Apisto Pandurini deformity?

[Molino]

I bought 6 young Apisto Pandurinis at the local fish auction for just $16 Canadian (~11 USD), the largest being about a 1/2 inch.

Two of them seem to swim around on the substrate. They are active and eating well like the rest, but can't seem to float in the water. Is this some kind of deformity? Should these fish be kept?

The other four are all swimming perfectly normal.

Here is a picture of one with the swimming problem:

Thanks for any help.

 

[2la]

It's difficult to tell due to the distortion, but this fish is starting to look like a good candidate for treatment against internal parasites. Are the fish eating? How sunken do the bellies look?

 

[tjudy]

They might be 'belly crawlers', but most breeders will cull those long before they are that size. A 'belly crawler' is a fish that does not have, or have use of, an effective swim bladder. With that condition they cannot maintain a position in mid water, and will sink.

 

[farm41]

They look very thin to me, I have many panduro's, none are that thin. Some treatment is in order.

 

[Molino]

That picture is distorted as the camera was well to the right of the fish.

The fish does look kinda thin in the picture, but both this one and the other have very healthy appetites and she's not as thin as she looks in the picture. I suspect that tjudys theory might be correct.

If it was some kind of internal parasite I would assume the fish would have an eating problem and/or not be very active?

 

[tjudy]

Internal parasites can cause this situation too. Look for feces after they eat. If it is white and stringy, I would suspect parasites. Belly crawlers would still gain weight normally, but could not stay in the waater column without constantly beating their tail.

 

[2la]

If it was some kind of internal parasite I would assume the fish would have an eating problem and/or not be very active?

Not necessarily. These acute symptoms only manifest after the parasite load or disease process has reached 'critical mass' and the fish can no longer resist it. Prior to this the fish can act and appear normally. The reason I ask is because treatment would be futile if the fish were not eating. Personally, I've lost too many apistos to a 'mysterious' condition in which they look healthy for months before they stop eating and develop hollow bellies and die. I've taken to quarantining all new dwarf cichlid purchases and treating them with Discomed prophylactically before introducing them into the main tank. Others might disagree with that practice, but they may not have invested heavily in some beautiful orange-tail A. eunotus only to have them stop eating and drop off one by one over the course of several weeks. The issue of antibacterial resistance is lessened when the fish undergo a full treatment for the recommended duration.

 

[Molino]

Thanks for the replies, sorry about the lateness of mine. I'll have a look to see what my LFS has for medications and give that a try before I give up on those two fish.

The problem is definatly related to the swim bladder, would parasites cause problems with the swim bladder?