Please help - Sick Kribensis

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PilotGav

Aquarium Advice Regular
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Jun 3, 2012
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We have a single female Krib who has become bloated, faded and lethargic resting on the bottom. She used to have a female friend who passed away naturally a month ago.

She's in a community tank and has gotten along very well for 2 years with our Rummy's, Gouramis and Rasbora.

She's always been very healthy.

I'm thinking this is bloat. I will move her to a hospital tank ASAP and start treatment. Any advice would be appreciated.

My second concern though are for her tankmates. How can I protect them from also getting sick? What steps can I take to "heal" the tank in case there's something they can all catch?

Thanks so much for any advice!


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She probably isn't contagious. You naturally always have things that can make your fish sick in your tank. What I think happened was your fish got depressed or stressed by the loss of her friend and her compromised immune system allowed her to become infected.

I doubt it is fungal or parasitic... It is probably bacterial. Treat her with a bunch of good water changes and if she doesn't show signs of improvement after 5-7 days, Melafix is a great product to use.
 
Thanks Icy. Do you think I can keep her in the community tank or should I still quarantine her?

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I would keep her in the community for a week and see if she gets better. Try to keep the water as pristine as possible during this time with more frequent water changes.

After a week, if she shows no improvement, I would quarantine her and dose with melafix.
 
She's no worse but no better :-(

Ive moved her to a 5G hospital tank with a nice strip of foliage (silk) she's using for comfort. She's so awesome. Even through she's so sick every time I go see her she wiggles out toward my face and sits with me.

I'm dosing with Melafix as instructed on the bottle. Running a bubble stone most of the day to maximize oxygen. Temp is at 80.

If she pulls through I'll get her a mate in a few weeks and make her happy again.

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is she still eating?

I would move the fish to a quarantine tank and dose it with Metronidazole, your local fish store should have it in stock. If it is bloat, melafix is not going to cure it. Keep the water as clean as possible
 
is she still eating?

I would move the fish to a quarantine tank and dose it with Metronidazole, your local fish store should have it in stock. If it is bloat, melafix is not going to cure it. Keep the water as clean as possible

If it is bacterial, my understanding is melafix would cure it.
 
neither melafix or pimafix will cure bloat, you need Metronidazole or clout. If the fish is still eating you can also soak their food in metro and then feed it to them..good luck.
 
To OP,

Epsom salt can help. I suggest researching the use of epsom salt for treating bloat. This should be helpful for you. http://www.oscarfish.com/article-home/healthdisease/119-fish-bloat.html

To Quest,

Melafix is a gram positive treatment while maracyn is gram negative. Bloat can be caused by either. Therefor melafix may be of aid, unless he is 100% sure that the bacterium causing this problem is gram negative. This would involve him taking a bacteria sample, growing a culture, dying it, then looking to see whether it is pink or purple. Pimafix would also be helpful if the bloat is caused by parasites, which could be the case.

An important thing to remember is our fish commonly get sick from things naturally in the tank, just like we do. The OP said his fish lost a mate recently, this would lead us to believe the fish was stressed and its immune system didn't fight off everything it normally would have. This leads to the possibility of a parasitic or bacterial infection.
 
melafix treats bacteria infections or external injuries like fin rot torn fins etc..

Pimafix treats both fungal infections and internal /external bacterial infections.

Bloat is caused by internal parasites, neither melafix or pimafix will be of much use. The epsom salt will.

He needs to treat them with metro and fast or they will all die. I've seen friends whole tanks wiped out.




Symptoms: The first sign of 'bloat' is loss of appetite which is then followed by swelling of the abdomen, labored breathing, listlessness, reclusiveness, possible red striations on the body, and stringy white feces.

There seems to be no explainable rationale as to its cause of bloat. Once a fish becomes afflicted it is often fatal. A fish that is not eating must be treated immediately or it can quickly become incurable and die. Though It is not certain what this disease is, it is generally believed to be caused by a protozoal parasite complicated by bacterial infection. Bloat is a serious malady often associated with African cichlids especially those from Lake Malawi, thus the common name 'Malawi Bloat'. The Tropheus species from Lake Tanganyika are also very susceptible.

The most common cause of this disease is stress and the first sign if illness is not eating. Stress can be caused by such things as transport, netting, poor water quality, insufficient diet, over feeding, and a lack of hiding places. Other causes, that are easily remedied, are an improper diet and adding too much salt to the water. Prevention is of utmost importance, and It is possibly to cure a fish if treated right away.

from cichlid forum:

Some stressors:

1. Low oxygen (O2) levels
2. High nitrite (NO2) levels
3. High nitrate (NO3) levels
4. High ammonia levels (NH3)
5. High or low temperature levels
6. Water pH
7. Lighting
8. Rough handling fish
9. Overcrowding
10. Not enough shelter
11. Harassment
12. Excessive salt
13. Improper diet (specifically herbivores)



Fish Disease and Treatment

Following are some techniques aquarists use:


Some will soak the food in dissolved metronidazol and feed them that for the first few days when first obtained. Seachem makes a metronidazol that can be bound to food when used with their Focus product.

A healthy group of fish will eat with gusto. But even though they can be very active feeders it is important to not overfeed them. Keep an eye on them, and if one is not eating with vigor some aquarists will then treat the tank with Clout.
One author says that they will segregate an ailing fish the second they see signs of not eating, and then will do water changes every day for 5 days in the main aquarium.
Metronidazol is considered the most reliable cure and some use Clout as another cure, but do not use them together.





icy im not trying to say I know better than you, I'm not like that. I'm trying to help the OP save his fish, and if it is bloat he needs to act fast with the right meds
 
icy im not trying to say I know better than you, I'm not like that. I'm trying to help the OP save his fish, and if it is bloat he needs to act fast with the right meds

Sorry if I am coming off that way. Just different experiences is all. You are right about the epsom in combination to metro OR clout. Thanks for the conversation and reading, it's great to have differing views in a community, everyone learns and when done right no one gets offended. I hope I haven't offended you.

To OP, epsom salt baths and metro OR clout will help.
 
all here to help each other man, lets hope his fish makes it. You didn't offend me, I learned something in your posts as well
 
Well I went out to get some Epsom Salts for her and when I got home she'd died. She was happy and playful for three years. I'm glad I had her and her sister. I think I'll set up a new tank and breed some Kribs next.

And now I have a good hospital tank for the future.

Thanks for everyone help!

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Well I went out to get some Epsom Salts for her and when I got home she'd died. She was happy and playful for three years. I'm glad I had her and her sister. I think I'll set up a new tank and breed some Kribs next.

And now I have a good hospital tank for the future.

Thanks for everyone help!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Aquarium Advice mobile app


You could always look into doing a different pelvicachromis species, like taeniatus


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Well I went out to get some Epsom Salts for her and when I got home she'd died. She was happy and playful for three years. I'm glad I had her and her sister. I think I'll set up a new tank and breed some Kribs next.

And now I have a good hospital tank for the future.

Thanks for everyone help!

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Sorry about that. She had a good life, I hope she wasn't in too much pain.
 
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