# Severum sick? Spitting out food. Any ideas?!?!



## a.foshee (Dec 20, 2009)

Hello, and thanks for reading!

My yellow severum, recently, has had a change in behavior and eating habits. Normally, he was an active eater, and an active, peaceful tankmate. A couple days ago I noticed he takes in his food, and almost instantly spits it out. I feed a variety of food. I have not really changed the type of food fed to the fish in, well probably years. They get pellets, flakes, frozen blood worms (also sometimes dried ones), also frozen brine on occas (as only some like it), and another frozen as well.

Its 90G tank, lots of hiding, no live plants, plenty of aeration, temp usually 74-76, canister filter. I have not added new fish in about 1 year. 3 severums, 1 unk. black cichlid, 1 parrot, 1 algae, 2 sharkfish, 6 giant danios, 5 long-skirted tetras.

He also seems disinterested. He swims, slowly. Kind-of stays put, and is still once he gets to where he wants to be. Breathing seems a bit shallow. His color is normal, no wounds. His fins seem normal appearing. The whites of his eyes, for years, have always had a tinge of yellow/orange to them. Now, they are orange/red, as if he is stressed. I alos noticed a black spec in the red/orange colored area.

I did a 30% change the other day. I add salt, and prime always with changes. I also added stress coat with this change. I use API master test kit, and levels were fine. I use well water.
I have a hospital tank up (either 15 or 20 G) and running. I just removed my parrot from it, as he was acting oddly too. He was hiding ALL the time, appearing l;ifeless at times, and eating, but eating less. I treated with melafix and primafix for 1 week. My parrot seems better now.

Should I move him to the hospital tank? Or should I treat the 90G tank, or just individually as symptoms appear? It can get costly treating a 90G tank for a week. Is melafix/primafix a good choice? 
He is one of our fav. guys, hes so big and beautiful! I hope I can get some input/ideas to help! 
Help us save our fish :-(
Thanks so very much! :-?


----------



## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

Sounds like a classic case of Hex to me. The suggested treatment would be a medication containing metronidazole. There are several. API General Cure is one such medication, although it also contains praziquantel, but it is usually available. My preferred Hex treatment is SeaChem Metronidazole because it is straight metro, no other medications. But SeaChem Metronidazole can be a bit harder to find. I order it online from Big Als.

Hex is somewhat contagious, although healthy fish can usually fight it off. Hexamita is a parasite in the intestines of all fish. As mentioned, a healthy fish's immune system generally keeps the parasite in check. But sometimes the parasite can gain a foothold in a fish under stress. If left untreated, it can be fatal. The good news is it usually can be treated.

You may want to check on your nitrates. Your tank is pretty heavily stocked and you would have to be a water changing machine to keep nitrates within acceptable range. As a guess, without further information, I would say the root cause of the problem would be excessive nitrate, which would place the other fish at risk of developing the same ailment.

If you have high nitrates, medicating without first dealing with the nitrate issue is a wasted effort.


----------



## a.foshee (Dec 20, 2009)

thanks, should i treat the 90G tank, or move to the smaller tank for treatment?


----------



## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

I would go ahead and treat the main tank (another reason to use SeaChem Metro, less expense). But please review my post above, I likely added some information while you were posting. Please check your nitrates as I would guess excessive nitrates as the root cause. If nitrates are an issue, they will have to be dealt with before medicating or the medication is a wasted effort.


----------



## a.foshee (Dec 20, 2009)

and yes, my levels were all fine when checked the other day. And, maybe purely coincidence, but I seem to be having an easier time with levels now that we moved from city water to well water. Only annoyance is an increase in algae.


----------



## a.foshee (Dec 20, 2009)

is this what your suggesting?

Seachem Metronidazole 5 Grams 
Our Price: $5.99

Im just concerned about waiting for it to come, esp. this time of year. I wonder if i should get a starter amount from the LPS, use that while waiting on a delivery.


----------



## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

Yes, that is what I am suggesting, although I would get the 10g size, or two of the 5g.

I want to make certain that you have tested specifically for nitrate. An acceptable level of nitrate is under 40ppm, with under 20ppm being MUCH preferred. But when dealing with illness, the maximum level of nitrate should cap out at 20ppm, with under 10ppm being MUCH preferred. There is a direct relationship between nitrates and a fish's immune system. The higher the nitrates, the less effective the fish's immune system. The lower the nitrates, the better the fish's immune system is able to fight off illness.

Many times, if an LFS is doing the tests, they do not even look at nitrates.


----------



## a.foshee (Dec 20, 2009)

thanks, I use the API master kit for testing.


----------

