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I acquired abatch of 7 Pseudohemiodon apithanos on July 15th. These are the specimen that go in the trade by the name "Red". They have very less or almost no patterns on them and their skin pigmentation has some red in it.

They are kept it a 40 gallon breeder tank with the following parameters:
Temperature: 81F
pH: 7.2-7.3
TDS: 70
GH: 40-50 ppm or 3dGH(This is the best LaMotte can do)
KH: 52-55 ppm or 2.3 dKH
Ammonia, Nitrite = 0 ppm
Nitrates < 5ppm
Water Change Frequency: every 2-3 days about 50%
Substrate: Fine river sand
Decor: none
Filtration: Oase 350 biomaster with a spray bar + an air driver sponge filter
Aeration: Extra airstone running
Light on the tank- No. Only faint light from the window in the room or from other tanks while the other lights are on (about 4-5 hours in the eve)
Food: Not eating well. They ONLY eat at night after it's pitch dark. They sometimes eat bloodworms/ repashy soilent green + Bottom scratcher. No pellets have been eaten yet- I have tried- Pisces pellets, Hikari carnivore, Discus food soft granule, Sera breeder food, Tetra D-50 etc.

Symptoms: Problem Description:
1. Some fish seem to be hyperventilating. Not all; some. The ones that are hyperventilating are not digging themselves in the sand. The rest have put themselves in the sand pretty well.
2. Initially they were digging themselves pretty well. After a week of keeping them, I decided to deworm them thinking it will make them hungry. I dozed a teaspoon of Metronidazile in the tank which is the recommended dose. They completely stopped eating after that.
3. I did water changes every day for 2-3 days after that to get the medicine out of water.
4. a week after the metro episode, 3 fishes came out of sand and won't dig themselves in. They are the ones hyperventlating.
5. After 2 days of being like that (hyperventilating) 1 fish passed away last night.

Here are 2 videos that show what I have described above. I used a flashlight to create these videos-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjV5Gg4LA2M[/youtube]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww6L8h7QhBw[/youtube]

Any thoughts/suggestions on what might be going on here?
I am afraid of losing other fishes as well. I can't seem to think if anything that's wrong in the tank.
Does my water has any contaminants? I can replace the whole water column with RO of TDS 2 and 0 GH/KH.

Thanks for looking.

Videos fixed.
Cheers, Eric
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjV5Gg4LA2M


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww6L8h7QhBw

Here is some great info from Charles Mueller. He mentions using some medication to get rid of bacterial infections which maybe very helpful to you.

eric3333 wrote: ↑31 Jul 2020, 13:24 Here is some great info from Charles Mueller. He mentions using some medication to get rid of bacterial infections which maybe very helpful to you.

Thanks. I have been in touch with Charles. He has been a teremendous help on this.
I also have been touch with Lee who is another very experienced hobbyist who has bred this fish.

I lost 1 more fish yesterday.

After talking to Rob and Lee, I did a big water change where I used RO water. As I am typing this, I am also bringing the temp down to 75 slowly.

Out of the 5 fish I have left, 1 is hyperventilating. Yesterday I fed them Repashy soilent green + bottom scratcher and the one that's hyperventilating ate a big chunk in about 5-6 mins. That tells me they were hungry. They just didn't want to eat any pellets or bloodworms. Repashy is good but clogs up every possible porous surface in the tank.

I am hopeful that I would be able to svae this third fish that's hyperventilating at the moment.

This is why forums are so important. Things like these that other hobbyists have not experienced before, need to be logged so they can be searched for later on. FB and other social media platform are good for a day or two but the information goes away after that and cannot be searched for easily.

Just wanted to post an update-

After losing two of the fish, I made some changes-

1. Brought the temp down to 74.5- I did this as a knee jerk reaction. Hyperventilating seemed like lack of oxygen which correlated with the high temp in my tank. Hence, the lower temp.
2. I dosed the tank woth Kanamycin + Nitrofurazone. I have not had any more deaths so far.
3. I also added Seachem Paraguard to cover for any gill flukes. I would probably do a Prazi + Levamisole treatment once I am done with the antibiotics treatment.

My freind who imported these had 1 more fish left (which looked like a male) which I decided to add to the rest of the group. This new fish showed a red inflamed spot on its gills. I am hoping that this will be taken care of with the meds that I am dosing. Since I was only 1 day into the antibiotic treatment, I allwed this new fish to enter the system. If I was another day in, I wouldn't have added this new fish in.



I hate to let these fish die of these unknown reasons after they survived collecting, the travel etc to get here.

Update:
The last fish I added didn't make it. The infection/inflammation had worsen and it culd actually be seen from the top view as well.
The rest of them seem to be doing somewhat better. They are not hyperventilating as bad anymore.
they are also eating and solid black fecal matter can also be seen in the tank. Who knew seing fish poop would be the highligh of someone's day.

Anyhow, I am on the 3rd day of second 5 day antibiotic treatment at this point. 3 of 8 fish are gone. Once I am over this second 5 day treatment, I will be starting with Prazi and Flubendazole treatment. Maybe I will use Levamisole in lieu of Prazi. Anyone reading this has any suggestions on which of these 2 to use for these fish?

Update:
Today is the last day of Antibiotic medication. I am going to do a massive 75% water change and let the fish breath in plain ol' water for a change.
Once they start to eat propery in a week or so, I will start the levamisole + Prazi treatment.

I will continue to keep this thread updated so that it can be looked at going forward.