Fish TB? 2 Fish with problems need opinions urgently (pics included)

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LMOUTHBASS

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Jun 17, 2003
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Hi all - I've been having some ongoing issues in one of my tanks for a few weeks now... fungus/bacterial type problems but nothing totally out of control... The tank is a holding/grow out tank while I'm in the middle of moving soon, then I'm setting up a 220 gallon and a 130...

Anyhow, first I've noticed over the past few weeks my Clown Loach who's about 7-10 years old, has over the past few weeks been thinning out along the top of his body from his head back to his dorsal fin. He was always generally a muscular looking fish, but now it looks like he's gotten to lean, kind of like a long distance runner. I'm baffled because he is otherwise active, eating and acting normal... but I know this is not how he normally used to look.

My other problem is my juvenile Electric Blue Acara... over the past few days he has stopped eating (although yesterday he took a few small pieces of brine shrimp, but nothing today) and now his stomach has sunken in. This makes me think TB since he won't eat and is thinning. I would assume parasites if he were eating and thinning but he is not eating. He otherwise is actively swimming and behaving normally. I began using kanamaycin tonight...

Have also had recent water quality issues in the tank and had an ammonia spike up to .25, have been performing water changes every other day 20-30%, 0 nitrites, and nitrates at .5.. ph is typically low about 6 or less as my water is very soft. Using Prime to detoxify ammonia while tank catches up to ammonia, along with frequent water changes...

I'm assuming the worst here and I'm bummed. The tank is a little overstocked right now while I break down other tanks and prepare for a move, where I was going to move most of these guys into much larger homes.

If you have any experience with this stuff, please take a look at these pics and tell me what your thoughts are... Thank you for your help

Here is my Clown
harry.jpgharry1.jpgharry3.jpg
here is one of him several years ago
Harry Fish Tank Log.jpg

Here is the Electric Blue Acara
blue.jpgblue111.jpgblue111.jpg

I'm fearing the worst... I can really see a diff in my Clown from years ago... ughhh... Please tell me what you think thanks

harry.jpg harry1.jpg harry3.jpg Harry Fish Tank Log.jpg blue.jpg blue111.jpg
 

ktrom13

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Feb 4, 2013
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Huge difference with the clown loach... Sorry to hear about all the troubles. Try feeding him something meaty like bloodwoorms( not the best by eating anything is better than nothing), beefheart, or maybe small earthworms. Foods along this line usually get more attention from fish than other prepared foods( flakes/pellets).

As for your electric blue acara there may be an underline reason that many people over look. Just like electric blue jack dempseys( EBJD) , the electric blue acara( EBA) has the recessive gene ( electric blue). This a hard to find color morph in the wild and for a good reason. With this gene the immune system is usually weaker and the fish fall victim to many illnesses that a healthy fish wouldnt( normally). One issue that people have with this color morph is that the fish stops eating. Another is illnesses. A common illness is parasites. Over the years people have noticed that water quality plays a huge role with survival of this color morph. A less than adequate quality can be the end even if the quality is perfect for other fish. I hope this helps. Keep the thread update so other can pitch in to help.

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LMOUTHBASS

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Jun 17, 2003
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I'v been doing some research and it looks like my Clown might have Skinny Disease which from what I gather is internal parasites. I didn't suspect this initially because his stomach has not become sunken or bloated, his topside has leaned out dramatically... wondering if maybe moving him from his home of roughly 10 years to this smaller tank perhaps stressed him and allowed a previously benign unnoticeable parasite take over...?

I ordered some Levamisole online last night, so I'm hoping if its a worm issue this will help. In the meantime I'll try feeding some beefheart. Never used it before, its def safe for the fish?
 

SirMuffin

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Sep 11, 2011
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It looks like to me that when you consolidated your tanks you started to have water quality issues. You might try fresh garlic. I have heard that fish really enjoy this and that it will stimulate their appetite and it could even help with the internal parasites. The beef heart is safe for fish. You might try looking up Jack Wattley. He has several recipes for beef heart and that is where I got the information for the garlic, he is a successful discus breeder so I am inclined to believe him. Other than that maybe try adding your filters from your broken down tanks and that might help, if they are still viable it might help keep down the ammonia.

Best of luck and I am sorry, the clown loach looks pitiful.
 

LMOUTHBASS

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Jun 17, 2003
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The Clown thinning out seems to have come on very quickly... he was always incredibly muscular looking. When he would swim I could see nice muscle tone and a full shaped body. Is this what it looks like when a fish is being robbed of nutrients by internal parasites? Does this look like what's going on? I've been keeping an eye on him the past week once I noticed his shape truly changing... I wasn't sure what was going on. He's almost ten and I don't want to lose him. He's still eating and swimming actively though. Am I too late? My meds arrive tomorrow by mail.
 

Star_Rider

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Dec 21, 2005
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The Clown thinning out seems to have come on very quickly... he was always incredibly muscular looking. When he would swim I could see nice muscle tone and a full shaped body. Is this what it looks like when a fish is being robbed of nutrients by internal parasites? Does this look like what's going on? I've been keeping an eye on him the past week once I noticed his shape truly changing... I wasn't sure what was going on. He's almost ten and I don't want to lose him. He's still eating and swimming actively though. Am I too late? My meds arrive tomorrow by mail.

I have dealt with similar Sx in my discus tanks as well as angel tanks.. it actually did not turn out to be anything like TB but rather internal parasites.

commonly associated with cichlids. the culprit in my case was flagellated protozoa aka hexamita (Hex)

easy fix as it responds to common internal parasite mix of prazi/metro (jungle as well as others have it)
however, I discovered with my Altum that hex cannot reproduce in temperatures above 88 f and since the altum and discus both tolerate high tempsI simply raised the temp to 88-90 for 2 weeks the lowered tank temp to 84-86.
since then, all fish have recovered and the hex has stayed away . this was a problem that kept reoccurring in my tanks over the course of several months prazi metro helped but after a few weeks the Sx returned.
2 months ago I tried the raised temp and have not looked back since.
 

LMOUTHBASS

My hypocrisy goes only so far
Jun 17, 2003
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Boston , MA
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Mark
I have dealt with similar Sx in my discus tanks as well as angel tanks.. it actually did not turn out to be anything like TB but rather internal parasites.

commonly associated with cichlids. the culprit in my case was flagellated protozoa aka hexamita (Hex)

easy fix as it responds to common internal parasite mix of prazi/metro (jungle as well as others have it)
however, I discovered with my Altum that hex cannot reproduce in temperatures above 88 f and since the altum and discus both tolerate high tempsI simply raised the temp to 88-90 for 2 weeks the lowered tank temp to 84-86.
since then, all fish have recovered and the hex has stayed away . this was a problem that kept reoccurring in my tanks over the course of several months prazi metro helped but after a few weeks the Sx returned.
2 months ago I tried the raised temp and have not looked back since.
Thanks Star rider, is this what the fish look like when they're sick? (Like my Clown pics)
 

Star_Rider

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Dec 21, 2005
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with the discus yes..they tended to thin at the dorsal area...
 
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