Sick demasoni.

[Rlavassor86]

So my demasoni hasn't been eating since yesterday, is breathing pretty rapidly, and has been pretty reclusive. His belly is a little bloated, but I'm not really sure that it is bloat. If it is its a mild case. My paramaters are ammo 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 20-30 ph 8.4 I feed twice daily and skip 7th day. Not really sure what caused it. But anyways I've never had to deal with bloat before so I'm looking for treatment suggestions. I've got an empty 10 gal but no filters. I do have a heater and air stone for it. Would that be ok for qt tank? Also what meds if any should I use? Ill try to get a pic of him after I finish my pwc, I'm doing a 50% right now. I know I've prolly left a lot out so if any other questions just ask. I'm on my phone so posting long stuff sucks for me

 

[HUKIT]

I've had a few cases over the years and all were due to either incorrect diet(largest cause in my research) or stress. After treatment the cause must be corrected or you'll do this all over again. I usually use Parasite Guard by Tetra or even better is Clout by Mardel, I've never lost a fish when using either. I always treat the entire tank, Bloat can be transmitted by mouthing infected feces.

The few main symptoms you'll see are lack of eating(spitting food), reclusiveness, labored breathing, stringy white feces, and lastly comes the bloating.

Below outlines very well the timeline for treatment:

Malawi Bloat

What are you feeding?
What size tank is this?
What are his tank mates?

 

[Rlavassor86]

I've had a few cases over the years and all were due to either incorrect diet(largest cause in my research) or stress. After treatment the cause must be corrected or you'll do this all over again. I usually use Parasite Guard by Tetra or even better is Clout by Mardel, I've never lost a fish when using either. I always treat the entire tank, Bloat can be transmitted by mouthing infected feces.

The few main symptoms you'll see are lack of eating(spitting food), reclusiveness, labored breathing, stringy white feces, and lastly comes the bloating.

Below outlines very well the timeline for treatment:

Malawi Bloat

What are you feeding?
What size tank is this?
What are his tank mates?

New life spectrum pellets. It's a 125 with mostly mbuna with the exception of my electric blue hap a livingstonii and a sunshine peacock. There about 25 fish total. I Do weekly 50% pwc. Running a magnum 350 canister and a cascade 1000 canister

 

[HUKIT]

If your feeding NLS exclusively then you can rule diet out, the next would be stress or on some occasions malawi owners feel the need try use excess salts to replicate the conditions of Lake Malawi and that can lead to Bloat.

If your just seeing symptoms now I'd use the Parasite Guard, it's cheap and harmless to inverts and the bio filter. Make sure you perform 3 rounds of treatment to ensure you're eradicated the parasite. You can use the 10g for QT but be prepared to treat the entire tank if in fact it's Bloat, one sick fish can quickly lead to twenty very quickly.

 

[Rlavassor86]

So should I or should I not turn if my filters during the treatment?

Edit- I just seen your last post so disregard this question

 

[HUKIT]

So should I or should I not turn if my filters during the treatment?

Leave filters on but if your using carbon or Purigen then remove those to prevent them from absorbing the meds.

Day one water change then treat with medication.
Day three 25% water change and dose at full strength.
Day five 25% water change and dose at full strength.

If after the 3rd treatment the fish are acting normal and eating then perform a huge water change, if symptoms persist up to five treatments may be used. Also don't feed during treatment as this will help clean out all the fishes digestive track. And lastly leave overhead lights as these medications can be effected by light and it helps the fish relax more when the lights are off

 

[Rlavassor86]

If your feeding NLS exclusively then you can rule diet out, the next would be stress or on some occasions malawi owners feel the need try use excess salts to replicate the conditions of Lake Malawi and that can lead to Bloat.

If your just seeing symptoms now I'd use the Parasite Guard, it's cheap and harmless to inverts and the bio filter. Make sure you perform 3 rounds of treatment to ensure you're eradicated the parasite. You can use the 10g for QT but be prepared to treat the entire tank if in fact it's Bloat, one sick fish can quickly lead to twenty very quickly.

I just noticed last night that he wasn't eating. Prior to that no symptoms. I spend about an hour a day just watching my fish, and until now he's been fine. I occasionally use the buffer recipe I found on cichlid forum but only if my gh at Kh start to drop. I haven't used any in probably a month. These are the best pics I've been able to get. He finally is out from behind the rock he's been by since yesterday.

 

[HUKIT]

Well he certainly looks bloated, this could either be overfeeding or Bloat. I'd remove him and fast him for a day or two, I'd also add epsom salt dosed at 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons to the 10g as this acts like a natural diuretic. If after a day or two of Epsom salt and fasting the symptoms persist then begin treatment.

 

[Rlavassor86]

If your feeding NLS exclusively then you can rule diet out, the next would be stress or on some occasions malawi owners feel the need try use excess salts to replicate the conditions of Lake Malawi and that can lead to Bloat.

If your just seeing symptoms now I'd use the Parasite Guard, it's cheap and harmless to inverts and the bio filter. Make sure you perform 3 rounds of treatment to ensure you're eradicated the parasite. You can use the 10g for QT but be prepared to treat the entire tank if in fact it's Bloat, one sick fish can quickly lead to twenty very quickly.

Not sure what would be causing stress if that is the case. He's one of the few my red zebra actually leaves alone. Or at least I've never seen him get harassed by the zebra. And there's a lot of caves for hiding.

Some pics of my tank. In the last pic that's actually about 7 diff little caves underneath the flat stones.

 

[Rlavassor86]

Well he certainly looks bloated, this could either be overfeeding or Bloat. I'd remove him and fast him for a day or two, I'd also add epsom salt dosed at 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons to the 10g as this acts like a natural diuretic. If after a day or two of Epsom salt and fasting the symptoms persist then begin treatment.

Ok I'm pulling out the 10 gonna get that set up right now. I can just use the Epsom salt from like Walgreens right? I'm going to stop and get some meds too just to be safe. I don't have a filter for my 10 right now tho. Smallest I've got is an ac 50 running on my planted tank. Will he be ok without a filter on that?

 

[HUKIT]

Ok I'm pulling out the 10 gonna get that set up right now. I can just use the Epsom salt from like Walgreens right? I'm going to stop and get some meds too just to be safe. I don't have a filter for my 10 right now tho. Smallest I've got is an ac 50 running on my planted tank. Will he be ok without a filter on that?

Yes just regular old Epsom salts, Walmart is the cheapest. Running no filter will be fine since you'll be doing water changes frequently, but I would add a airstone for circulation and a heater is required as well. Petsmart or Petco will also have the meds for like $4 a box.

 

[Rlavassor86]

Yes just regular old Epsom salts, Walmart is the cheapest. Running no filter will be fine since you'll be doing water changes frequently, but I would add a airstone for circulation and a heater is required as well. Petsmart or Petco will also have the meds for like $4 a box.

Ok thanks for the help. Hopefully he's just backed up a little and the salt helps.

 

[ezy33]

You could see if it will eat peeled green peas. This will help is the fish is constipated.

 

[Rlavassor86]

His condition seems to be deteriorating quickly.

 

[Rlavassor86]

He's in qt tank now and I'm heading to LFS to get some meds

 

[Rlavassor86]

Ok so I got some Epsom salt and some metro + I dosed the qt tank with metro. Question is should I add Epsom salt to the qt tank or should I make a separate salt bath for him. Guy at the LFS said to make up a separate bath for him. Just wondering some people here have done. Also what dosage of salt do I use. I found online it said 1 tablespoon per gallon. Just want some advice from someone who has experience with this cus I'd rather not kill him by ignorance.

 

[Rlavassor86]

Well my efforts were in vein. He has passed. That all happened really fast. Seems weird he died like 20-30 min after adding the metro +