Skinny Cardinal with Sunken Belly

[RightTurnClyde]

I'm currently treating my tank for Ich using high heat and a dose of Kordon Ich Attack every day. I'm pretty sure it got into my tank from a school of 10 Cardinal Tetras that I've had for about a month now. There is one Cardinal in particular that has always been the "runt" of the school. He's very skinny and now I'm noticing his belly is noticeably sunken. He has always behaved just like the others. Healthy appetite, no buoyancy or swimming problems. I went back to the mom and pop LFS where I purchased them and the owner said they have had bad luck with the last few batches of Cardinals and that they can't keep them alive. I don't think they maintain their tanks as often as I do, however, so I'm having better luck than him.

Is my skinny guy sick with internal parasites or some kind of worm that is wasting him away? How can I treat it? I'm already feeding the tank with NLS Thera A pellets to try and help with parasites.

Tank specs: 29 Gallon, pool filter sand substrate, moderately planted, low light.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <10

Other tank mates (that show no signs of sickness, not even the Ich):
1 Silver Molly
5 Zebra Danios
MTS

 

[Delapool]

Does seem like parasites if he is eating but losing weight. Is there any redness around the anal area on the fish? Is poop normal?

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Tough to tell, he's so tiny. I've never seen my cardinals poop. At least, it doesn't hang off them for a while like my Molly who always seems to he pooping. As far as I can tell they quickly "eject" some brown specs that disintegrate quickly.

 

[Delapool]

Does he have ich now? It could be just a reaction to the meds, etc if there is nothing else and he wasn't in top shape to start.

Can you QT at all?

I've got a couple of mollies in QT at the moment that are pretty thin and I slipped up when buying. I'm leaving them in there for a bit of quiet and to see if I can build them up as I think they would be just too weak to handle life in the main tank. If they change for the worse I was going to try anti-parasite meds as the QT is as good as it gets for a fish but at the moment I'm hoping.

 

[RightTurnClyde]

He had Ich, but isn't showing spots at the moment. I'm finally on the other side of the disease. There are only a couple spots visible on a couple fins now. Hopefully another week of treatment will eradicate it. The skinny guy is still kicking around like normal.

Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of a QT. Our house is small and my wife would kill me if I started up another tank. LOL.

Good luck with your Mollies. Mine is the "queen of the tank." They have quite a bit of personality.

 

[BBradbury]

Your Fish

Hello Right...

Your description reads like Wasting Disease or what used to be called "Consumption". I've seen it before in male Guppies. You can start an aggressive water change routine by changing half the tank water a couple of times a week and add a bit of standard aquarium salt to the new, treated tap water, a couple of teaspoons for every 5 gallons and raise the temperature in the tank 10 degrees. Do a good job of vacuuming the bottom material too. Follow these step until you see improvement or the fish dies. If your fish has a parasite, then these steps can help. It really depends on how far the disease has progressed.

I would avoid putting medications into the tank. You don't know how they will affect the other fish, any plants you have or the good bacteria.

B

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Thanks B. The tank is already as hot as I can make it because I'm treating for Ich right now. It's at 86+. I'm doing 30% water changes twice a week, and that's about the most I have time for with two little kids. I'm just going to have to hope for the best at this point.

 

[Delapool]

He had Ich, but isn't showing spots at the moment. I'm finally on the other side of the disease. There are only a couple spots visible on a couple fins now. Hopefully another week of treatment will eradicate it. The skinny guy is still kicking around like normal.

Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of a QT. Our house is small and my wife would kill me if I started up another tank. LOL.

Good luck with your Mollies. Mine is the "queen of the tank." They have quite a bit of personality.

Yes, I got asked the other day as the QT looked 'very permanent'

Let us know how he gets on.