# 2 african cichlids not eating and one breathing heavily



## cholile

I have two african cichlids I have moved into the hospital tank.

The first is a yellow lab. The yellow lab is about 4" and was being chased by the other yellow lab I had in the main tank (they had been together for a year and half and suddenly one began constantly chasing the other). The chasee yellow lab is now in the hospital tank and looks fine, but does not eat.

The second is a fenestratus or prot. taiwain reef. The PTR has been breathing heavily for days now and also does not eat. There are no other visible symptoms.

The meds I have available are: maracyn I and II, clout, melafix (more preventative I know), epsom salt, and met (usually not useful without food as i understand it). I do not access to jungle parasite.

What should I use, if anything, and in what doseage? Thanks.


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## 55gal

The first thing I would do is check all my water specs. before adding any meds. What type of water maintance do you follow ?


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## Robin

Had they stopped eating prior to being put in the hospital tank? How long has it been since either of them ate?

When a fish is being harrassed is will occasionally stop eating and breath heavily. NO way of knowing if that's what's going on here. I would definitely do as 55gal suggested and test the water. Make sure there's a good strong flow coming out of the filter return. If the h-tank is empty then put a few fake plants in there--fish don't like to feel like they are out in the open with no place to hide.

The most common illness we see here is bloat. Bloat usually starts out with the fish spitting out food and then not eating. You may or may not see long stringy white or clear feces. The fish may gasp/breath hard and will eventually become lethargic and will either hid, sit at the bottom or hover at the top. It may or may not become bloated looking. Usually the symptoms take about a week from start to death. 
There are other situations/conditions/illnesses that will produce the symptoms you're seeing--bloat is just the most common. Don't know if you were saying you didn't want to use Jungle Parasite Clear or couldn't for some reason but that's what I'd recommend at this point. It will treat internal parasites and some bacterial infections.

Metronidazole used in the water works. IMO you may need to dose a couple times a day with it depending on the form you're using.

The maracyn's won't do anything for internal parasites.

Water changes should be done daily, working around any medication you may be using. Watch and see if the fish seem to breath easier directly after the water change.

Robin


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## cholile

yellow lab has no breathing problems

taiwan reef does and had it in main tank too though i did not see him getting harassed

i change 50-60% on a weekly basis in the main tank and have a wet-dry filter and run a mag 7.

I have not been able to locate jungle parasite.

i have not seen white stringy poo

other than daily water changes what should i do?


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## Robin

Well we still don't have a clear diagnosis--not that it's ever 100% clear diagnosing fish and especially doing it on line, 
but

it sounds like either the two fish in question have been harrassed to the point of not eating and gasping
OR 
they have bloat.

You would think that after a few days in the hospital tank that if it was just harrassement that the one fish would have stopped breathing hard and they might both return to eating. If it's been more than a few days since they've eaten then I would start treatment for bloat.

You can treat with the metronidazole if you can't find Jungle Parasite Clear. Or you can use Clout. On the met: IMO if you're using the powder then you may want to treat twice a day rather than what the package says.

Robin


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## cholile

thanks for the help.

If I was not clear, then the yellow lab has never been breathing heavily. I just saw that it was being chased rather regularly and when the chasing didn't subside after a few days I placed it in the smaller tank. It may not have been eating while in the main tank. I don't know. However I have yet to see it eat while in the hospital tank.

The taiwan reef was breathing heavily in the main tank and not eating, but I never noticed it being chased.

So based on what you're saying it sounds like the yellow lab's not eating was due to being chased while the taiwan reef's not eating and heavy breathing may be due to bloat.


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## noddy

Walmart has jungle parasite clear in Canada, maybe it does in the U.S as well.


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## cholile

drove out to the closest walmart and picked up some jungle parasite clear tank buddies. thanks noddy!

so after following the clout treatment robin suggests the yellow lab seems fine as it is eating and it never showed any other symptoms at all.

meanwhile, the taiwan reef is still breathing heavily, though noticeably less than before.

should I do another round of clout? should I use jungle parasite clear? is there a special procedure you recommend (like with clout) or just follow what is on the box?


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## pkut

cholile, were you able to cure your fish?


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