Starving Pseudacanthicus leopardus L114

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 10 Mar 2005, 11:59

i got a specimen of this species 11 days ago. it's about 1.5 inches long.

they had been in the shop since christmas and was acclimated and probably feeding (i asked, they said yes). it didn't have a hollow stomach.

it's now in a 7 gallon quarantine tank with a female apisto.

water:

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5
very soft
pH 6.7

he's wasted away quite dramatically since i've had him.

i've tried every food i can think of. eg algae wafer, bloodworm, tubifex, daphnia, prima, flake, mysis, veg, blackworm etc.

he just gives it a taste and then ignores it. it's still there in the morning.

i've tried the garlic thing.

i asked the shop what they fed them on, which was flake, wafer and prima.

i'm thinking now whether i should stick him in the display tank and let him fend for himself on whatever he can find?

any ideas?

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 10 Mar 2005, 12:13

Probably a stupid suggestion, but here goes...
Have you tried with either mussel or prawn? The Cat-eLog says that these are favourites, so maybe they will help getting it's apetite going...

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Mats

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 10 Mar 2005, 12:27

i'll try that too. it can't hurt.

Post by **Barbie** » 10 Mar 2005, 16:46

How warm is the tank? Higher temps can help stimulate their appetite at times. I've kept mine as warm as 84 for a week or two with no ill effects. If I had to guess, I'd say he's got some form of internal parasites. You could also soak his food in garlic extract, or the juice from pressed garlic as both an appetite stimulant and a mild treatment for internal parasites. Good luck with him!

Barbie

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 10 Mar 2005, 19:07

thanks for the advice Barbie. it's at 26. i'll up it 28.

i'm thinking that i should stick to one type of food to get him used to it? if so which one? there aren't many fish that refuse bloodworm.

perhaps i shouldn't have purchased a specimen so small. what's their main diet at this size in the wild?

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 11 Mar 2005, 10:28

things aren't going too well.

the apisto that was in with the Pseudancanthicus refused food yesterday morning and died this morning. she'd been in there for months with no problems.

is she likely to have caught parasites off the pleco?

hmmm.......

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 11 Mar 2005, 10:34

Sorry to hear that...

I guess most intestinal parasites will transfer from one fish to another without much "care" what kind of fish it is. Some are of course very specific, but in general I'd suspect that the parasites will live in just about any fish.

--
Mats

paul scarborough · Post by **paul scarborough** » 12 Mar 2005, 01:58

I have a 100 gallon tank that has 10 adult discus and 4 good sized 114's, the 114 came in looking good, but after a week came down with similar problems, and they carried over to the discus, all the fish were sick, and one 114 was getting a sunken belly. I used jungles parasite clear in the tablet form, one day full dose, change water 2nd day, 3 treatments like that and 3 with jungles fungas clear same routine. Temps are in the 84 or so range. Also fed alternatly metro flake, oxytetracycline flake. All recovered and are back and doing fine. Took two weeks, didnt loose any of these fish. My qt tanks were out of commission, glad I didnt loose any fish.

PlecoCrazy · Post by **PlecoCrazy** » 12 Mar 2005, 02:54

You might also try soaking some shrimp pellets or some other tablet with a few drop of Garlic Extreme or something like that. Garlic is supposed to attract the fish as well as the garlic gets rid of internal parasites. I've used it before to try to get fish to eat and sometimes it worked.

One thing that may be the case is I noticed your PH is kind of low. If your LFS water is in the mid 7's or so and you put him in your tank of 6.7 then he might have some PH shock going on. I have to have my quarentine tanks set at 7.5 for fish I bring home from my store. That brings up another good point, you wouldn't have to worry about losing any other fish if you used a quarentine tank. Just some thoughts.

OOPS. I just re-read and saw you already tried the garlic thing. Sorry.

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 12 Mar 2005, 10:19

thanks for the advice.

i don't know if i can get these jungle products in the uk. can anyone recommend an alternative?

as for pH shock, he was acclimated over about 3 hours, which is what i do for all my other fish with no ill effect. however, i do understand that this could have weakened him, opening him up to a parasite infection.

he is in a quarantine tank, abeit with another fish, which i know does slightly defeat the point of a quarantine tank.

PlecoCrazy · Post by **PlecoCrazy** » 13 Mar 2005, 03:58

Never tried it but you might look at Polygard by Seachem. Every other companies products I use only markets to the United States. If you can get Aquarium Pharm. you might try the General Cure Capsules. Good luck.

.

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 13 Mar 2005, 15:06

i'm treating him with sterazin now. lets hope it works....

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 14 Mar 2005, 09:23

poor little chap didn't make it

if it happens again, at least i'll know to start the medication asap.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 14 Mar 2005, 11:48

racoll wrote:poor little chap didn't make it

if it happens again, at least i'll know to start the medication asap.

Sorry to hear that.

--
Mats