South American Cichlids • Severum not eating

[karastamm]

I have a 3 year old male severum that has stopped eating. This has been going on for about a month. I have tried different pellets, earth worms, blood worms and zucchini. He will eat the blood worms, but only about half a frozen cube then he leaves the rest. Once in a while I will give him an earth worm, but he will no longer take them. He looks just fine, maybe even a little more colorful and is as aggressive as ever. I feed him cichlid gold normally and give him frozen blood worm or an earthworm as a treat. Is there any other foods that I should try?

[lp85253]

that is really odd ,any new tankmates

[djm761]

My guess would be internal parasites, I had a green sev that went 2 moths with out eating, I soaked tubiflex worms and freeze dried krill in medication, and he slowly started eating more and more, today you would never know he was sick, my only other concern would be water quality, I found that at times with new construction they tap into the lines, then they must purge with disinfectant or something, some times its so potent that it kills the algae and stresses the fish.

[djm761]

I find this link very helpful, http://www.fishyportal.com/diag/

[karastamm]

He hasn't had a tank mate since he killed an oscar about 2.5 years ago.
Without introducing a tank mate how can he get an internal parasite?

[djm761]

Blood worms and Earth worms are a good way to introduce parasites to your fish !!

[karastamm]

even frozen?

[djm761]

I'm done good luck

[Ape-Fish]

Try getting him some 'New Life' "Spectrum" pellets. My Serums love it!

[jaynuge]

I would try black worms. What kind of Severum do you have? Some have been bred through lines upon lines to get the best color... not always super healthy for strands.
Is it a male or female? I had two pairs of severums in my tank (males were about 13 inches, females were I had a female that had died with one of my pairs and the male was sad by it and wouldn't eat, and was stressed from being bullied by the other pair. Once I introduced a new female in the tank, his colors brightened up and he started to eat again. Not saying it would work with your severum, but buying another severum seemed to make mine "come back to life"

[Buzz_]

He will eat the blood worms, but only about half a frozen cube then he leaves the rest.

You should not drop a frozen pellet into the tank... Get an egg cup or something and fill it with tank water and let the frozen pellet in, let it soak and defrost before dropping in. Either that or put it in the tank and rub it with your fingers and it will defrost.

Do a 15% - 20% water change and try not feeding the fish for 2 days.

What are your readings for Ph, Amonia, nitrites and nitrates?

What else is in your tank?

[Mr.Dempsey]

A 15-20% waterchange will not really help IMO to bring down any reading your getting in a tank if they are affecting our fish to a safe level. I dont do anything less then a 50% and if I see somthing wrong i'll do a 70-80% waterchange on the spot just to make sure, my fish seem to enjoy their waterchanges as im sure you enjoy clean fresh air. Some people will say that doing large water changes stress fish but thats just a load of (well you know), doing large waterchanges keeps your fish healthy and happy and your water crystle clear, just when your doing large waterchanges you need to make sure that what your adding to the tank is the same parameters and temp as what you have taken out, if you dont this will stress your fish and could lead to deaths.

[Buzz_]

my fish seem to enjoy their waterchanges

Did they tell you that? Sorry I couldnt resist that

Fish enjoy water change mainly because of the oxygen in the fresh water being poured into the tank.

70% water change is madness, that is 70% of the water cycle gone in one go, and will take weeks to rebuild.
Anyway sorry Im off topic.

Is teh sev eating yet?
Have you tried any of the above?

Any signs of mating going on?

[Mr.Dempsey]

There's barely any bacteria in the water column, so even doing a 100% water change won't do anything to your bacteria, if what your saying is true there wouldn't be UV filters as they would kill off all your bacteria. BTY 70% waterchanges are not madness.