# Sick Fish, Need Advice ASAP



## kingsac (Dec 10, 2004)

Hi,

Necessary Details:

12 Inch Male Jag
3 Years Old
125 Gallon Tank
One Canister and One HOB
No water changes for the last 4 1/2 weeks (was on vacation, friend was feeding)

Behavior: Sorta sits on the bottom of the tank, looks tired, no signs of stress or injury. Has not eaten food for 2 days, behavior is 3 days old. He isn't laying on the bottom, sorta just sitting there. Looks old and tired all of a sudden?

Immediatly did a 50% water change, will do another 50% today. Added in Prime as normal.

What could be the problem?

HELP?!?!?


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## cage623 (Feb 2, 2008)

One questions, are there other fish in this tank?

I will be honest I don't really for sure know what is going on with this fish but in general here is what you do with a sick/stressed fish. If it is the only fish in this tank leave it in there. If it has tankmates and they seem fine it is best to have a "hospital" tank.

What you do is increase the water temp a few degrees (when I have done this I tried to get it around 80-82 degrees). Then add in some aquarium salt. The label should tell you how much to add for the amount of water in the tank. Then try to do daily or twice daily water changes of about one fourth to one third. I know you are concerned about the water conditions being that you said it had been like a month but doing 50% or more of a change will be a little more risky because it is causing a bigger shift in the water that your stressed out fish will have to adapt to.

Another thing you can do is cut down some of the time that you leave the lights on the tank on. This can cut down on stress to the fish.

Finally keep an eye on it. Look for any changes in color, any growths or patches, and any wounds. Good luck and I really hope that this helped out some. Let us know how it is going.

PS. One final question, how was your fish eating for most of the time it was gone and where there any changes to what it was being fed? Also if it goes too many more days without eating you can always try something more desirable such as earthworms or shrimp. Sometimes the high protein foods get them back their appetite. Once again, good luck.


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## fishlids (May 5, 2007)

There may be a possibility that the friend that was feeding it, fed it too much, or too often. Give it a few days to calm down. Don't start to panic right away by treating him for diseases that you don't even see in him. Many big cichlids get attached to their owners (especially the loner ones), and when they go away, they really do get depressed. To them, the owner is the only entertainment in their life.

Give it a few days. If you said the only symptom is that he looks tired and upset, then he probably is tired and upset. I'm assuming that your friend would just come, feed and leave. So your fish didn't get enough "attention". Give him attention, just sit and look at him or do something by his tank. Don't give him that much attention that he gets stressed (like knocking on the tank by him). But spend some time with the guy, let him get used to your face again.

I think it would be better if you keep the lights off

Keep the water changing to a decent routine, maybe every other day, and keep it small, like 25%.

Ask your friend how was his behavior when he was feeding him. Did his activity slowly decrease to the point that you see him in right now? or is this sudden?

Sometimes if I neglect taking care of my Red Devil, he acts all tired and sits at the bottom doing absolutely nothing. So I "wake" him up by doing things that I know he hates or gets pissed off at. Not necessarily stressing him, but things like putting my face at the glass. He hates it so much, and that gets him active. If there's something that you know your jaguar tries to "fight", do it a little. But be careful not to make it too stressful, since the old fella is already stressed out. This may work,but if your Jaguar's condition is really severe, then forget about it.

Does he hide on sudden movements? Or just sits there, and sort of unaware of his surroundings? You may have a bit of problem if he acts unaware of his environment. Like not swimming away from the siphon or not swimming away from the net or your hand.


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## Voodoo Chilli (Jun 29, 2004)

Have you tested the water? Sounds like a water quality issue to me, especially if someone else was tending to your tanks.


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## DirtyBlackSocks (Jan 24, 2008)

Poor water conditions and overfeeding would be my best guess.

Have there been any new introductions to the tank in the past few months without QTing them?

I would start by slightly increasing the temeperature, aerating the water with a bubble wand, and performing large water changes (50%) for the next week.

If his behavior doesn't improve by then, cut the water changes back and try adding epsom salt at 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons.

You can also add aquarium salt now, if you can afford it with the water changes - to help envigorate him.

This should be moved to the disease forum.


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## kingsac (Dec 10, 2004)

Hi,

Thanks for the responses, keep them coming, hopefully this info will help.

The friend I left him with claims he did not over feed him, in fact he was told to only feed him every 2 days, which he seems to have done, in all honesty I 100% believe him.

On friday the fish also displayed the following behavior:

Fatigue trying to swim off the bottom of the tank
Continuing to stay on the bottom of the tank.
Incredibly low activity
No signs of fatigue in breathing, but he is breathing very slowly.

I did some research and I think he has bloat, and I began treatment of bloat today. Here is what I did:

A. 25% water change
B. Addition of Prime
C. Removed all Carbon from the filters
D. Added in full dose of Clout, or 12 pills.

I've never used Clout before. It left a sort of dust on everything.

The thing is, he doesn't LOOK bloated, he just seems sorta lifeless.

Also, Yes there is another fish in his tank, a 7 in Carpintas Escondito. They are seperated by a divider. He is showing none of the signs that the Jag is, in fact he looks 100% healthy. I removed the escondito and placed him in a smaller tank I have.

Should I do a full strength dosage of Clout again on Sunday, am I doing the right thing? Is my fish old, he's only 4ish, but it seems like he has lost entire strength.

He can't swim up to the top to eat, I haven't tried sinking him shrimp yet.

Soooo many questions, am I doing this right???

It's terrible, just seeing him sitting there on the bottom of the tank.


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## kingsac (Dec 10, 2004)

Today I gave my fish his 3rd day of Clout.

The only real update I have is that he FINALLY was able to swim up to the top of the tank to greet me, but then the sank right back down the bottom.

I suppose that is progress.

He still is showing no signs of enlarged stomach.

He hasn't eaten in 5 days.

Thoughts, anyone?


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## DirtyBlackSocks (Jan 24, 2008)

Epsom salt and increased temperatures, sounds like he's got a blockage if he's not eating and sulking - see if you can get him to poop.

1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water.


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## kingsac (Dec 10, 2004)

Can I apply epson salt at the same time as the clout?

Do I just add the salt once or do I apply this daily?

When he swims it looks like he is somehow tied to the bottom of the tank.

Thanks.

-SF


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## kingsac (Dec 10, 2004)

Day 4 I decided to take a break from the clout.

I'll be purchasing some Epsom Salt and applying it tonight, after a 50% water change.

No change in behavior from the fish, not really sure what the heck is going on here.

Fish hasn't eaten in at least a week.


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## DirtyBlackSocks (Jan 24, 2008)

Increase temps to around 82 and add the epsom salt - perform daily 50% water changes and replace with the correlating amount of epsom salt - if treatment doesn't result in a bowel movement after 1 week move onto somthing else.


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## kingsac (Dec 10, 2004)

Temp increased

50% water change

Fish remains at the bottom of the tank with no signs of change or disease. Now day 8 of not having eaten.

Was not able to get to the salt will add in on Wednesday evening.

This is regular epsom salt, the stuff you can buy at walgreens right?


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