What's wrong with my Yellow Lab?

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markot

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jun 22, 2014
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It's a new aquarium, it is cycled, I've added fish to this tank 5 days ago. All other fish are swimming around happily, but this guy doesn't look happy. He likes to sit on this rock a lot and looks very shy. There's no aggression between fish yet.
Water parameters are good. Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 20-40, PH 7.5, temp 25c.
I can't get nitrates lower, because our tap water has at least 20-40...
What's wrong with him?

 
I had an Acei start doing this a few weeks ago.
Does it seem like it's balancing on its tail with its head pointing towards the surface?
Does it not move much and tend not to go after food?

Mine did this, I first thought it was just a bullied fish and it was scared to come out.
I later thought that it might be mild swim bladder disease.
I fed it some crushed peas and two days later it seemed completely fine.
I don't know if this is what's happening to your fish, but it's worth a go.


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He just keeps by himself away from other fishes. And yes, he didn't eat much either now that I think of it.
I will try to get some food to him.
He was the most active fish in the fish store though.
 
He still doesn't want to eat. Flakes literally floated in front of him, but he didn't want to eat. And he still keeps to himself. He's been laying on the floor for the past few days most of the time.
I don't know what do.
 
He still doesn't want to eat. Flakes literally floated in front of him, but he didn't want to eat. And he still keeps to himself. He's been laying on the floor for the past few days most of the time.
I don't know what do.


Are you sure SHE isn't holding?

If you're sure it's a definite male then it must just be getting bullied.

If it hasn't been eating for this long then I would assume it's either holding or just too scared to come out.


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I have aquarium next to my desk and he's not getting bullied. Actually there seems to be absolutely not aggression in the tank (yet).

When I feed he comes out swimming with other fish but never takes food and then goes back to his spot.

I'm not 100% sure whether it's male or female. However, when I purchased the fish last week I was told it was a male.

If it's a female, how can I tell if she is actually holding? At what size can they breed anyway? The fish is only about 5 cm long.
 
I have aquarium next to my desk and he's not getting bullied. Actually there seems to be absolutely not aggression in the tank (yet).

When I feed he comes out swimming with other fish but never takes food and then goes back to his spot.

I'm not 100% sure whether it's male or female. However, when I purchased the fish last week I was told it was a male.

If it's a female, how can I tell if she is actually holding? At what size can they breed anyway? The fish is only about 5 cm long.


Well unless it was vented there and then as you bought it, there's no way the person you were buying off could've known its gender.

A holding female will generally look pretty normal unless you're looking closely.
Her mouth should be moving around a lot, or it should look like she's breathing heavily.
Her 'chin' would start to look bloated as the eggs grew.
A holding female approaches food when you present it to her but she will maybe peck at it and retreat away.
If she's been holding for a while she will start to look skinny since she is starving herself.

Oh and believe me, at 5cm it is absolutely possible that she could breed.
I know a breeder who's had 3 month old fry holding.


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Alright, thank you. I hope it's a holding female then and not some illness. I guess I can only wait now.
Will update this thread when something happens.
 
I took some close-ups of the fish (click for full size). Can you tell anything from these photos?

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I'm pretty sure she's not holding. Her bucal cavity would be more prominent. He (males have a deep black line on their dorsal fin - looks male to me) has a nip on his tail and my guess would be that he's probably being nipped at or bullied.


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I'm pretty sure she's not holding. Her bucal cavity would be more prominent. He (males have a deep black line on their dorsal fin - looks male to me) has a nip on his tail and my guess would be that he's probably being nipped at or bullied.


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He already had that nip on the fin when I bought him.
 
How long ago did you purchase him?


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About a week ago. There doesn't seem to be any aggression in the tank yet.
 
I politely disagree on that. I think this may me female after all. All of my male Labs have defined egg spots on their anal fins & I can't even see a faint egg spot on any of those pics. My suggestion would be to try adding something like Melafix or Binox to the tank in case the fish is sick, regardless of gender. I've had similar experience with certain fish with those same symptoms and once I gave a small dose of medicine, they went back to normal. It's worth a try & won't hurt your other fish. In fact, it may help prevent spreading an illness you may be unaware is brewing. ;) Good luck with that little cutie!

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Update...
He went without food for like 3 weeks. Then he started eating slowly and is now back to normal swimming with other fish and eating like a pig.
Cheers!
 
I'm curious, when you added him, did you add any other Cichlids at the same time? How did you acclimate him? I'm just wondering if maybe he had a little acclimation shock from a different PH level or something of that source?
 
I'm curious, when you added him, did you add any other Cichlids at the same time? How did you acclimate him? I'm just wondering if maybe he had a little acclimation shock from a different PH level or something of that source?

I added 6 fish in that day. I was acclimating the fish for about an hour (bag floating in the tank), slowly mixing aquarium water in the bag.
Maybe it was an acclimation shock. I don't know.
 
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