# Adult male yellow lab has sunken belly, what do I try or do?



## FTLOSM

I have used the search function and found others talking about treating fish with sunken bellies assuming it might be a parasite of somekind.

I have a 90 gallon with all water tests coming out in proper ranges, and in that tank I have 2 syno petricola, i male 4-5 inch yellow lab and 5 smaller yellow labs. Lots of places to hide and overall all the fish seem very happy and all the fish (including the adult male) eat very well everytime I feed them.

Everyone looks good except for the male adult lab, his belly is sunken in, it's been this way for a few months I just figured he would eat and regain it, then as I started to look into the belly stuff via search I realized this could be a parasite.

My question is what would or should I try to do first, I can move him to a separate tank of his own, altho he is eating fine and nobody else in the tank shows those symptoms.

Is this something (the meds) that I can get from the local pet store or do I need to order it special online etc?

Thanks for any help, can post a pic a bit later today (wife took the camera to work, she sells houses) ughh.

Bill


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## CichMomma

Hi Bill,

I am currently dealing with this issue as well but on a larger scale.....quite a few fish with sunken bellies. Anywho, I picked up some Jungle Labs Parasite Clear from Petsmart and have been treating my main tank as well as my QT tank, ugh.

If it's only the one fish that is displaying any symptoms that treat only him in a QT tank. If ANY of your other fish are not eating, showing sunken bellies, white, stringy poo...then leave him in and treat the main tank. I learned the hard way, waiting too many days to "see how they're doing" and lost 3 fish. 

Even though this link is for Clout treatment, I followed it with the Parasite Clear and all my fish are doing better! Good luck!!

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... hp?t=24132


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## FTLOSM

Wonder if i can do just the jungle parasite clear tabs on their own in this 90 gallon, it would take 9 tabs per treatment so id probably opt for their larger 100 tab product, then i could medicate 2 or 3 times following their directions and have some for future too...

Or should i just put him into a 29 all alone for a week or two and treat that tank (less tablets), and less chance of the chemicals hurting another fish that currently seems to be fine...

Thanks for the input,

Bill


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## CichMomma

FTLOSM said:


> Wonder if i can do just the jungle parasite clear tabs on their own in this 90 gallon, it would take 9 tabs per treatment so id probably opt for their larger 100 tab product, then i could medicate 2 or 3 times following their directions and have some for future too...
> 
> Or should i just put him into a 29 all alone for a week or two and treat that tank (less tablets), and less chance of the chemicals hurting another fish that currently seems to be fine...
> 
> Thanks for the input,
> 
> Bill


Whether or not you treat him alone depends on if your other fish are showing any signs/symptoms. From what I understand, it will not hurt a healthy fish to do this treatment. I'm sure someone will chime in if I am incorrect, however, in my tank the fish that seemed fine are still fine. Also, unlike those guidelines where it says not to feed fish, I still put in a little bit of food every day for those fish that still had an appetite.

I would say that if you choose to treat him alone, just keep an eye on your fish in your main tank to make sure they don't start showing signs. The packs I got were 8 tablets for $4.49, I think.

One more thing, make sure to remove any carbon you have in your filtration before adding medication. :thumb:


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## FTLOSM

My filter media has the carbon built in, i guess i could take the filters out for a few days or try to find some media without carbon to fit into that slot...

Thanks


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## CichMomma

Your welcome.

What kind of filter do you have?


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## FTLOSM

on that 90 gallon i have 2 penguin 350b's but i absolutely hate them (noise wise)... the media cartridges have the carbon built in with the pad, i could tear off the pad and empty the carbon i guess too....


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## CichMomma

Yes, make a slit in the top of the filter cartridges and dump out the carbon as best you can. You don't need carbon in those filter cartridges unless you need to rid your tank of medication(s). After you are done treating your fish, either put the carbon back in, if it is fairly new, or replace with new carbon cartridges. :thumb:


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## FTLOSM

Here is a pic of him today after wife got home with the camera.

Will be hitting the pet store tomorrow trying to find some sort of parasite treatment










Sounds silly but this fish has been with me for a few yrs now and thru all sorts of **** in my life, hate to lose him, just hoping whatever i find helps...


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## CichMomma

Despite the sunken belly, he is really pretty!! It's reassuring that his fins aren't clamped down tight as well. How is his behavior otherwise? Mine would linger at the top of the tank or dart around and have seizure like motions.....very strange. All is better now. Hope you can find that parasite clear at a local store


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## FTLOSM

He is actually VERY active and playful, eats well, nothing other than the sunken belly, i didn't even realize it till after a few months here and seeing it get a bit deeper and realizing ok time to figure this out (no idea what was wrong) once I read about the parasite possibility i felt horrible and hope its not too late to help him...

Off to the pet store today tho and get this process started!

Bill


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## triscuit

He's a very good looking fish, and just a bit too skinny for a well fed alpha male.

The Jungle Parasite Clear is a good product, but like you've already noticed it can be expensive to use. You can also look for pure metronidazole, which will be cheaper. Note that with either one, you will want to treat at least three days in a row, with large water changes, despite what the package directions say. I also highly recommend not feeding until after the treatment is done.

Good luck!


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## FTLOSM

Well I hit 3 fish stores and only one had a parasite type product, it is tetras parasite guard.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/24 ... roduct.web

It's 8 tabs, and contains Praziquantel, diflubenzuron, metronidazole, acriflavine. I grabbed 2 packs so i can treat the entire 90 gallon at least once (9 tabs) and have spare to re-treat a 30 gallon 2x if still needed.

Ok called the tetra help line listed on the box backing - what a joke, the guy was clueless as well as rude...

First I asked do i feed during the treatment said 
_"Ummmmm unless you want your fish to die yes feed them"_

then I asked if i can use this product with my catfish in there (syno petricola) and he said

_"Ummm no because if I had taken the time to read the box (in a sarcastic tone) that it clearly states harmful to Crustacens..." _
(isnt a crustacean a shrimp or crab) do catfish even fall into this catagory?

The box itself doesn't say feed or don't feed during treatment, just to remove carbon filter and do 25% water change if re-treating 48 hours later, and obviously I sure can't count on what the tetra rep pulls out of the air in his answers...

Figure to be safe I wont feed for like 3 days after treatment, then light feedings 2x a day to get them back slowly.

Hoping this helps old big daddy here...

Bill


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## mlancaster

Hi *FTLOSM*,

What do you feed this tank? Type of food and size (if pellets)? How many other Mbuna are in the tanks and how much smaller are they than your Alfa Male Yellow Lab?

The reason I ask these questions is in my Yellow lab tank there are a lot of juveniles and only a few adults. I was feeding very small NSL pellets so the juvies could eat them. My Alfa male started getting a severe sunken belly but was otherwise acting perfectly fine (as you described). Based on observation, it appeared the juvie Yellow labs were out competing the adult males or at least getting similar amounts and the adults were not getting enough food in proportion to their size. Therefore I started feeding larger pellets some days and even sinking algae wafers so the adults could eat them whole or steal them from the juvies who could not fit them in their mouths. Unfortunately my theory about my fish was not proven correct or incorrect as I subsequently moved and downsized my Yellow lab population getting rid of the larger males with the sunken bellies.

I just wanted to share my personal thoughts based on the observations in my tank since you mentioned your Male Yellow lab seemed to be eating and acting normal. I was treating my tank with aquarium salt (1 table spoon per 5 gallons of water replaced during water changes) during this time as a general remedy.

Again just my own thoughts, you watch your fish the most and are the best suited to make these types of decisions/observations.

Thanks,
Matt

Edit: Oh, and I forgot to mention that is a great looking Yellow Lab.


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## FTLOSM

I have a 3 part mix I use in this tank, sinking shrimp pellets for my catfish, some cichlid flake that floats all over and a larger cichlid pellet that floats, the big fish goes for the large floating pellets, the smaller fish mainly go for the flake and don't even try to mess with big fish eating lol...

Well I opted to put the big guy into his own 29 gallon, it was easier than cutting open four filterpacks on my 2 twin filter filters...

added in the 3 tablets to a secondary container let them dissolve and slowly added it in with him alone in there, plenty of hiding room lights off and meds in place ill do a 30% water change in 2 days, repeat the treatment then on the 4th day ill feed him just a bit, figure a few days won't hurt of no food and hopefully this medication does it job fully and starves/kills that parasite!

Crossing my fingers... might even keep him in there for an extra week after treatment for sole feedings to see if i can get him closer to back to normal before returning to the big tank.

Bill


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## CichMomma

FTLOSM said:


> might even keep him in there for an extra week after treatment for sole feedings to see if i can get him closer to back to normal before returning to the big tank.
> 
> Bill


This sounds like a GREAT idea to me. :thumb:


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## GeriJo

If the jungle doesn't work for you I would suspect round worm... Here's a recipe I posted a couple weeks ago for dealing with it.

http://cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopi ... 81d67bbade


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## FTLOSM

So far so good, have treated the tank 2x so far and did a 30% water change after the first 48 hrs and ill probably do a 3rd treatment as the instructions talks about certain parasites being treated 2-3x, I am feeding him a bit each night, so far seems to be acting the same, but hopefully after 3 treatments for parasites and then having him in there alone for about a week I will see improvement (thats the hope at least).


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## FTLOSM

Gerijo,

wow what a story there and congrats on bringing him back! I am guessing if after the 3rd treatment and about a week of being in there alone and being fed daily if i don't see that belly coming back by the end of that week I will try something like this....

The instruactions on this parasite guard by tetra says use 3x for treatment of internal and anchor worms, are those similar to round worms?

I did notice this has a few ingredients
Thanks so much for sharing that info too btw..

Bill


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## exasperatus2002

Have you thought of or has anyone tried using a medicated fish food for internal parasites? I have a peacock with the same problem. He got it after I had added a pair of wild Lethrinops to the tank. They seemed fine in quarantine for 2 weeks but were later killed by a borleyi I had. I sold the borleyi.


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## AaronAllan

I'm on day 2 of 3 treating with the medicated food. most of my tank is infected, it seemed to hit all at once. if the food doesnt work ill move to the tabs.


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## FTLOSM

I know this is an old thread but my fish finally died last night, he never did seem to beat the sunken belly and over the last few weeks I noticed him just losing color and not looking so great altho he was swimming and eating normally overall despite all the treatments i tried, nobody else seems to have picked it up either so made it even more puzzling.

I have lost sold traded many fish but losing this one wasn't fun he was my absolute favorite......


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## exasperatus2002

Sorry to hear that. I used jungled anti parasite medicated fish food & it cleared mine up.


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