Behavior of sick Apistos

[gerald]

The discussion about Apisto behavior in the "sleeping hours" thread reminded me of something:

There is a behavior I have seen that seems to be an early indicator of internal infection in Apistos. The fish hover in one place slowly undulating the body in an eel-like motion, similar to a snake pushing food down its throat to the stomach. I have had agassizii, macmasteri, and regani-group Apistos do this at various times over the past 15 years, and in all cases the fish got other symptoms within a couple weeks after the undulating behavior started, such as appetite loss, bloating, or rapid breathing. I never saw Camallanus or anything that looked like external parasite symptoms on any of these fish, but some did get body sores that might have been from Mycobacterium. In most cases they died a few weeks to months later. Have others seen this undulating behavior? It looks quite different from the "shimmying" behavior that fish with skin infections (ich, velvet, costia) often do.

 

[raymond82]

I had to look up the word undulating but I think I know exactly what you mean. A female Congochromis that I had that died recently showed exactly the same behavior. I recently also saw a young Apisto fry swimming with this same motion but I haven't seen him anymore.

 

[Jtropical]

Hi, please my urgent post? this could be what my Male Agassizii is suffering from

 

[MickeM]

Hi gerald + all..

I have experienced the same problem some times.

I think it might be some kind of flagellates, maybe the one that result in the infamous "hole-in the-head" disease ?

It may help if you use the "pills" called HexaEx from Tetramedica .. (I think it is now availible as fluid also??,unsure about the trade-name though..)

Some people involved in the "Parosphromenus project" use it in their tanks when they have received wild caught liquorice gourami. As a preventive measure.

BTW..do you have the thread concerning "sleeping hours" ??


/Micke