Help, help me, help me please!

Hey guys. So, after a lot of reading and some foolhardy mistakes I decided to come to you all for assistance/advice. Backstory: Someone rehomed 2 large female red empress. I got them home and all was well I though. 1 started became less active and didn't eat as much. I kept an eye on her though. She became skinny and eventually died. I came home from work and saw that some other fish had been feeding on her. I cleaned up, water changes, cleaned the filter... you know. Then another fish died.... hmmm, then another... what I hadn't really noticed until today is that several of the fish have become skinny. Like skinny. Of course I Google'd it. Wasting disease/skinny fish disease it has many names... on some of the larger healthier fish, and I could be paranoid, but it looks like their belly is starting to sink in. This is a well established tank. Been up for almost a year and has bred Yellow Labs, Red Top Lithobates and Chewere Elongatus... I'm hoping that I don't lose everything. So... my question: Does anyone know how to solve this damningly deadly diabolical dilemma. Can anyone darraign this damoiseau and dash this deadly disease which undeniably desiccates daily, deftly and deathly? How do I stop this?

What are your current water parameters and temp?


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Sounds like internal parasites, I had a wild caught siquia get it and prazi pro fixed it right up
I have a half full bottle of it if you want the rest

What does their poop look like? ( only on a fish forum lol)


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Internal parasites sounds right. Prazi works. But there are other meds.


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I would nuke the tank with parazipro as well. Even if it isn't a parasite it can't hurt

pH 8.2
dH 10-15
Temperature 83°
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrate > 20 ppm
Nitrate 0 ppm

Poop looks good (that sounds weird) but a little squiggly. I did test today after work with an api general parasite/disease treatment. Maybe I shouldn't have but I was getting a little nervous. Hmmm... parazipro. Did I mess up by using the api first?

I wouldn't use the parazipro now unless you do a big water change. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea anyway. May want to also consider a wide spectrum antibiotic to use in conjunction to help fight off any secondary bacterial infections that they may contract from having a reduced immune system. This is of course assuming they actually have an internal parasite

If you're talking about API General Cure, it's got Prazi in it, and Metro. Some people are put off by the name, General Cure, "I wouldn't trust any product called 'General Cure'", but they're usually ignorant of the ingredients and what they do.

neut said:

If you're talking about API General Cure, it's got Prazi in it, and Metro. Some people are put off by the name, General Cure, "I wouldn't trust any product called 'General Cure'", but they're usually ignorant of the ingredients and what they do.

Click to expand...

Only problem I have with API General cure is the price to treat larger tanks vs the concentrated seachem products


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I have used API General Cure with success. Before I used it I called the company to check if it was safe for my loaches and if It was invert safe. They said It was safe for all fish but not inverts. My loaches did just fine and my parasite problem cleared. I didn't have any problem with the tank after.

Just remember when using meds if you have carbon in your filters, you need to remove the carbon first.

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Acpape0 said:

Only problem I have with API General cure is the price to treat larger tanks vs the concentrated seachem products


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Click to expand...

+1 on that. But if he's already used it and has it, no urgent reason to clear it out and get something else in order to get some Praziquantel in the tank or no issue with creating a bad drug combination if he goes on to get some Prazi Pro.

But, yeah, it can pay to know ingredients and combinations of ingredients in some popular meds, since you may be able get the same ingredients more economically... or on the other hand be able to get the ingredients you're looking for right under your nose in a common med that's easy to find.

Thanks guys. I think I'm in the clear now. Water looks good but sadly I lost my beautiful male red top lithobates. He was fully colored up. Female is there but I literally could not find the male this morning. Cleaning tank in a bit hopefully he's hiding somewhere

acomalegend said:

Thanks guys. I think I'm in the clear now. Water looks good but sadly I lost my beautiful male red top lithobates. He was fully colored up. Female is there but I literally could not find the male this morning. Cleaning tank in a bit hopefully he's hiding somewhere

Click to expand...

Unfortunately losing fish is part of this hobby, don't let it get to you ,it happens to everyone at some point in time......give it a little bit of time to make sure all is well, then enjoy the fun part of acquiring new fish




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lol. Yes. You know... I found him friday night X( and immediately thought about going to my buddy to buy a few to replenish... but I had that same thought that you expressed. I'll wait a while, give it some time and then get a few goodies. Rome wasn't built in a day after all. Just sucks that I lost so much color. Seems that the yellow labs are the hardiest of them all.