# Jack Dempsey shutters during feeding/Hunger strike



## lestatak (Feb 3, 2007)

For the last 3-4 weeks my 7-8" Jack Dempsey will not eat. During feedings he will shutter his head, sometimes violently. He did this before 8-10 months ago but that only lasted 2-3 weeks. He shows no outward signs of disease. Any suggestions as to what could be wrong?


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## wpk22 (Jan 17, 2010)

lestatak said:


> For the last 3-4 weeks my 7-8" Jack Dempsey will not eat. During feedings he will shutter his head, sometimes violently. He did this before 8-10 months ago but that only lasted 2-3 weeks. He shows no outward signs of disease. Any suggestions as to what could be wrong?


is there a female of any fish in the tank?


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## aquariam (Feb 11, 2010)

That sounds like internal parasites. Does the fish look at the food like it wants to eat it but then shakes it's head? Sort of like if you had a cold and could not eat for two days and you're really hungry but you know you can't eat because you will be sick?


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## lestatak (Feb 3, 2007)

Sometimes....but mostly as soon as I feed he just shutters. Yesterday he actually grabbed a pellet but spit it back out. Its going on 5 weeks and I don't know how much longer the Dempsey will survive.

I imagine one of the other fish is a female.


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## aquariam (Feb 11, 2010)

lestatak said:


> Sometimes....but mostly as soon as I feed he just shutters. Yesterday he actually grabbed a pellet but spit it back out. Its going on 5 weeks and I don't know how much longer the Dempsey will survive.
> 
> I imagine one of the other fish is a female.


Yup. That's the behaviour.

If all your other fish are eating just as ferociously as before, and this guy is the only one acting this way, it has some kind of parasite. Because of the head shuddering, which I'm assuming you mean most of the fish stays still but it shakes its face left and right like 8 times and acts really uncomfortable. Usually on an angle facing up a little bit.. it could be a gill parasite. If the gills are really irritated, fish that have a tendancy to 'drop' a lot of food crumbs through their gills, like yours, will not want to chew food because of the pain it will cause them. It could also be an internal parasite though. The safest thing is to isolate the fish in a seperate small cycled aquarium, get pictures, and try to fix it. Medicate it seperately once you figure out what's wrong. Pictures of the gills, on the inside (might have to grab the fish and very gently lift a gill cover) on macro with a really good camera would help. Usually even if the parasite is too small to see irritated gills are something that you can spot.. It has nothing to do with your other fish being female or anything like that. The fish has a health condition.

Try taking the fish's favourite food. Pellet, whatever (it has to be absorbent so it can't be a frozen food), and some garlic. Squeeze the garlic through a napkin and crush it so the liquid from the garlic comes out. Soak the food in 60/40 tank water and garlic liquid for a few minutes. It will be softer and more attractive. Sometimes even a fish that won't eat can't resist garlic. Another one that may work, although I doubt it in this case, is Seachem Entice. It's some sort of banana extract I think.

Without pictures and more evidence I can't tell you what else to do


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## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

aquariam said:


> The safest thing is to isolate the fish in a seperate small cycled aquarium, get pictures, and try to fix it. Medicate it seperately once you figure out what's wrong.


I do not know much about fish medication; however, I was under the impression that if a fish has a parasite the entire tank should be treated rather than isolating the fish for treatment.

You may be right aquariam, and I am in no way saying go off what i have said. A search of the illness forum would probably shed some light.

Thanks,
Matt


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## lestatak (Feb 3, 2007)

aquariam, I bet your right. Every once in a while the Dempsey will try and scratch at the gill plate using driftwood or a rock. What would be a treatment method (medication) for this type of affliction?


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## aquariam (Feb 11, 2010)

lestatak said:


> aquariam, I bet your right. Every once in a while the Dempsey will try and scratch at the gill plate using driftwood or a rock. What would be a treatment method (medication) for this type of affliction?


I'd use copper for that if I didn't know what it was but copper causes damage to everything biological. Plants, fish, whatever. In an already weakened fish I'd be concerned about the copper doing as much or more damage to the fish than the parasites.

You want to treat the fish seperately for a number of reasons. The main one is that, if I may quote Mr. Spock, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". If you find yourself in a position without a microscope and the ability to take a biopsy of gill tissue you're going to have to play Russian Roulette with medications and you're better off doing it on the fish that is already in danger vs a bunch of fish that show no symptoms. If medication X cures the fish of it's problem, then you know that, should the other fish show the same problem, you can fix it with that medication. Don't medicate unnecessarily, IMO.


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