Cacatuoides stays at bottom of tank and doesnt eat

[lecleir]

hi all,

New to the board, but happy to be here, as its a specialised forum for apistogramma's.

I have 4 apistogramma cacatuoides in my 240l tank. 1male and 3 female.

My male has been sick since last week. I first thought it was because i just started that week with adding plant supplements (profito and easycarbo) and after googling i found out that someone had it with their fish that they wouldnt eat or swim anymore. so i stopped using it to see if the male would get better.

I have refreshed 1/3 of the tank this saturday, but still no improvement.

On the outside of the fish i see nothing wrong, he looks healthy. but he doesnt eat anymore and stays at the bottom of the tank the whole day. He does move to other shelterplaces as the 3 females stalk him if he comes in their neigbourhood. His big fin (the one on his back that he puts up when a female approaches) stays up the whole day. i cant seem to find out or google what is wrong with him.

He has been living for 4 months now in my tank, never had problems.

Tested my water, and it has the same values it always has. No nitrate, ph 6, GH 11, and KH 5.

No chemical products have been used in the past 7 days, only easylife when i refreshed water in tank.

other habitants are 20 neontetra's, 8 bleheri, 10 corydora panda, 2 ancistrus doliptheros.

i've taken him into a breeding unit for some time and put food in front of him, so he could take his time to eat as my neons are little bastards that dont give many time.

But he still didnt eat so i put him back in tank to not give to many stress.

Sorry for english, i'm dutch speaking as mother tongue

 

[Mike Wise]

It appears that your male cacatuoides has an internal disease. It is almost impossible to diagnose diseases of fishes when there are no visible signs. It is a bad sign that he doesn't eat. Being housed in a small breeding unit makes it worse. If possible, I would move the fish to a separate small aquarium that is filled with water from the original tank. It will make him more comfortable and any diseases cannot be passed to other fish. Hopefully he will start to eat, if given live foods. If he starts eating, then soak some of his food with a broad-spectrum antibiotic + metronidozole. If he doesn't eat, then there is not much more you can do.

 

[lecleir]

he is still the same, looks good on the outside, but doesnt eat, even if i put food in front of him.

but he still doesnt swim either. should i euthanise him to let it not suffer any longer? or should i keep waiting and hoping he pulls through?

i've read the 21 pages of topics in this subforums, and he hasnt got the bloated belly, he hasnt got the gill flukes, and he hasnt got any fungus as far as i can see.

His poo i havent been able to check, as he poos when i dont see it :biggrin:

His anus looks normal

@ mikewise, thx for answer. Hmm doesnt look to good then how would such an internal disease occur with the fish? probably the frozen food or live food?

Damnit, i love that fish, he is such a social fish and totally not scared of me, he would come eat straight out of my hand if i would have wanted that

 

[Mike Wise]

Most diseases occur because the fish suffered stress: environmental or social. Medication often is more expensive than the value of the fish. If there is no improvement after medication, then euthenization is probably for the best. I usually put sick fish in a jar of tank water and put the jar in a freezer. The fish will slowly drop below its 'lower lethal limit' and die without feeling any pain.

 

[lecleir]

Most diseases occur because the fish suffered stress: environmental or social. Medication often is more expensive than the value of the fish. If there is no improvement after medication, then euthenization is probably for the best. I usually put sick fish in a jar of tank water and put the jar in a freezer. The fish will slowly drop below its 'lower lethal limit' and die without feeling any pain.

it could be environmental, i did a big cleanup in the tank, and made the decoration otherwise so that there would be much more shelterplaces for the female caca's and for my catfish. So everything went to an other place.

the expensive medication doesnt matter, i'm willing to pay for it if it cures him. problem is that i dont have a QT,i have other tank but its filled with shrimps. I could buy one tomorrow, but new aqua's have to grow bacteriaculture, so dont know it that is an option to put him in straight away.

 

[gerald]

You definitely want to get him away from the other fish before he dies and other fish or snails start eating him. In just a few hours dead fish can release large amounts of bacteria and parasites. Yes, the others are already exposed to whatever diseases this one might be carrying, but if their immune systems are working then they may be able to fight off low-level infections. But when the density of disease "bugs" suddenly increases because of a dead fish, their immune systems can be overwhelmed.

 

[lecleir]

As i had surgery last week, i'm still not too good on my feet, so i tried to do as much as i can do for now.

Put him in a bucket with an airpump and put some sera baktopur in the bucket. Did a towel over the bucket and put him in a silent room, close to a heatsource, so the water doesnt cool of too much.

put little food in the bucket too so i hope he eats it now that he hasnt got any competition.

when i tried to catch him, he swam better then i would have expected.

So i'm still hoping to rescue him. fingers crossed all for me plz

 

[lecleir]

update: i isolated the fish with some antibiotics in the water, but he died 24 hours later. I guess he was already too sick to survive

Got a QT-tank atm which is growing the bacteries now so he will be ready to use in 2 weeks. Got a new male atm, hope everything will go allright from now on