Bemba not eating need advice please

[EB]

Hello,
This is my first post here on the forum, sorry if I don't do a proper introduction but I need some help ASAP. So I ordered 13 f1 Bemba, they shipped last Monday and were supposed to arrive Tuesday, there was a delay and they ended up arriving Wednesday. I got home 7pm Wednesday night and immediately began unpacking them. They box was semi crushed and leaking the bags were deflated and cold and the fish were nearly white, luckily all were alive... I kept an eye on them for a day, before determining I needed to treat the tank with metro. I usually treat for 5 days, I've been treating the tank twice a day (every 12 hours) with 2000 mg of metro since Friday, I've also been doing 30% wc daily. Tomorrow will be the 5th day of treatment. I've treated trophs for bloat before doing exactly what I'm doing and have had great success usually by the 3rd day of treatment the affected trophs are showing signs of improvement, however my new Bemba aren't. They are acting fairly normal but the majority of them are still not showing any interest in food... Should I continue the metro treatment past 5 days? Should I try some garlic guard or something similar? Maybe romaine lettuce? I'm kinda of stumped as to what I should do, any advice would be much appreciated...
Thank you in advance!

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Sorry to hear.

What were they eating at their previous owners house?

Fish can survive for weeks without being fed domesticated food as they will eat algae and even sift through the substrate...

If they seem normal overall, leave the lights longer than normal and algae will grow. Some have said that using spirulina powder will encourage algae growth in the tank with extra lighting.

I would watch them doing that and finish your metro treatment. Then just keep things routine. Water Changes, lighting on a timer, temps, etc...

By The Way, where did these Bemba come from?

[EB]

I got them from an importer/breeder here in Ca. I will not mention their name as I don't want it to seem as if they sold me sick fish. I know they were 100% healthy prior to shipping, the box was damaged en route... They were on spirilina flake, It's the breeders own proprietary blend. I have have spirulina flake from ********* and Ken's. Most are acting normal they are beginning to graze which is a good sign, however there are a few that are definitely showing signs of bloat. I think I will continue the metro for an extra couple days along with the wc, hopefully that will do the trick.

[EB]

Maybe I'm rushing things too, I mean they haven't even been in their tank for a week.. although with trophs it's better to treat fro bloat than to try and wait it out. Like I said a couple are def showing the telltale signs of bloat...

[finadic]

Did you try turning up a heat a little, & if you try Repashy super green you can mix a capful or two of the garlic guard in it, they should jump on that food. Here's a link.

www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00RSH4K9A/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1480401828&sr=8-5&keywords=repashy%2Bfish%2Bfood&th=1&psc=1

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Nov 29, 2016 1:47:26 GMT -5 finadic said:

Did you try turning up a heat a little, & if you try Repashy super green you can mix a capful or two of the garlic guard in it, they should jump on that food. Here's a link.

www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00RSH4K9A/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1480401828&sr=8-5&keywords=repashy%2Bfish%2Bfood&th=1&psc=1

That's good. I would definitely suggest sticking to what the breeder was feeding them. And DEFINTELY Throw out the ********* Food. That stuff is crap. I know from experience. I figured out that it was causing issues in the only tank I was using it on as it was expired.


I would stop all feeding and go ahead and hit them with Daily 50% water changes, Epsom salts at 1-2tbspoons/ 10g, a full dose of dissolved in hot tank water Metronidazole every 12 and better yet every 8 hours. Turn all lights off, keep tank covered and raise the tank temps to 82 degrees. Do this daily for 7 days is best. Then after the week, do another 50% WC and hit the tank with a fresh bag of carbon and then start feeding them lightly once a day in the morning and soak their food in a half tank dose of dissolved in hot tank water metro for a few minutes before dumping it in...

No sense waiting. If you see signs of bloat, hit the whole tank!

[finadic]

If you decide to go with the extended treatment & turn the heat up, I forgot I mention that is best to turn the heat up over several hours not all at once, Good luck

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Actually Peter Schupke (Aqua-Log) states that it's best to take at least a couple of weeks. But for this case, use a day.

So good suggestion Walt!

[EB]

Just checked in and saw all the replies...Thank you! I booked mark the thread and thought I would get an email notification when there was a reply, but I didn't. The Bemba are doing fine now, I did continue the metro for 2 more days and hit the tank with Epsom salt, something I totally forgot about, and did 30-50% water changes. I did one last wc Thursday night and added fresh carbon. I'm feeding them lightly, they are all eating now, they like the "kens" flakes, weren't into the ********* stuff, I think it is stale too so I will toss what's left. They will be on weekly 50% wc and vacuum routine from here on out... I'll share some pics of them soon. Thank you Mastiffman and Finadic for your help!

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

I think that you have to go into your settings and set your email notifications to "yes" or Check the box to get them...

Awesome to hear and glad that things are back to normal. yeah I had nothing but issues with the ********* food even when it was supposed to be fresh. But any food that expired may cause issues. Better off starting with something fresh.