Citypainter Posted October 5, 2004 Share Posted October 5, 2004 Hi I bought some Dimi comps at the auction and 1 of them seems quite sick. He has a hollow stomach and is breathing heavy. I thought it may have contracted some white spot from being in the bag all night and I have done a typical white spot treatment.. He is still breathing heavy and won't eat. All the other are fine, (5 in total) They have been put in a 6ft tank with Copidachromis borlyi red kedangas that I have had for a couple of months and they are all doing fine. PH & Kh are fine and there is no amonia or nitrite probs. Any help would be appreciated. I really don't want to lose this fish so please help fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canerod Posted October 5, 2004 Share Posted October 5, 2004 Hi citypainter A hollow gut usually would suggest that the fish has not been eating for several days either because its sick or because the competition for the tucker is too stiff, heavy breathing could be many things. i would probably initially suspect harrassment until a better indicator comes up, and i cant see whitespot being the cause from what you say, because by the time the fish gets to the condition you describe the tell tale white spots and scratching would be unmistakable. Adding new fish including one possibly sick fish to another tank full of fish without first quarantining the new arrivals could lead to unpleasant results, and is not a recommended practice. hth Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citypainter Posted October 5, 2004 Author Share Posted October 5, 2004 I added 5 Dimi comp to 6 Copid borlyis. I should have quartined them for sure. The fish in question is the biggest in the tank and nothing is hassling him. any other ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted October 5, 2004 Share Posted October 5, 2004 is he the only male? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citypainter Posted October 5, 2004 Author Share Posted October 5, 2004 The others are Juveniles so I cannot be sure. None are showing any colour. I am not even sure if it is a male. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted October 5, 2004 Share Posted October 5, 2004 I would be removeing it from that tank . Dimis can go off their food very easily if they are harrassed.........and lose condition fast .. its a bit early to assume a disease is the problem.. hth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citypainter Posted October 5, 2004 Author Share Posted October 5, 2004 Thanks Tiger, but I can assure you that it is not being Harassed. None of the other fish are showing any interest in him/her at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setup Posted October 5, 2004 Share Posted October 5, 2004 It sounds like the same situation i had 2 months ago. First they dont eat then you see a black spot on the belly then they die. What i did was change 40% of the water every 2 days and everytime i added "Multicure', "ammo" and "stress-coat". After one week they stopped dying. What i think is they have worms in the stomach and i think it's very difficult/contangeous so take him/her out first and cure her separately. I had hundreds of them and 12 died before they were all cured and it costed me a fortuned to buy the medication. Maybe you should scarfice him rather than buying $50 worth of medication. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phenomena Posted October 5, 2004 Share Posted October 5, 2004 Hi, Hmm, it could be the bad condition in the bag for too long causes too much stress. Did you notice it right after you take it out of the bag? Were the other 4 in the same bag? Hollow belly and breathing heavily sounds like internal parasites problem. Either way, it's best to separate it from the rests into a hospital tank. If the fish doesn't want to eat then the problem is serious. I'd force feed with some food soaked in metro/prazi. It's very stressful to the fish. Just sharing from experience... Cheers, DD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citypainter Posted October 5, 2004 Author Share Posted October 5, 2004 It came in a bag of 2 as I bought 2 lots of them so that I would have 2 bloodlines. Anyway I am taking heed of all the advice which I would truely like to thank each of you all for. I have moved some quarenting Solousi into some quaranting E yellows and now have the Dimi in a 2 ft tank by him/her self. I will be watching for a black spot on the belly and I will try to get it to eat. I only have prime, whitespot cure and melafix in my cupboard. But I have added some malwi buffer to the tank and will do the water changes daily. Its breathing does seem to have slowed down but I will wait till morning to try and feed as I doubt that it will eat now after being moved. I will keep you informed. If anyone has any other advice it will be much appreciated. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeyBoyR Posted October 5, 2004 Share Posted October 5, 2004 Have you noticed any inflamed gills etc. or is the hollow stomach the only visible physical symptom? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazimbwe Posted October 6, 2004 Share Posted October 6, 2004 Just a little question about food. What foods have you been trying to feed to the sick Dimi? Have you trid to stimulate it to eat with live specimens? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chester Posted October 6, 2004 Share Posted October 6, 2004 It is good that you have finally quarantined it. If you didn't then if the fish died it would have released whatever parasite it has and passed it onto another fish in your tank. If the fish has a hollow stomach then i doubt if it is just because it hasn't eaten for a couple of days. All of the other fish that were in the bag probably would have been on a fast for a couple of days before the auction and they don't have the same symptoms. Fish can go for days without eating and should be fine. Seems to me like the fish has an internal parasite and it is likely that it was like this in the sellers tank for some time. Shame on whoever put it up for sale. I wouldn't blame the scrutineers for not picking it up because it would have been difificult for them to pick out one sick fish in a bag. I would try a course of worming tablets, or take the fish to a LFS for a definite diagnosis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citypainter Posted October 6, 2004 Author Share Posted October 6, 2004 Hi there, another day another diagnosis. I do agree with calvus though that the other fish are not suffering from any problem. I doubt and hope that the breeder wouldn't intentionally sell a sick fish. Luckily I do still have the bag, (somewhere) and I could possibly find out where it originated from. As for the question of its gills it hasn't got any signs of being enflamed. As for food I have been trying only flake and pellets. which all the others are taking except this fish. I really don't want to have to take time from work to buy live food and I do prefer the fish to eat prepared food. Now it has spent almost a full day in a tank on its own. When I got home from work I checked it and it is definately breathing easier. It actually swam up to the front of the tank when it seen me and I dropped in a single pellet. It promptly swam up to the pellet and consumed it only to spit it out 2 seconds later. I do see all this as a positive though. Maybe it will go back for the pellet later but the fish is in my garage and I can't sit there too long and watch. Anyway, I guess I will still have to keep an eye on him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted October 6, 2004 Share Posted October 6, 2004 You dont have a few fry that you could spare? Not even for such a good cause? I would be trying to get him to eat for sure. By dropping in some fry, not too big it has to work to hard for them, but an easy meal. Just so you can confirm it has actually eaten something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chester Posted October 6, 2004 Share Posted October 6, 2004 BTW if it has a concaved stomach and is spitting food then it might just have "wasting disease". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazimbwe Posted October 6, 2004 Share Posted October 6, 2004 I am glad there seems to be an improvement for you. Can you give me a description of the poo the sick Dimi is doing? Is the poo slimy or yellow/whitish? I know this seems silly but it could be the ticket for diognosis. With the food...sometimes sickfish, or fish that are not eating more often, can be triggered back into eating with live foods. However, it seems from your description that the Dimi wants to eat but is sick. Get back to me about the poo and I may have a better idea about the problem...I am leaning towards intestinal-flagellates/Bacteria, Nematodes or worms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wormboy Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 Definitely follow Dukstas advice! I had a young Barra a while ago with similar symptoms and all it took to get him back on top was a few half grown guppys I had in a cycling tank. Not saying it will cure him, but a bit of food in his belly certainly wont go astray. Also if he is reluctant to eat, live food may stimulate his predator response. best of luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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