parasites on the smaller pearsei.
The larger fish displays very labored breathing, some pale discoloration on its sides, but no other sign of distress! The other fish are behaving as if nothing has happened except for the smaller pearsei which seems to be a little freaked out by what's happening to the other one. I've only seen this kind of behavior in fish which had parasitic infections that had gone so far as to affect the brain, but this fish didn't act like this until AFTER treatment!
Any ideas?
Tank 55 gal
temp 80
ph 6.8
Weekly water changes are the norm.
They are less than a month in the tank, but aside from thh blochii I've discovered something I've never experienced before; all the cichlids refuse any food except frozen and freeze dried Bloodworms.
I wasn't too concerned and figured in time I could get them to accept a wider variety. However, while looking and otherwise acting perfectly healthy, both pearsei (which started off as tentative eaters to begin with) were eating more and more tentatively. They got to the point of taking one or two bloodworms and then simply grazing the rest off the bottom over time.
I couldn't see any indication of problems otherwise in coloration, comportment, or skin, no pinched belly, nothing. Until a few days ago when while staring intently at them to see if anything was wrong, I noticed an extremely tiny white thread hanging from the smaller fish's anus. Aha! Something to fight and a reason for their timid and picky eating!
I was looking for PraziPro but the store I was at had Jungle's "Parasite Guard" which claims to include Praziquantel. So despite the otherwise normal behavior by the angels (aside from the finicky eating) I decided to treat the whole tank just in case. This was on Monday afternoon.
Tuesday night I discovered the larger pearsei on its side under a piece of wood. I figured maybe it was swimming through the crevices and got stuck, so I moved the wood and the fish shot to the top so hard that it slammed against the glass lid, then shot around the tank slamming into everything in sight before once again settling on its side now under a different piece of wood.
I did an immediate 25 percent water change thinking that it had to be reacting to the Jungle Cure (I'd have done more but was just about late for work already), and another one today. There is no change in its behavior. No other fish shows any change in behavior, and I've not seen any sign of parasites on the smaller pearsei.
The larger fish displays very labored breathing, some pale discoloration on its sides, but no other sign of distress! The other fish are behaving as if nothing has happened except for the smaller pearsei which seems to be a little freaked out by what's happening to the other one. I've only seen this kind of behavior in fish which had parasitic infections that had gone so far as to affect the brain, but this fish didn't act like this until AFTER treatment!
Any ideas?
Tank 55 gal
temp 80
ph 6.8
Weekly water changes are the norm.
