# Yellow lab spitting food



## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

I have a 90 gallon african cichlid tank.

Stocking: Actual numbers unknown due to large amount of rock and breeding/predation of fry. I'll guess :thumb: 
labs: 8-10
P. socolofi: 10-12
P. Acei: 5
Rusties: 8?
common pleco: 1
firemouth : 2 (I know they don't belong here. Thanks LFS advice ) They've been in here over a year, and are doing fine.
C. moori : 1

Tank is well established, it has been running for over a year, and I haven't added anything in months. Currently filtered with 2 XP3, and a penguin 330. Water changes are every 7-10 days, and usually about 50%. I forget the name of the conditioner I use, and I'm at work right now. Feed a mixture of LFS flake and omega one pellet, with some algae wafers and pellets tossed in occasionally. Had this routine for months now.

Haven't tested nitrate levels recently, but the last few times I checked, I was about 20 prior to a water change. Ph is usually in mid 7.6 range or so. Don't remember hardness or alkalinity, but both have been fine in the past, and I've changed nothing.

A few months ago, I had a p. socolofi stop eating. No obvious superficial lesions, just stopped eating and became very thin, and eventually died. Too active to catch, and didn't have time to tear apart the tank to catch him. A week or so ago, one of the yellow labs started hiding in a fake plant. He looks very similar to the socolofi that died. Stomach is obviously empty, back almost seems arched. More black color than normal, and some missing scales. Active at feeding time, and swims through the food quite happily. He takes food in his mouth, and spits it back out a second later. Active at feeding time, pretty quiet the rest of the time.

Thoughts? Did I miss anything?


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## CHK (Jan 12, 2007)

I had lost a female exasperatus to the same conditions... She eventually grew thinner and thinner and wasted away. Funny thing was, it happened over 3 months. The first time I took her out and treated with clout. The situation improved but when she was returned to the tank it continued. I suspect that the continued harassment from the male in the tank was a factor.

IMHO, I suspect the stress in the tank contributed to development of internal parasites (bloat?). You could take the fish out to the Q tank and see if the eating improves or treat as necessary.


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

Bloat...that's a rather sudden condition, right?

Stress could be a factor, but with all the hiding places, and the otherwise stable nature of the tank, I had discounted that. Not sure of the gender of this one, but I assumed with the number of fish in the tank, it would be hard for one to become the target of harassment.

I'll keep an eye on him/her for now.

Anyone else?


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## sweetsummerrose (Mar 11, 2008)

Hello. I have been debating posting a very similar problem with one of my Pseudotropheus polits. He has been consuming little to nothing now for a couple weeks. I first had figured it was due to stress (being picked on ) so I moved hime to another tank with very little aggression, and have not seen any improvement. His belly is sunken in. I thought maybe he is getting picky, so I have been feeding other foods and he is looking horrible. But I have been doing research, and am starting to wonder if my case could be TB or Tuberculosis. 
Maybe try looking that up, I am going to be quarantining my fish and trying the medicine recommended. Unless someone out there can help maybe both of us out with more info. I hate to see my fish just look horribly anorexic, and not do anything about it.


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

I'm baaaaaaack! :x I have another yellow lab wasting away :x This one is at least eating, but still is hiding and losing weight. The previous yellow lab I posted about was a small one, and eventually died, but this is a larger fish. Not the biggest lab, but one of the bigger ones. I doubt aggression is involved, the dominant lab is pretty mellow and spends most of the time chilling out.

The tank is the same, but the pleco and firemouths have been removed. No obvious aggression, the tank is pretty mellow for a cichlid tank.

Anybody?


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## madjecks (Jun 8, 2009)

Have you tried feeding them different food, or maybe some blood worms or something of that nature to get their appetite going? I had a friend that Had a huge African Cichlid tank he once told me that if your fish stop eating to try blood worms, or ghost shrimp, and if that doesn't work you can mince garlic really fine and put it in the tank and that would entice them to eat.

It definitely sounds like you have a bigger issue than just them not eating, but it may help stop you from losing any more fish

Sorry if you have already gone over this I didn't read all the replies, have you tried taking the fish out of the main tank and putting them in another one to see if their eating habits change?

Hope you don't lose any more guys :\


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

NO blood worms plz....this is a food that more than not leads to bloat to begin with....protein content is too high for most mbuna....and as for the garlic....they have medicated food with garlic in it.....if they are eating this however will not be beneficial....how much are you feeding and how often....maybe u are over feeding?


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

He's eating ok, but still slowly wasting away. He readily comes out at feeding time, and eats ok. Maybe not as aggressive as the rest, but he's eating.

Everyone else is eating just fine. I have to wipe the water off the floor after the feeding frenzy at mealtime. I'm using cichlid staple pellets and a generic flake food from the LFS to feed. Everyone else is doing well.

I doubt I'm over feeding. The food usually disappears well within 30 seconds, I'm more concerned about underfeeding, but I think the feeding amount is fine.

I'm worried about diseases at this point. I think the management is fine, given that the other 29 (or so) fish are doing fine, breeding, growing, etc.

TB? Anyone know anything about it?


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

are there healthy fish of each species and sick fish of each species?....maybe the lower less dominant one of the sepcies cant compete as well for food? just a thought


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

BRANT13 said:


> are there healthy fish of each species and sick fish of each species?....maybe the lower less dominant one of the sepcies cant compete as well for food? just a thought


Negative. Like I said, there are 29 healthy fish and one sick fish. Well, there WERE 29 apparently healthy fish and one sick fish. The sick one died last night. Everyone else looks fine. Time to send a fishy to a diagnostic lab.


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