# Sickly Peacock



## lotsofish (Feb 28, 2008)

One of my peacocks has been sickly for some time. Iâ€™ve treated the whole tank for parasites and isolated this particular fish and treated it alone with Maracyn I. He is back in the main tank but no improvement. Heâ€™s a tough cuss that will chase bigger fish away but remains isolated in a top corner of the tank. He eats but often spits out part of his food. He has not grown like the other peacocks of the same age. His color is dull and he is getting skinnier by the day. I have not noticed his stool so I canâ€™t say if it is irregular.

Iâ€™ve never lost a fish in this tank for the two years Iâ€™ve had it and other fish are healthy. Except for new fry in the tank, all the fish were bought at the same time and from the same place. Water parameters are good, aggression minimal (they are cichlids), and 25-30% weekly changes.

I have in my medicine cabinet: 
Clout
Prazi Pro
Maracyn I & II
Metronidazole
Epsom salt and aquarium salt
Levamisole HCl
Flubendazole

Any ideas on what to try next?


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

What method did you use when you treated for parasites?

It may be that you need to do another treatment, and try to get him to ingest some medicated food if he will take it at all.

It's not uncommon for one treatment to be insufficient. In these cases, I normally try to go another route with the second treatment.

If he's hanging in the top of the tank, it sounds like he may be the victim of aggression.

Kim


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## lotsofish (Feb 28, 2008)

Some time ago, I did two treatments of the whole tank with Parasite clear since he didn't look well and I saw some other fish flashing (but not him). When it seemed like he wasn't getting better, I thought he might have a secondary bacterial infection so I isolated him and treated with Maracyn.

I returned him to the big tank since he seemed big for the 5 gallon hospital tank and I assumed he was getting better--NOT!

I don't see any aggression from other fish towards him. Sometimes he chases fish from his little area in the top corner of the tank. Mostly, he just hangs. He was the first of the peacocks to color up and was the most aggressive of them. Now, he almost looks like a female since his color has gone bland and all the other peacocks are now larger.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Do you mean you did 2 full treatments (3 dosages each treatment) or just that you treated the tank twice with the JPC?

If it's the latter, you never treated fully for internal parasites. It requires 3 full treatments, and sometimes (many times) even that isn't enough.

It may simply be that you need to start all over again and treat thoroughly. If you did two full rounds of the JPC, then consider treating with something else.

I would also be feeding the main tank medicated antiparasitic food.

Kim


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## lotsofish (Feb 28, 2008)

You are correct in that I only treated the tank twice with the JPC. Since the one peacock was the only one that seemed ill except for occasional flashing from the P. Phenochilus Tanzania. I wasn't sure of the parasite diagnosis to begin with. I also have a UV for the tank that should wipe out free swimming parasites.

I still don't see real evidence of parasites in the tank. The other fish seem healthy so I hesitate to treat the tank again--!80 gallons uses a lot of meds.

Perhaps I should isolate the peacock again, treat it and if treatment works assume that parasites still exist in the main tank and repeat its treatment. Does this sound like a good idea? Also, what med do you think I should treat with?


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I would try that and see if it helps. It doesn't sound like this guy is going to pull out of it without doing something...anything...

I would try treating with either pure metronidazole or PraziPro!

You can always feed your main tank medicated food if need be.

Kim


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## lotsofish (Feb 28, 2008)

Thank you Kim for the advice. I'll posted with how things work out.


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