# Male saulosi doesn't seem to be eating



## Steve St.Laurent (Oct 2, 2008)

I have an adult male saulosi that doesn't seem to have eaten for the last two days. He is otherwise acting normally - still showing off for the girls, swimming around great, great color, fins out, breathing normally, etc. It's possible he's been eating some algae at night as I'm seeing quite a few of the fish eating algae off of the plants. I did lose a Metriaclima Estherae a little less than a week ago - she started breathing heavy but was otherwise acting normally and was dead within a day. Water parameters are 79.5 degrees, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5 ppm nitrate, 15 dGh, 20 dKh, 8.3 ph - I verified the water tests with the LFS last weekend after the Metriaclima died to be sure that my test kit was working properly. No overt aggression noticed in the tank and I do have a UV sterilizer on it as well as plenty of filtering (15 gallon sump running 400 gph with bioballs & mechanical filter, and Eheim 2028). Is this something I should worry about or do they something go a few days without eating? I'm feeding them Dainichi Color FX, Veggie FX, and Ultima along with occasional algae wafers (although I put those in at night so hopefully the pleco's get some) and occasional seaweed.


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## CichlidLover2 (Jul 31, 2005)

I'm thinking some sort of parasite. Let us know if his belly begins to cave in.

Eating algae is usually never enough to satisfy a cichlid's hunger, maybe for a few minutes but not in the long run. I would isolate him and observe him a little closer.

You could even try using appetite enticing foods (usually they have garlic in them). I would start feeding him (and maybe the rest of your tank) NLS Thera A+ for a little while until everything returns to normal. The NLS Thera A+ formula is anti-parasitic AND it has garlic in it to entice fish appetites.

Hope this helps :thumb:


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Since you recently lost another fish, I would suspect internal parasites, too.

Any white stringy feces? Reclusive behaviour?

What symptoms did the estherae show before dying? Anything at all other than the heavy breathing? Was it eating up until the death? Hiding?

It's not normal for a male fish to stop eating.

For now, I would add epsom salt to the main tank at 1 cup per 100G. Make sure you dissolve it in some tank water first. It serves as a mild laxative and a bit of a preventative just in case you are dealing with bloat.

What size tank is this? What is the full stock list?


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## Steve St.Laurent (Oct 2, 2008)

I did see white stringy feces from him late last night. He does seem to be hanging around more than he used to. The estherae seemed to eat normally. It was just breathing heavy continuously and was hanging out at the surface and not swimming around at all. I removed her to my quarantine tank and she died over night.

It's a 90 gallon tank but there's ~100 gallons in the system. The complete stock list:

1m/2f Pseudotropheus polit
1m/3f Pseudotropheus saulosi
4? Metriaclima estherae
1m/3f Cynotilapia afra (cobue)
3? albino BN plecos

Plus there's some fry in there from the saulosi that was just released a couple days ago (caught what I could find) and possibly a few fry from the afra that were released a couple weeks ago.

When I saw the white stringy poo last night I treated the tank with prazipro and I turned off the UV sterilizer.

I have some Jungle anti parasite food that has praziquantel in it but the last time I tried feeding it to them they would just spit it out immediately. I thought about skipping a few feedings and then trying that again. Thoughts?

I've added the epsom salt for now and am holding off on their morning feeding until I hear back.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I would try the medicated food again. Fast them for a few days, then soak it in tank water for 20-30 minutes before offering it.

You may also need some metronidazole with the praziquantel as far as the water column goes. Do some extra water changes and substrate vacuuming to remove any potentially infected feces.

There are two links for bloat treatment below.

It can get kind of costly treating a larger tank, so you might consider moving the ones that aren't eating to another smaller tank for treatment of the water column, and then focusing on the medicated food for the ones who are still eating in the main tank.

It sounds like you may be dealing with bloat.


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## Steve St.Laurent (Oct 2, 2008)

I got a hold of the metronidazole today and started that treatment. I soaked some of their favorite food in it as well to try that - he still didn't eat it although the others did so at least they'll get some into their system that way. One question - I tested the water today and the Gh is up to 32 now after adding the cup of epsom salts yesterday - I assume that's normal and ok?

The LFS told me that if he dies to bring him in and they'll take a look and try to determine what happened - this is a large LFS that specializes in cichlids and has a microscope and all. So worst case if he dies I'll take him in there and find out what it was and let you know.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Don't worry about the GH right now...That's normal with the added salts.

Good luck!


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## Steve St.Laurent (Oct 2, 2008)

Update - he still hasn't eaten as of yet. A second fish seems to be having the same thing going on (Polit) - stringy feces, not eating. That seemed to start yesterday (same day I started the Metro treatment). Also, the saulosi has started to flash quite a bit - sometimes it's almost like he's beating his head on the back glass of the tank - multiple times across the back of the tank. Other than that he's still looking great - his fins are all out, color is great, swimming around fine - he seems to be swimming more than he was and the string feces isn't as bad as it was. I'm continuing to treat, just wanted to put this out there in case it changes the diagnosis/treatment any.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Well, you've got to take care of one thing at a time. So, I would complete the bloat treatment (and sometimes it takes more than one regimen of meds to resolve) before worrying about the saulosi.

Once they stop eating, it can be quite difficult to bring them back around. Give him time...


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## Steve St.Laurent (Oct 2, 2008)

Good news! The Saulosi ate this morning! I don't think the Polit did but I'm not sure. I ended up splitting the Met dosage between what he recommended and what was on the package. I've been putting 1 tsp of Met in twice a day and 40% water changes every other day. I've kept the Epsom salt at the 1 cup/100 gallons ratio and have been adding my cichlid salts as I usually do (1 tsp/5 gal). I also soaked some Dainichi Veggie DX in a Met solution and that's what I've been feeding them. That and raised my tank temp to 81.5 degrees (usually it's 79.5) - as recommended by the LFS. The fish all seem happier with the higher temp so I may leave it there.

THANKS for the advice! Hopefully the Polit is only a day or two behind the saulosi in his recovery. How long do you think I should continue the Met treatment for past them recovering? I found Met cheap at http://www.jehmco.com/html/medications.html - 500 grams for $35. I had to buy some locally and overnighted some seachem before I found it and payed WAY too much for those but at least I was able to get the treatments started.


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## Steve St.Laurent (Oct 2, 2008)

The Polit ate tonight too - so everyone's eating in the tank again!!! What's your recommendation for how long I should continue the treatment for? Thx


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

That's great! It can be very difficult to nurse them back to health once they stop eating, so you've done a good job. :thumb:

I would maintain the treatment at least through the weekend. Or, at this point, rather than treating the water column, you might want to sprinkle metro on their food and soak it in a bit of tank water. I really feel more comfortable with my treatments when I can get them to ingest some of the medication. If you can do this for a week, you should be totally out of the woods...


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## Steve St.Laurent (Oct 2, 2008)

Well, here we are a week later and everyone's eating happily still! Thanks again for your advice - it sure is nice to be able to come here and get my health questions answered by an expert!!!!! You've saved a couple more


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I'm no expert, by far. I've learned by trial and error, just like most of us here.

I'm really glad things are going better for you and your fish, though! :thumb:


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