OK help me out

[aaronfeeney]

Alkittle orange african I just got started swimming all twitchy, resting on bottom, leaning a litle left, then swimming twitchy again.. No normal signs of bloat. This is one of the little orange guys, I got from you Sandnuka,,all others seem fine,.pulled this one into a hospital tub of sorts for now. What do you think it is ,,, how do I treat it?

 

[Mikey]

leaning a little left kind of makes me think of "ich"...but it would most likely be scraping itself on something...hmmm good idea putting him into a hospital tank though so whatever it is doesn't spread!

 

[aaronfeeney]

help me out

it doesn't seem to be itching itself or rubbingon anything lust leaning a bit while lounging around ,,, then suddenly swimming all erattic, then resting again. Do africans show the classic ich symptoms,, all the little white spots and such? he doesn't have that symptom yet ,,, just asking

 

[Mikey]

yes if he has ich he'll be scratching on something. not sure what's wrong with him though. anyone else??

 

[lars on]

I have had that happen with tetra disease but I doubt its what your guy has. You dosing him with Melafix?

 

[aaronfeeney]

help

ok this morning the fish is rubbing his gills on the bottom of the tub,,,, lars you may have got this one , gill flukes??? , i added malafix and we'll see how this guy does after work. I hope this was the right treatment,.

 

[CrashSmAshley]

I agree, it most definitely sounds like flukes or other parasites. You might wanna treat the other tank too since skin/gill flukes have a free-form life stage where they live in the water and don't need a host, therefore not needing direct contact with the infected fish for the others to catch it. Praziquantel should help; look for any medicines that have that in them.

 

[aaronfeeney]

ammonia

even though I got a clean ammonia test, the symptoms match the latest article I just read ,, exactly.. I will test again to be sure my test was good. If this guy was overly stressed he would show symptoms before the others ,, he was new in my tank.

 

[CrashSmAshley]

even though I got a clean ammonia test, the symptoms match the latest article I just read ,, exactly.. I will test again to be sure my test was good. If this guy was overly stressed he would show symptoms before the others ,, he was new in my tank.

Well, it sounds like you nailed the source of the problem. Let us know if you need any help with treatments; make sure to keep that guy quarantined just in case the parasites didn't get a chance to spread. Good luck!

 

[sandnuka]

Uh oh! one of the lil' guys you got from me! Thats not good..... oh, you mean the tiny tiny little guys I gave you right??? Well, if none of the other fish are acting infected I hope it wasnt from my tank!! And its definetly not ICH... you wouldve noticed the white spots....
Let me know how things turn out, and if any of the other guys you got from me start dying off. Wich i really doubt will happen..... keep us updated!

 

[Lilydog]

Did you do a nitrate test since no ammonia? Older fish don't react ( no symptoms)to nitrates sin(specifically rift lake cichlids)since they were brought up in it. New fish dropped in sometimes act funny while adjusting. Gill flukes such as gyridactyls will not respond to melafix( but it does make your tank smell nice). You need something stronger like formalin. I would use qiuck cure(API I think). Cichlids take it like champs(unlike cardinals and rasporas ). I,d do a double dose first in am, wait 12 hours and do a full dose again. Make sure u pull any carbon out of filters because it strips organics (such as melafix or quick cure) out faster than it can be theraputic to the fish. I would then do a 25% water change next day. Repeat till fish dies or gets better. Melafix great for minor external bacterial infections( ie. Bettas get these all the time) but not strong enough for ectoparacites like flukes(rember to eliminate nitrates as source of odd behavoir first, since over 15ppm More likely when affecting one newer fish). Quick cure is like 5% formalin; in school we played with 27% formalin safely for flukes and any ectoparacites. As a matter of fact dissolved formalin at 27% is designer named "paradicide" and is how it is sold wholsale. That is what I would do
lilydog

 

[Lilydog]

Rift lake salt? The epsoms salt is important because it has magnesium in it. It is thought (almost completely proven but definately a consencus) that the magnisium is necissary to keep their digestive tract lubed ( just like milk of magnesium if you are constipated) and most probable cause of rift lake stomachs blight. If you use a marine buffer to keep up your ph instead of a formulated African cichlids salt, it will not have the magnesium and you have to add it in the form of epsoms salt. You didn't say if you did so I thought I would add that too
lilydog

 

[aaronfeeney]

thanks all

I do use rift lake salts from seachem , or api and malawi buffer with water changes, I treated for gill flukes with formalin, api quick cure just to be sure.,, every other fish so far is OK.

 

[sandnuka]

Glad to hear everyone else is doing good! Did you check the Nitrite like lilydog asked? Loosing one little tiny guy happens on occassion... especially in a mixed cichlid tank, stress can get to the little guys..... Keep us updated though on his condition.

 

[Lilydog]

Praziquantel is not a good general (for fresh) drug for paracites (in salt it is the go to drug for tubillarian worms). It is the classic drug for tapeworms( useful if u feed live tubificid worms...another story) or a pond where bird feces hits water(most common source for tapeworms besides live tubifex or black worms). That is why it is usually with metronidizole(heximita) or pipperazine(camilanus worms) or levasimol(general protozoan dewormer). It is rarely (hard to find) alone as primary active ingreedient. None of these affect ecto(external such as gill flukes) paracites really. On big fish hit em hard with formalin malachite combo. Little fish hit em with quinine hydrochloride and methaline blue instead(clown loaches smaller than4" too). Praziquantel does not dissolve very easily into water and often needs a stronger polar solvent like ethyl or methyl alcohol to dissolve it into first. Just not a very useful or practical drug (fresh) and has a few narrow specific uses. Way better off buying quick cure and quinine for drug stash. I always keep a drug stash on hand for emergencies...
-lilydog