Geophagus Red Heads - Sunken Bellies

[rsanz]

Hey all.

I took shipment of 9 geophagus red head tapajos around 5 months ago. They looked great when they arrived and settled into the tank just fine.

About 1 month after introducing them to the tank, I began to notice that a few of them were developing sunken bellies. I was feeding NLS pellets, frozen blood worms, and frozen brine shrimp on a rotation. They all ate voraciously, and despite taking in plenty of food, their bellies continued to sink in.

About a 3 months ago, I started dosing their food with Metroplex because I suspected internal parasites as the cause. I followed the directions closely, but that powder just does not dissolve in water and I had my doubts that the fish were actually taking in any of the medicine, plus I noticed that they were spitting the treated food out. I followed the dosing instructions on the package and saw no improvement.

I let the fish rest for a week on their regular feeding schedule of pellets and frozen foods. Everyone was eating fine, but still sunken bellies. Next I tried an old-ish bottle of Jungle Parasite Cure pellets that I had from a few years ago. They would not eat the pellets out of the bottle, so I soaked them in garlic water and the fish seemed to take them. I followed the recommended dosage for 4 weeks, and I noticed that some of the fish have rebounded with nice full bellies and better coloration, but there are still a few that look very skinny and are displaying dark bars on their bodies.

I've lost 3 of the original 9 up to this point with 3 of the remaining geos looking pretty bad, and I'd like to try and prevent losing any more. I ran out of the Jungle parasite food, and I cannot find any for sale anywhere online. So I am considering trying Metroplex again, but this time also using the Focus product from Seachem that apparently helps the medicine bond to the food.

Does anyone have experience/success with the Metroplex + Focus medicine? Or other ideas on how I might try and save these geos? I feel like a failure with these guys, because they have pretty much spent their entire 5 months with me in poor condition despite my best efforts with weekly 50% water changes, strict medicine treatments, and good quality foods.

Any help/opinions at all would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[zendog]

Just a thought, but if they are large enough to eat something like earth worms, maybe you could use a syringe to inject some of the metroplex inside worms and feed them that way so they don't notice. Sort of like hiding a pill in a chunk of cheese to get a dog to eat it.

I feed my fish red wigglers from the compost bin all the time, either whole or chopped depending on the size of the fish. I can't come to this months meeting otherwise I could bring you some, but if you are there are several club members who keep red wigglers for their fish who might be able to help.

 

[rsanz]

That's a good thought, Walter. Thank you. Unfortunately I'm not able to make the meeting this month.

I was able to snap a photo showing two of the sick geos next to one of the healthy ones. Please pardon the ugly cyanobacteria, I'm currently battling that as well...

 

[Rasta Fish]

Parasite, I would get some Parasite guard and treat the tank to start

 

[rsanz]

Parasite, I would get some Parasite guard and treat the tank to start

Thanks for the reply. Do you generally find that treating the whole tank is a better route than spot-treating the food? I've read the treating the whole tank is less reliable, plus it may mess with the plants, etc.

 

[Rasta Fish]

I would do the whole tank in this case because seems like all your fishes have parasite

 

[FishEggs]

For your cyanobacteria battle the only weapon you will need is ChemiClean.

I tried battling Cyano for months and it always came back with in days of cleaning the tank. Finally i broke down and decided to chemical means instead of natural ways. One treatment with this and it hasn't been back. Save yourself some time and headaches.

 

[rsanz]

For your cyanobacteria battle the only weapon you will need is ChemiClean.

I tried battling Cyano for months and it always came back with in days of cleaning the tank. Finally i broke down and decided to chemical means instead of natural ways. One treatment with this and it hasn't been back. Save yourself some time and headaches.

Great advice. I'll probably end up giving this a try when I lose my patience (very close to that point) with the nutrient balance method.

 

[JasonC]

Great advice. I'll probably end up giving this a try when I lose my patience (very close to that point) with the nutrient balance method.

If you want to keep trying the more natural ways, have you tried an extended blackout? Like full on, blankets on the tank, no peaking for at least 3 days, blackout? I was able to get rid of a case of Cyano this way... along with almost every other bit of algae in the tank.

 

[rsanz]

If you want to keep trying the more natural ways, have you tried an extended blackout? Like full on, blankets on the tank, no peaking for at least 3 days, blackout? I was able to get rid of a case of Cyano this way... along with almost every other bit of algae in the tank.

I have live plants in the tank, so I don't think that method is on the table for me. I do not want to lose the plants, they've been growing in for months.

 

[npbarca]

When I figured out I had a parasite, I moved the fish to a bare 20 long, with lots of filtration. I does the tank with Metro on the scheduled amounts and made a paste of the flake food combined with metro and some garlic. They ate the food and eventually all regained their strength after about 2 weeks. I cleaned the rest of the tank, bleached the tank itself and boiled rocks, changed sand etc.

Also, I would vacuum any visible fish poop each day (because the tank was bare bottomed).

 

[rsanz]

When I figured out I had a parasite, I moved the fish to a bare 20 long, with lots of filtration. I does the tank with Metro on the scheduled amounts and made a paste of the flake food combined with metro and some garlic. They ate the food and eventually all regained their strength after about 2 weeks. I cleaned the rest of the tank, bleached the tank itself and boiled rocks, changed sand etc.

Also, I would vacuum any visible fish poop each day (because the tank was bare bottomed).

Good stuff, Nicholas. Thanks for the ideas.

 

[dogofwar]

I've had good luck with Ken's Metro+Garlic Flakes on fish with lingering internal parasite issues as well as part of quarantine of wild fish.

Feed exclusively for a week to all of the fish in the tank. The good thing is that I've yet to find a fish that won't eat it!

Matt

 

[dogofwar]

Link to it: http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-su.../kens-premium-metronidazole-garlic-flake.html

 

[FishEggs]

I've mixed Metro+ with Repashy gel superfoods. The fish went nuts for the food and gobbled it up. I couldn't find anywhere how much Metro+ i should mix in though so im not sure i put enough in.

 

[rsanz]

Thanks again for all of the great advice, everyone.

An update:

I've been dosing Metroplex + Focus every day (except 1 day break) for the last week. I've been adding it to frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, and NLS pellets. They have been gobbling up the medicated food. The geo's colors have come back, with 4 of them displaying red heads again (yay!). I'd consider that good progress! Sunken bellies are still present, but I figure that will take some time to fill back in. I'll continue dosing for another week and then return to normal feeding.

Also, I gave up on the cyano and ordered some ChemiClean as Matt (FishEggs) suggested. I'll begin that treatment next week on Thursday morning leading into a Saturday morning water change (48 hours later as indicated on the package directions).

 

[FishEggs]

Be sure to add an air stone to your tank during the process if you don't already have one in there.

 

[rsanz]

Be sure to add an air stone to your tank during the process if you don't already have one in there.

I've got my FX6 outlet pointing towards the surface, as well as wavemaker that I will point at the surface during treatment. That should be enough, yes? Should I also shut off the CO2 for those treatment days?

 

[FishEggs]

well the first direction says, "Aquarium oxygen levels MUST be increased using heavy aeration or large air stone."
I would shut off the cO2. No sense wasting it with all the surface action you would be creating.
Can you do a venturi on the fx6 outlet? I had a powerhead with a venturi hooked up along with an airstone on the other side when i did my big 220g tank. I didnt want to take any chances.

 

[dogofwar]

Couldn't hurt to add an airstone or other air implement on a pump...

Matt