Uh oh...things were going so well.

[steelheaderdu]

Morning everyone,

I’ve had my group of wild caught Red Rainbows for about 5 weeks now. Everything started out perfectly. The fish were voracious eaters, all of them eating everything I threw in the tank. I was starting to think that my move to tropheus should’ve been done a while ago...these things weren’t as difficult to keep as everyone led on. Here is a video from the 1st week in March:



Fast forward to today. About a third of the fish are pretty lethargic and don’t really seem interested in eating. I haven’t seen ANY bloating of protruding scales in any of the fish. None look swollen....so I’m hesitant to call Bloat. Here is a video from the morning feeding:




I did see one fish with some stringy white feces (BAD sign), but I haven’t been able to see if there are more. Not sure it’ll show up in the video, but it’s there...




Now for the specifics. The water tests on February 28th And last night both show the same thing:
8.2 - pH
0ppm - ammonia
0ppm - nitrite
~10-20 - nitrates
75% water changes weekly

The only two differences are the temperature, and the fact that I added carbon to the filtration system this week. When I first got them, I had the water temp set a little higher. Probably between 83.5-84 for the first few weeks. Now I’m down between 80.5-81 as of the week

I was feeding Fluval Bug Bites Spirulina Flakes along with Ocean Nutrition Spirulina Flakes. I’ve slowly moved them onto the ZooMed Spirulina20 Flakes.

I know that discus would sometimes go on hunger strikes for no reason, but that doesn’t seem to be something that tropheus do..and really can’t explain the increasing amount of fish that seem disinterested in eating. I see them occasionally “flash” off the substrate, it it’s not an ongoing thing. It looks like a couple may have popeye, but I’m not sure it’s just because their bodies are starting to thin a bit.

For the first few weeks a did see more shimmering/shimmying by what I think are some of the males in the colony. That behavior is becoming less frequent.

These fish have some much more personality and character than anything I’ve really kept in the past, so I’m trying to make these guys as happy as possible. It seems like they liked the Warner water quite a bit more than what everyone says to keep them at—between 79-81.

Should I raise the temp and maybe hit with some epsom salt and or maracyn 2?

I’m at a loss here. Any help would be greatly appreciated!


Thanks,
John

[steelheaderdu]

Here are a couple more videos:

[steelheaderdu]

Treating with a salt bath now along with some Metro and PraziPro.

Importer thinks it’s bacterial, local stores and hobbyists thinks it’s parasitic. Several said to treat with both the PraziPro along with the metro.

All said to definitely use the salt. NONE thought this was bloat.

Importer didn’t think PraziPro was necessary, but 4 other opinions seemed to point me in the direction to use both. Figure I’m covering all bases with the treatments paired together.

Was really impressed that the vendor I bought these from responded to my email quickly and called me with his input. I’m absolutely going to be using him in the future once I get past this. Seems like a really good guy.

Fingers crossed at this point.


John

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Hard to tell but it seems like normal behavior overall to me. Just keep up with water changes and leave the filter alone. Remember to remove the carbon from the tank during use of meds.

The water looks quite cloudy IMO.

How long has it been since you adjusted the temps? If its beem really recent mayne they are just adjusting to the slightly cooler temps. Fish are ectothermic and therefore get their internal temperature from their envrionment. Their metabolism also is affected by the temps. Higher temps creates a faster metabolis.. Colder, slower.

[steelheaderdu]

Thanks for the reassurance. I think the cloudy water may have been partially due to the lighting, it’s pretty clear.

I lowered the temp over the course of 4 days, so I’m not sure it was too drastic.

I am seeing some stringy poop moving around the tank at this time, so I do think there’s something going on. I have one good picture of one fish passing it as well.

Glad to hear from you that a lot of the behavior looks pretty normal, and hopefully whatever this is was caught early enough.


John

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

No problem. Glad to help!