# Alpha male frontosa lying on bottom of tank



## cdavitt (Apr 4, 2011)

Everything seemed OK yesterday, today after lights kicked on the alpha male has remained on the bottom of the tank all day. The rest of the colony is out and about and swimming around. He shimmy's or rubs on the bottom/sand occasionally, but really just sits there, breathing normally, with all of his fins closed or pressed against his body. no ripped fins, no red gills, doesn't look bloated or too skinny, no pop eyes, occasionally has been doing a kind of weird shimmy or shake of its back end.

right now its a 125 gallon, 9 mpimbwe tank raised frontosa, a few clowns loaches and SAE are in there too. Tank is established for a good 3 years. temp stay around 78 F, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10-30. I do weekly water changes of around 50%. I feed 1mm and 3mm NLS pellets, recently I have been also feeding freeze dried bloodworms.

I've kept freshwater fish and cichlids for many years now. I've had these fronts since they were about 2". I've never had any fish health issues other than ich in a previous mbuna tank.

Other questions? thoughts? recommendations? Bloat? over eating? Something else? treatment options? Epsom salt the whole tank? separate him (the only extra tank I have is a 10 gallon and he's at least 9-10 inches)


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## cdavitt (Apr 4, 2011)

Male still on bottom of the tank today. If I probe it or startle it, it will move, but quickly goes back to laying on bottom. If I get it to move, it swims, but appears to be listing or leaning or one side and not able to swim upright correctly. I have not fed in 2 days. I did my usual 50% weekly water changes and tested the water again, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, less than 5 nitrate. Even less then I expected but I attribute it to some fresh water plants I added a few weeks back. I noticed quite a bit more aggression than usual during the water change today. Don't know if that is coincidence or the other males are noticing the alpha not behaving as usual. The alpha male stays on the tank floor and really only moves/shimmy's to flash against the sand substrate.

I dosed the tank with 1 cup of Epsom salt diluted in a few cups of tank water during the water change. I will post back again tomorrow. Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.


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## gverde (Mar 3, 2010)

How big and how old is he? I'm saying this because if he is old or you don't know how old he is it could be old age. I had a large fossie that just stayed at the bottom for a few weeks. I bought him at a large size from someone so I didn't know how old he was. He was very aggressive a couple of years before that but he lost a lot of color when he started to stay at the bottom of the tank. He lost a lot of weight too and started to look old. After a couple of months I found him dead.


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## cdavitt (Apr 4, 2011)

I got him at 2" about 3 years ago so I don't think it's old age.

Another one of the fronts in there that is much smaller is hanging out on the bottom now too. Both are breathing at a normal/slowed rate.

I have not fed in 3 days so I might try some peas in case its some sort of intestinal blockage.


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

swim bladder? i saw a big adult kigoma front that was acting the same way due to swim bladder issue.


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