odd breathing behavior

[petro101]

My Petrochromis Trewavasae started a odd breathing behavior recently. About 3 weeks ago he suddenly stopped eating and his belly got quite sunken but he was still scraping a lot for algae just not eating his pellets and flakes...I treated with epson salt first for a few days then started treating the water column with metroplex (metronidazole antibiotics). He's eating pretty well over the past two weeks now but still not eating his flakes, sunken belly is gone and he is starting to thicken up again. I still have metroplex in the water and i'm going to stop treatment and let my 50% WC eventually remove the medicine. I also doubled salt over the past two weeks as he was flashing and other fish were flashing from time to time (still had issues with this).

I made a video of him breathing, two videos, it looks odd and he is the only fish acting this way...I've never came across this behavior before so no clue whats going on or if parasites or gill issues can make this happen. He stops when it's time to eat or if i get his attention with my finger...any clue?




and this next video shows him close up toward the end

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Yeah that's very interesting... What's the story behind this Trewavasae?

Where did it come from, how long have you had it, wild/ F1/ unknown, etc....

Thanks

Andrew

[petro101]

May 21, 2019 5:52:52 GMT -5 Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7 said:

Yeah that's very interesting... What's the story behind this Trewavasae?

Where did it come from, how long have you had it, wild/ F1/ unknown, etc....

Thanks

Andrew

He is f1 from a local breeder who is quite knowledgeable, but isn't sure why he is breathing like that. I showed him the same videos...I've had it for about 2 to 3 months now.

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Odd... don't really know what to tell you.

[petro101]

May 22, 2019 6:59:17 GMT -5 Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7 said:

Odd... don't really know what to tell you.

Yeah pretty odd, do you think his stomach is still quite sunken?

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

yeah he's definitely thinner than I'm used to seeing petros. lol

Maybe try some Brine Shrimp if the rest of the tank can have it. You can also soak the brine shrimp in meds for a bit and then feed that to it.

Most common issue with African Cichlids is Hexamita which can cause emaciation (Sunken Belly Syndrome). So maybe try soaking the brine shrimp (if you can go that route) in a med like paraguard... Then feed that too him.

[petro101]

May 24, 2019 12:41:50 GMT -5 Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7 said:

yeah he's definitely thinner than I'm used to seeing petros. lol

Maybe try some Brine Shrimp if the rest of the tank can have it. You can also soak the brine shrimp in meds for a bit and then feed that to it.

Most common issue with African Cichlids is Hexamita which can cause emaciation (Sunken Belly Syndrome). So maybe try soaking the brine shrimp (if you can go that route) in a med like paraguard... Then feed that too him.

Ok I will do that, I think it will be his first time eating brine shrimp. Just buy the frozen kind at lfs?

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Ys you can buy the frozen kind but some live ones from a LFS would be better...

[petro101]

Just an update. The breathing problem went away, I treated the tank with paragard, still wouldn't eat, treated with prazipro, still no luck, treated with a pretty heavy clout treatment and hes now eating, comps down on spirulina 20 flakes from zoo med. ordered a lot of food from aquacarium and he still ignores spirulna pellets. Still ignores cichlid excell and ignores his original food. Ignored the brine shrimp for the most part but actually did eat a few pieces. Hope he gets better as the week progresses, definitely not as skinny as before.

[petro101]

So I have quite the collection of food I've bought for this guy. The only thing he will eat is spirulina 20 from zoo med. And omega one freeze dried brine shrimp (hardly eats any of it). Here is a list of food he ignores, any idea why he is so picky? He ignores or spits out the following food.

-Ken's spirulina flakes with garlic and paprika (used to love these)

-cichlid excel (used to eat this)

-NLS thera a+

-NLS algaemax

-Omega One kelp pellets

-Aquacarium spirulina flakes & red supreme pellets and cichlid pellets and soft krill pellets and soft spirulina pellets and freeze dried nori

-some mysterious pellets from breeder he used to love, spits those out also.

Spits out thawed frozen peas also, I've tried all these pellets by also soaking them to soften them up, still a nah for him. Any clue? Hate to keep him only on flakes...