Demasoni losing colour - sick or picked on?

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Suite113

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 15, 2012
Messages
14
Location
Australia
I've got a demasoni who's been hanging around the tip corner of my tank a lot but still swimming around. I think it's being picked on but I'm worried that it might actually have a disease. I separated it from the other fish yesterday in a hatchery but it looks worse. It's losing colour in the back half of its body and seems to be turning white on its underside but it doesn't look fuzzy more like pigmentation. All the other fish seem fine. Parameters are ph 8, nitrate & nitrite 0, ammonia 0. It's a 165l tank with 2 demasoni, 2 peacocks, 2 maingano, 2 red zebras, 2 cobalt blues, 2 electric yellows & a bristle nose.
 

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Suite113 said:
It seems to be quite bloated and like its having trouble breathing.

Have you noticed what color his waste is. Breathing heavy hanging at top it bottom of tank white streaked feces bloating are all signs of bloat. There are ways of treating if caught in time but even then survival rate is low. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/malawi_bloat.php
Hope that helps. And I hope your fish doesn't have it.
 
My poor lil guy died this morning :( his waste was white does this point to bloat as well? Thanks for the link. Do you think I should treat my tank for bloat as the article suggests it could be contagious ? Do you think bloat is contagious. All the others seem fine.
 
I have read that giving peas help constipation in fish. Maybe that would help? All I know is that I had two goats die on me from "bloat".... It made me really mad to find out the vet was wrong..
 
Suite113 said:
My poor lil guy died this morning :( his waste was white does this point to bloat as well? Thanks for the link. Do you think I should treat my tank for bloat as the article suggests it could be contagious ? Do you think bloat is contagious. All the others seem fine.

I've never had to deal with bloat fortunately... Knock on wood. So as for further treatment recommendations I'm sure somebody on here can help. Maybe try starting a thread in the unhealthy fish section of the freshwater forums. Sorry for your loss. Losing fish sucks.
 
I lean heavily toward the school that bloat is caused by a gastrointestinal parasitic protozoan. I've read various cures and can't say yea or nay 'bout most of 'em due to lack of experience, but I'll swear by metronidazole (or "metro" for short).

As for bein' contagious or not, I can't honestly say. The book is open on this, as well. I've had single fish in a tank get it and I've had multiple fish in a tank get it. Whether they all got it due to the same conditions or because the parasite spread I never have determined, and have never let it run it's course to see if it spread or not.

WYite
 
Wyomingite said:
I lean heavily toward the school that bloat is caused by a gastrointestinal parasitic protozoan. I've read various cures and can't say yea or nay 'bout most of 'em due to lack of experience, but I'll swear by metronidazole (or "metro" for short).

As for bein' contagious or not, I can't honestly say. The book is open on this, as well. I've had single fish in a tank get it and I've had multiple fish in a tank get it. Whether they all got it due to the same conditions or because the parasite spread I never have determined, and have never let it run it's course to see if it spread or not.

WYite

Thanks for the advice. I've done some research and apparently in Australia you need a prescription for 'metro'. I'm just hoping that the others are fine but just in case do you recommend anything else in particular?

The lady that I spoke with at the aquarium believes that it's not contagious and believes from the photos that it was probably stress that caused it. I don't think she thought it was bloat necessarily either. Whatever it was I hope the others don't get it.
 
bigbanker said:
Aww sorry to hear that. What are you feeding your fish

I know some people would say its only a fish but I feel so bad when I lose one :( I had angel fish about 4 years ago and lost them all except for my bristlenose which I've still got. All of my tank parameters were perfect & they were even breeding so was at a loss to why they all died. Only thing I could think of was that they'd had live blood worms not long before I lost them. I guess that's why I haven't bought any more until now.

I'm feeding them hikari cichlid excel, omega one cichlid flakes & new life spectrum cichlid formula. I've also got some 'today' freeze dried tubifex worms but haven't fed them those yet.

Do you recommend anything else?
 
I know the feeling. Its never just a fish when you care.

I believe the type of cichlid you have should be eating veggies and not tons of protein. I could be mistaken though. Perhaps some squash ?
 
Yea mbunas require a diet higher in veggies than protein. While you don't want to stop protein all together you def want to limit it. I feed exclusively NLS pellets to my cichlids with occasionalcut up veggies. With NLS you really don't need to supplement with any other kind of food.
 
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