Sick Botia kubotai?

T

thadius65

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Jul 30, 2006
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:confused: My fish have been healthy for many months. Have not had a death since late summer. Recently two fish have been acting strange. They isolate themselves and then slow to no eating, getting very skinny then death. The first to do this and die was an Silver Angel. Now one of my prized Angelicus Botia (Botia kubotai) is doing the same thing. It's pal (I have two) is almost twice around as it now. It just sits off alone and never seems to eat. It has been doing this for about a week.

At first I thought the angel and the botia got kicked out of thier respective groups. (4-clown loaches as well and 5 other angels)....

All other fish seem to be doing fine. I am not sure what to do. It is almost nothing but bone. What is really sad is the other keeps by it side from time to time, going up to it as if to say "come on man, lets swim around..."

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Ted
 
Anyone?
 
angels will live for weeks without eating.

hiding and not eating can be related to internal issues..I see it with angels when stressed. the fish has a loss of appetite and hides.
in these cases the stress can weaken the fish and they may get bacterial infections or parasitic infections.
with angels I have found camillanus..but also they have been infected with capillaria (worms) camillanus is sometime visible as thin red threadlike protusions from the anus.

capillaria are visible with microscope and hard to ID.

the thinning may be related to not eating..but as mentioned a once healthy angel can go for weeks with no food.
thinning can also be related to parasites.

in any case if the fish are not eating I treat with mixture of parasite cear and levamisole(usually when I have fish in quarantine) while bumping the temp up.86+

if the fish aren;t eating you can try isolating and treating..I lost one of my favorite angels last year..no signs of camillanus but he was beat up by a larger male..I treated in a hospital tank..dosed with parasite clear and levamisole..he passed a bunch of worms but died..I suspect he didn't pass them all and some worms rotted inside the angel.

good luck make sure you check how these meds may affect your fish..remember I am treating mainy cichlids.
 
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In case this was an issue with lack of numbers, I addressed today. The Petsmart 1 hour from me had 4 left at 9.99 instead of the 19.99 I paid prior. I got the last 4, which had been there at the store for multiple weeks. I don't think that is the issue though as they hang pretty tight with the clown loaches.

(probably a dumb idea to add extra fish if there is a potential parasite issue, but oh well)

I did begin feeding garlic laced food tonight for those that are eating (all but the one botia).

Thanks,

Ted
 
Okay, so here we go....

10 gallon M.A.S.H. tank setup. Filled with 5 gallons of primary tank water. Installed heater and turned up to 82 degrees. Placed air stone in middle of tank.

Purchased Jungle Internal Parasite Guard (contains sodium chloride and metronidazole). Per directions put in 1 teaspoon into M.A.S.H. tank. Will repeat ever other day for 3x's.

Question. I don't really need a filter if I do a 25% change every day for a week do I?

There is a devil on my sholder saying to add some aquarium salt, but I did not for fear of FLAME from some.

Any other thoughts. My Botia is worse, but still swimming somewhat, so hopefully not to late. I will attempt to put in some food (maybe garlic laced)

Ted
 
and maybe if I paid attention to what I read/type I would realize there is already salt in it... Dooh!
 
thadius65 said:
and maybe if I paid attention to what I read/type I would realize there is already salt in it... Dooh!
Click to expand...
LOL! I was going to tell you, but did not want to come off like a jerk. IMO you should still use a filter on the quarantine tank and I would not add any more salt.
 
Well, to little to late I guess. My little guy is off to the big tank in the sky... :o(

Thanks for all your help.

Ted
 
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