# Sick african. Suggestions needed



## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Well I'm very sad to say my W/C Trewavasae is sick. He hasn't eaten in 3 days and there is white inflammation near his Butt (anus). I noticed this morning. 

Any Ideas???? 

I treated the tank with Prazipro. I turned off my UV as instructed on the bottle. The weird thing is the fish is looking the best he's looked. His coloring is 

awesome. He is staying in one place a lot and breathing a little heavy. No other fish are showing signs of stress or any similar symptoms. 

Thanks in advance


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## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

I lost my wild last night and it was eating yesterday


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Curse of the wild caughts!!!!!! Man I hope he survives. Sorry to hear about yours. What kind of fish was yours Dino?

Im sure Charles knows what it is?????????


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## adanac50 (Apr 26, 2010)

It's not just the wilds that are being lost...i've lost 3 of my Signatus it looks like...the other is hiding for dear life somewhere in the rocks.
Partly my fault on this one as they arrived WAY smaller than I imagined..oh well, live & learn. Not buying anything that small anymore!


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## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

Sorry I'm no help but sad to hear man hope all goes well.


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## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

Mine was a malawi gar


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## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

Incase it's not parasite Help!prolapsed rectum?!?! does anyone know what this is?? • Cichlid-Forum interesting read on potentially a cause and treatment there is also another link in that thread that has lots of info that might help.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

before guessing what the disease is, how about some water parameter.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

charles said:


> before guessing what the disease is, how about some water parameter.


I will post water parameters when I get home. I do 50% water changes every week.My water is most likely okay. The other 35+ fish in the tank are all doing fine.

I have had this fish for 2 week. He didn't eat for the first 3-4days. He ate for 3 or 4 days now hes back to not eating for 3 or 4 days. His stomach seems swollen near his butt. Hes not

being picked on.

I did a water change on sunday. Is it possible to overdose Prime???


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Vancitycam said:


> Incase it's not parasite Help!prolapsed rectum?!?! does anyone know what this is?? • Cichlid-Forum interesting read on potentially a cause and treatment there is also another link in that thread that has lots of info that might help.


Thanks Cam. Prolapsed anus might be what it is. I didn't get a great look at it this morning but Ill have another look tonight. The causes of it don't seem to apply to me though. I feed Zucchini regularly. A couple times a week I feed blood worms, brine shrimp, spurlina mix, I recently bought some veggie type food. Cant think of the name of the top of my head. Plus Ive only had him for 2 weeks.

Besides being a $45 fish. He's a beauty. I want this guy to live.


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## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

Could just be an adjustment to the foods we provide seeing it would be nothing close to wild diet. Also was this fish a wild caught and used as breeding stock or just trans shipped?


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

I don't use prime myself. Bad experience with it. Anyway, let's elimate the water issue by doing a water parameter check; the usual anmonia, nitrite, nitrate, gh, kh, ph check.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

I got home from work today and he was near the top almost like he was grabbing air from the top. I had to help my neighbor repair his garage door after work so I finally sat down.  

I setup my hang on the side breeder box/ hospital tank. Ive added an air stone to the box. It uses an elite mini to push water into the box. His anus is definitely inflamed. Color still looks decent. I will check water parameters in a bit. Need to relax for a minute.

Charles what's your bad experience. This is the second time Ive dosed prime heavily thinking it would be fine. I cant pin point it on that but Ive never had this issue using the normal tap water de chlorinator

UPDATE as Im writing this. I went over to check on him. He is sucking oxygen off of the air stone. Weird!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Ph 7.2
gh 8
kh 8
am 0
nitrate 5.0
nitritite .1
salinity 1.002 or 3ppt


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## adanac50 (Apr 26, 2010)

jbyoung00008 said:


> Ph 7.2
> gh 8
> kh 8
> am 0
> ...


Just at first glance, Ph might be a touch low compared to what "wilds" are used to...mine is 7.8-8.0


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

I agree. Ph is a little lower than Id like. I asked Dave it a lower Ph was okay for W/C otherwise Id buy the none wild.. He said no problem. I measured the PH in the bags Dave sent my fish in with my digital PH meter. The PH was either 6.3 or 7.3. I cant remember but I think 6.3.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

jbyoung00008 said:


> I agree. Ph is a little lower than Id like. I asked Dave it a lower Ph was okay for W/C otherwise Id buy the none wild.. He said no problem. I measured the PH in the bags Dave sent my fish in with my digital PH meter. The PH was either 6.3 or 7.3. I cant remember but I think 6.3.


Must be careful with analyzing bag water as I believe the pH would have dropped due to the nitrification process.

Sent from my gigantic Samsung Note 2


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

Dave's fish are kept at 7.8 at his place in Texas. It could be a blockage in the intestinal tract. Africans usually don't do well on bloodworms (and especially not blackworms). They're quite fatty and they have trouble breaking the fats down. It would explain why it doesn't eat here and there - but I'm not sure about it sucking oxygen. I'd try and bring the pH back up and do a water change with a normal dosage of prime. I don't know if you should be treating for anything right now until you determine what it is. There's a chance that a pH swing from ~8 to ~7 could have given it a bit of burn to its gills which is making it harder for it to breathe but that's usually more common for pH's <5. Post on cichlid-forum and other forums if you can!


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

I feed NLS twice daily. The blood worm, spurlina, brine schrimp mix is more of a treat that I give them periodically. 

Ive done 2x 50% water changes since sunday. I added Melafix since I have it already and its natural so it cant hurt. 

I don't see the Ph as being the cause for his butt to be inflamed. He seems to be happier in the side breeder box now. He's moving around a little more. I will post pictures at work tomorrow.

Hopefully he's alive in the morning.


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## adanac50 (Apr 26, 2010)

jbyoung00008 said:


> I don't see the Ph as being the cause for his butt to be inflamed. He seems to be happier in the side breeder box now. He's moving around a little more. I will post pictures at work tomorrow.


The Ph won't be the cause for the intestinal issue that you are dealing with but it might be a contributor to the "sucking oxygen" issue the fish is experiencing. Seems like you have 2 different problems going on...


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Well..... RIP W/C such a shame  

Something seems wrong with my tank. All the fish seemed weird this morning. Maybe they were morning the death of WC, but I doubt it  So something must be up with the water. Usually the fish are all ready to eat in the morning when the lights come on but today they didn't. This has happened in the past so its not uncommon but now Im a little worried. I had a hard time leaving for work this morning. A lot can change in 9 hours in a fish tank plus I have hockey tonight so I wont be home until 9pm so 14hrs Yikes!!!. I might rush home on my lunch break to have a look. I really wanted to do another water change but I did one yesterday. All seemed fine last night. I added melafix which I add often and a capful of prazi to replace what was removed from the water change.

The Ph is an issue. I agree too low. I added more buffer today and will continue to add it until I get back up to 7.8

I added an airstone and air pump. The grabbing air at the surface sometimes means low oxygen in the tank figured I might aswell add it for now.

Im not adding any more meds of any sort.

Ill go buy a big bottle of stability today and add it daily just to be on the safe side that all my beneficial bacteria is fine.

Im sure Im just worried about nothing but these fish are my babies. I have a lot of nice fish in my tank that Ive been patiently waiting to grow big and turn in to beauties. The ups and downs of owning a fish tank  I think this is the fish gods giving me a reminder that I am not the fish tank king. They are!!!! Time to go back to the basics. Get my tank back on track!

I tried posting this in the morning but the website was down. I went home at lunch and all was well. They all ate no problem. Im thinking the air pump I added might of helped but I have no clue.


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## Fishy_Addiction (May 3, 2013)

I believe any animal can mourn.
However with fish you still want to just keep an eye because it could also be the water. Water is their life and all that jazz. Lol.

I witnessed Pumpkin my goldfish bumping into his bud Spotty when he had died. Kind of like "hey... hey you lets play tag or something... why you no move.... HEEEEEEY...."

Wasn't trying to eat him either. But anyways lol.

Sent from my GT-P6210 using Tapatalk 2


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Very sorry to hear that. You take great care of your fish it is not your fault. You have tried your best to save him.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Fish rookie said:


> Very sorry to hear that. You take great care of your fish it is not your fault. You have tried your best to save him.


Thanks. My fish are spoiled and treated like gold 

Ive had fish for so long that when they die it's not a big deal anymore. Its kinda sad but fish die. Its part of fish keeping but as I'm getting older I've realized the part that bugs me the most when I fish dies the amount of time and effort someone has put into them getting to where they were. Also the appreciation for the species and the sheer beauty of the fish. Now Im on the hunt for another Trawavasae and that's part of the fun


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

fish acts weird for a reason. Perhaps the new fish has something and infected all your other fish. Perhaps it is just the water. You don't really need stability. Throw a bag of active carbon to absorb the medication you have in your tank. Just by adding malefix will greatly reduce the amount of O2 in your tank. It is always a good idea to increase surface movment either by a powerhead of more airstone when melafix is added. Then try to increase your ph slowly. I remember from a talk in VAHS, ph increase from 5-6 about 100 point, but from 6-7 about 1000 point, so it is not just 1 point from 5-6-7. so when you are using buffer, use it slowly and measure the ph 6 hours - 12 hours later depends on how quick your tank turn over.


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

sorry to hear about that fish justin! it was a nice one


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

Sorry to hear that Justin.S#*t happens to all of us. I lost half a tropheus colony due to had a snail(fish and plant safe)medication. Not so safe after all.Now that really sucked.You will find another one.Hope all goes well from here on. 
Btw did anyone hear about Raj's Ilangi?


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

As far as I know all of them survived but certainly weren't as colourful as Ad Konings photo although i only talked to him about a week and a half after the purchase so maybe they coloured up a bit more.


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

We'll if we compare to Ad Konings photos then it will most likely not look the same.Those are usually best specimens.Plus fish look better if you take a good pic than in real life. I hope they all survived.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Vman said:


> Sorry to hear that Justin.S#*t happens to all of us. I lost half a tropheus colony due to had a snail(fish and plant safe)medication. Not so safe after all.Now that really sucked.You will find another one.Hope all goes well from here on.
> Btw did anyone hear about Raj's Ilangi?


I remember reading when that happened to you. Ive seen some snails in my tank lately. I always grab them and get them out of there because of your thread about snails. I usually only see them after a water change. For some reason that causes them to rise from the bottom and try to make their way to the top.


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

If you see one then you have more.If they are the Malaysian trumpet snails then act quickly.They thrive in hard water.I had thousands.How are your fish now?


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

All my fish are fine.  Everything is back to normal. I bought a Peacock from a LFS. Even he's doing fine minus struggling to find his spot in the tank and the pecking order. New fish always eats last.

As for the snails I think they are trumpet I will look them up. I pluck them out here and there. I havnt noticed a ton but Im keeping my eye on them. They seem to come out at night when you cant see them. My substrate is an African mix which contains shells so they blend in. Time to build a trap. Their numbers are low right now but I know how fast they can get out of control. Thanks for the heads up.


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

If you have trumpet snail problems, add a few assassin snails. Way easier than trapping.


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## bingerz (Mar 3, 2011)

jbyoung00008 said:


> Thanks. My fish are spoiled and treated like gold
> 
> Ive had fish for so long that when they die it's not a big deal anymore. Its kinda sad but fish die. Its part of fish keeping but as I'm getting older I've realized the part that bugs me the most when I fish dies the amount of time and effort someone has put into them getting to where they were. Also the appreciation for the species and the sheer beauty of the fish. Now Im on the hunt for another Trawavasae and that's part of the fun


just saw your thread and read it from the beginning, when i got to this post, man it hit me. sorry to hear about your little guy. it still bothers me whenever i lose one. at one time i had a group of acei, and one after the other weird things would happen and they'd pass or i'd have to put one down. anyways&#8230;ima get back to reading this&#8230;hope it gets better!! i was thinking your pH was kinda low&#8230;mine is always around 8.2


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## MOLOTO (Jun 8, 2010)

Hey Justin. Sorry about the WC - I remembered how bummed out I felt when I lost my adult Phenochilus Tanzania. The $70 fish died after 6 months. Took forever to find another replacement - managed to track down 2 M & 1 F. Still anxiously waiting for the pair to spawn.

Keep an eye on your filters. The snails will colonize in the media baskets of your external filtration.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Thanks again everyone. Not too many people understand the feeling when I fish dies. Especially a beauty African. I haven't really said much or anything to my close friend about it. They'd think I was weird. So Im glad Bcaquaria is around. I know lots of guys on here know the feeling.

Hey Moloto. Are you interested in a Female Taiwan reef? I got her from the group order from Dave. She's a juvie around 2". I bought 2 Juvies. Im pretty sure 1 is a male the other a female. I cant breed them but I know you have a nice male


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