Sick Lab

flutterbye75

Friend, not Foe!!
Mar 17, 2005
130
0
0
50
BC, Canada
I have two electric yellow labs, one is definately a male, the other I assume is a female because I was told that the female has no black on the lower fins. Anyways, the female looks to be breathing pretty hard and has lost some weight. Her and the male were the same size about a week ago. All my water parameters are fine, other than my nitrates being at 10, which I have done a good gravel vac and water change today. Can anyone help suggest what could be wrong?
 
Is it possible she is holding eggs/fry? They look like they are breathing strange as the circulate water in their mouths with eggs/fry....is the lower part of her jaw distended at all? If not, is she getting chased around too much with nowhere to hide?
 
It is not possible that she is holding. I have had other african fish breed before, and she is definately not holding. I do have hiding spots for her, but the male does chase her around quite a bit. She eats, and has normal behavior other than sometimes hanging around the heater. Its strange. I will try to post a picture of her and the male to show the difference. I will put in more rock and build more spaces for her to hide to see if that makes a difference as well.
 
If that's the case, I would get 1 or 2 more females to take the pressure off of her.
 
Yeah, the only problem is that I haven't seen any females lately. I have been out all last week, and just because I am looking, I cant find any. Go figure. I asked our local fishy store to bring some in on their next shipment. I can go on Wednesday and look, I am just worried that she wont last that long. She is so pretty.
 
Oh man that drives me nuts! When you don't want or need a certain fish, they are every where! And when ya need em...nowhere to be found! hehe...good luck!
 
she may have bloat as well... sometimes they may not be swollen, but will act almost as if they are holding. If she is losing weight she may have internal paraisites. Also in labs they have been inbred so much that often color is impossible to tell sex anymore. The only true way is to vent them. Hope all goes well
 
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