Big Ben
Aquarium Advice Freak
The Fish affected: Apistogramma cacatuoides, Female.
She is looking very thin and during feeding she might eat 1-2 items of food but after that she just spits anything else back out. She has been like this for 3 weeks.
The Tank parameters are ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates are barely detectable and definitely under 5 ppm, prob 2-3 ppm.
Temperature is 78 f, 26 celcius.
The pH level is 7.4 and stable at this reading.
The tank is a standard 20 gal.It has been set up for 6-7 months around maybe more.
There are 2 filters on the tank, an AquaClear 20 Power Filter(rated at 100 gph) and a Fluval 1 Plus Underwater Filter (rated at 50 gph).
There are 7 fish in the tank combined. 2 apistogramma cacatuoides including the sick female (male=2.5 inch, female 1 inch), 2 otocinclus catfish(1 inch each), 2 bronze corydora catfish (a bit over an inch each) and 1 jurupari cichlid (1.5 inches). He is 1 week new and I know he will outgrow this tank but it is just until he reaches 3 inches so hell be more safe with 6 inch cichlids in my other tank.
I last did a gravel vacuum with water change 10 days ago of 40%. I do this at least every 2 weeks but usually every 10 days. I'm really fussy with water quality and stress when nitrate is higher then 30 ppm. With all the plants I have there is never any nitrate reading or if there is, it is never higher then 5 ppm. I do large water changes just in case I'm overdosing on plant nutrients although I'm pretty sure I don't. I beleive that my plants may have a nitrate deficiency actually and I'm hoping the jurupari can help the plants out a little. Theres never any nitrate reading or if any barely detectable, but thats another post in another forum.
I've had the fish for 6 weeks. It was acclimated with the drip method.
Only thing new is the jurupari. This has been a problem though for almost a month, long before he arrived. The problem has become worse where she is eating less and less.
I feed frozen brine shrimp. In the past week I've tried to see if she'll go for frozen blood worms and freeze dried bloodworms and flake food. Wont touch the flakes and have had the same result with bloodworms as with brine shrimp. She might eat 1 small worm or 1 small shrimp. After that she will go for more food but will continue to spit the food out.
In contrast to her, the male will eat like theres no tomorrow and loves everything other then flake food. All other fish eating great.
Let me go over the males behavior towards her since I've had them. For some time he did not take much notice to her. Then a week or so later he became competitive with her for food and would chase her a bit, bit she still got some food. Lately however he does not bother her at feeding time and does let her eat. He will show off to her with his fins quite often. I'm almost wondering though if his presence in the tank is somewhat stressing her as I know it has before. He eats well and has a nice full size body so I'm thinking he would definitely be ready to breed, the female being in the completely opposite situation, she is therefor stressed making her not eat or making whatever is affecting her worse. I don't know if this is it or part of it, but i thought that this info should be considered as it may have some effect on her condition.
Perhaps even just having her in her own tank seperated will improve her condition. Still I would like to know if I should treat her for anything or if she has a disease/parasite.
I've been on a few diagnostic sites and have a feeling of a few things it might be but I'm not confident in my ability to diagnose or treat fish for anything other then ich
.
I have a 5 gal bare bottom medical tank waiting for her with a bacteria colonized boxfilter and I picked up a sponge filter device to add which eventually will be the sole filter for it. Any advice on what to do or opinions on what might be affecting her to not eat I would greatly appreciate,
Ben.
She is looking very thin and during feeding she might eat 1-2 items of food but after that she just spits anything else back out. She has been like this for 3 weeks.
The Tank parameters are ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates are barely detectable and definitely under 5 ppm, prob 2-3 ppm.
Temperature is 78 f, 26 celcius.
The pH level is 7.4 and stable at this reading.
The tank is a standard 20 gal.It has been set up for 6-7 months around maybe more.
There are 2 filters on the tank, an AquaClear 20 Power Filter(rated at 100 gph) and a Fluval 1 Plus Underwater Filter (rated at 50 gph).
There are 7 fish in the tank combined. 2 apistogramma cacatuoides including the sick female (male=2.5 inch, female 1 inch), 2 otocinclus catfish(1 inch each), 2 bronze corydora catfish (a bit over an inch each) and 1 jurupari cichlid (1.5 inches). He is 1 week new and I know he will outgrow this tank but it is just until he reaches 3 inches so hell be more safe with 6 inch cichlids in my other tank.
I last did a gravel vacuum with water change 10 days ago of 40%. I do this at least every 2 weeks but usually every 10 days. I'm really fussy with water quality and stress when nitrate is higher then 30 ppm. With all the plants I have there is never any nitrate reading or if there is, it is never higher then 5 ppm. I do large water changes just in case I'm overdosing on plant nutrients although I'm pretty sure I don't. I beleive that my plants may have a nitrate deficiency actually and I'm hoping the jurupari can help the plants out a little. Theres never any nitrate reading or if any barely detectable, but thats another post in another forum.
I've had the fish for 6 weeks. It was acclimated with the drip method.
Only thing new is the jurupari. This has been a problem though for almost a month, long before he arrived. The problem has become worse where she is eating less and less.
I feed frozen brine shrimp. In the past week I've tried to see if she'll go for frozen blood worms and freeze dried bloodworms and flake food. Wont touch the flakes and have had the same result with bloodworms as with brine shrimp. She might eat 1 small worm or 1 small shrimp. After that she will go for more food but will continue to spit the food out.
In contrast to her, the male will eat like theres no tomorrow and loves everything other then flake food. All other fish eating great.
Let me go over the males behavior towards her since I've had them. For some time he did not take much notice to her. Then a week or so later he became competitive with her for food and would chase her a bit, bit she still got some food. Lately however he does not bother her at feeding time and does let her eat. He will show off to her with his fins quite often. I'm almost wondering though if his presence in the tank is somewhat stressing her as I know it has before. He eats well and has a nice full size body so I'm thinking he would definitely be ready to breed, the female being in the completely opposite situation, she is therefor stressed making her not eat or making whatever is affecting her worse. I don't know if this is it or part of it, but i thought that this info should be considered as it may have some effect on her condition.
Perhaps even just having her in her own tank seperated will improve her condition. Still I would like to know if I should treat her for anything or if she has a disease/parasite.
I've been on a few diagnostic sites and have a feeling of a few things it might be but I'm not confident in my ability to diagnose or treat fish for anything other then ich
. I have a 5 gal bare bottom medical tank waiting for her with a bacteria colonized boxfilter and I picked up a sponge filter device to add which eventually will be the sole filter for it. Any advice on what to do or opinions on what might be affecting her to not eat I would greatly appreciate,
Ben.
