# Bumblebee Cichlid won't eat - Please Help!



## sibes187 (Jul 30, 2014)

My Bumblebee Cichlid (Reggie) has not eaten food for about 4 weeks. Whenever I give him his usual TetraCichlid flakes, he swims near them and then quickly swims away. He also starts to act very strange when I put food in his tank, often times wiggling his head, opening and closing his mouth, and swimming lengths of his tank. When I am not feeding him, he just stays at the bottom of his tank, usually behind the same rock. I have tried feeding him flakes, floating pellets, sinking pellets, and even some of the frozen foods from the pet store. Nothing seems to work, even though he has always been a big eater.

Some information about Reggie: I have had him for over 5 years, and he lives in a 30 gallon tank by himself (and always has). He has acted like this on 1 or 2 other occasions in the past, but it only ever lasted for a few days. He typically eats flakes two times a day (morning and night) and never leaves any leftovers.

Tank Conditions: I have tested his tank for PH (8-8.2), Ammonia (0 ppm) and Nitrates (0 ppm). The water temperature stands at 80°F, and his most recent water change was approximately 2 weeks ago.

Attempt to resolve issue: After explaining my problem to people at the local pet store, the only theory they gave me was that he has a parasite. They told me to give him 1 gram of Metronidazole (Seachem brand) once every two days. I have done this twice so far, with no effect. As a side note, Reggie has no physical symptoms (such as spots, curled fins, rash, etc.)

If anyone has experienced something similar to this with their fish, or otherwise can provide insight into what may be happening here, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you. As I said, I have had Reggie for over 5 years, and I really don't want to see him go out like this if he doesn't have to.


----------



## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Welcome to the forum.

Something is off with your water if there is 0 nitrates 2 weeks after a water change. Can you check again? Any recent filter maint?

Any signs of white/clear stringy feces?


----------



## sibes187 (Jul 30, 2014)

I misspoke about the nitrates. That is the one thing I don't have a test for, so I relied on the pet store for that. I'm not sure of the exact level of nitrites, but they told me they were "normal".

I have not seen his feces in quite some time.

As for the filter: I changed the carbon and foam two weeks ago, and the biomax about 8 weeks ago.


----------



## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Ahhhh.... So all of the media is new as of 8 weeks ago? And then new foam/sponge 2 weeks ago?

Any rapid breathing? Accurate water tests are a must. I've seen a card at an LFS that they use to test customers water against. The word ' safe' is used even though there was ammonia and nitrite present on the test card.

You only have the one fish, so you do not have a big biological load on the tank. It's possible you started a mini cycle when you changed out your bio. This could have caused Reg to develop illness, but I wouldn't treat the tank with anything until you verify that you indeed have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and a detectable level of nitrate.

Also, not sure if the store told you this, but carbon removes meds from the water column. Treating with metronidazole can take 7-10 days to see any results as well, but sometimes a fish is beyond help. The fact that your fish is still interested in food is good though.

Look at the article on this site pertaining to Malawi Bloat.


----------



## sibes187 (Jul 30, 2014)

Yes, all of the filter media is new as of about 8 weeks ago. There is no rapid breathing. I began the metronidazole treatment on Saturday. I will test the nitrates tomorrow and post the results. Thank you so much for your input thus far.


----------



## pfoster74 (May 13, 2012)

best practice to adopt for your filtration is to remove the carbon if possible. i can not stress this enough never replace your cartridges. when you do your weekly 50% water change you should rinse out your filter cartridges in your fish bucket water. if the filter has 2 cartridges never replace both at the same time. hope your fish pulls out ok. be better for your crabro to feed him or her a quality spirulina flake food. also i would mix the food up with a quality pellet food as well. new life spectrum cichlid is a pretty good choice.


----------



## sibes187 (Jul 30, 2014)

Thanks for the information. I tested the nitrate level tonight, and it is at between 5 and 10 ppm. As I said, I started the metronidazole last Saturday, and have been putting 1 gram in his 30 gallon tank every two days. Still, no change in behavior from Reggie. Right now the only filter media in his filter is the foam and the activated carbon. I removed the bio when I began the metronidazole treatments.

Any other ideas out there?


----------



## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

sibes187 said:


> I started the metronidazole last Saturday, and have been putting 1 gram in his 30 gallon tank every two days
> Right now the only filter media in his filter is the foam and the activated carbon. I removed the bio when I began the metronidazole treatments.


How much are you medicating with? Suggested dosage is ~250mg per 10g, daily.
Remove the carbon and put the bio back in, I assume it's in another tank so it doesn't dry out. The carbon can filter out meds.
You NEED to test ammonia and nitrite while medicating. Testing only nitrate isn't enough, especially if the filter media is all new.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/m ... t2_pt1.php


----------



## sibes187 (Jul 30, 2014)

Ph = 7.8
Ammonia = 0
Nitrate = 5-10 ppm (I don't have a nitrite test, but I will get one soon) 
Temp = 79

I had previously been following the directions on the bottle of metronidazole, which called for 1 gram every other day. Today I followed the directions in the article you attached. I did a 40% water change, removed my carbon filter, put back in a bio filter, added the Epsom salt over 6 hours, and did 750 mg of the metronidazole (30 gallon tank).

I will continue this process and keep everyone updated. Hopefully he starts to eat soon. Still no visible physical symptoms.


----------



## sibes187 (Jul 30, 2014)

I just wanted to update everyone on the current status of Reggie. As you will recall, he has not been eating for weeks (about 5 1/2 weeks now). Since my last post 9 days ago, I have medicated Reggie with the metronidazole for 5 straight says in accordance with the directions provided in the article. I also followed the instructions regarding Epsom salt. All this is in addition to the 5 days of metronidazole treatment that I did in the prior week. Despite all of this, my cichlid still does not eat.

Here are his conditions today:

Ph = 8.0
Ammonia = 0 ppm
Nitrate = 0 ppm 
Nitrite = 0 ppm
Temp = 82
* I currently have the mechanical and bio media in the filter, while the carbon media has been set aside for a week.

Over the last few days, Reggie has developed a new trend: He stands up almost vertically, and simply floats next to the heater. When food is added to the tank, he swims around slowly and rapidly opens and closes his mouth (though he does not put any food in it). The only physical changes are in color (turning white now) and stomach (sunken in).

I fear that he is close to the end at this point, though I am still hopeful that something can be done. If anyone can provide any further guidance at this point, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.


----------



## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

I would still keep medicating. His condition does sound bad. Good luck. ..


----------



## sibes187 (Jul 30, 2014)

Hello again everyone,
So I thought I would provide an update for those who are still interested. It has now been seven (7) weeks since my fish has eaten any food. I know this to be true because (1) all of the food I put in his tank stays on the bottom and (2) he has not produced feces since July. At this point, he is almost entirely white in color (used to be yellow with faint black stripes), and he tends to sleep vertically next to the heater. None of the conditions of my tank have changed since my last post, but I list them here again for your reference:

Ph = 8.0
Ammonia = 0 ppm
Nitrate = 0 ppm 
Nitrite = 0 ppm
Temp = 82
* I currently have the mechanical, bio and carbon media in the filter

I have tried metronidazole, salt dips, and all kinds of different foods, and he simply does not respond to anything. As a drastic measure this week, I even attempted force feeding with a syringe as described on this website: http://www.mchportal.com/fishkeeping-ma ... fish.html/ Even then, he simply vomited the food back out.

Reggie has almost entirely lost the use of his eyes, and seems to swim into the walls and other objects in the tank. He even has a small cut on his head from hitting into something. I would hypothesize that the blindness is what's causing the inability to eat, but I know that he stopped eating long before the sight symptoms developed.

Weighing all of these factors, and that there are no visible physical symptoms such as parasites, I think that Reggie has some sort of digestive failure that is causing his inability to eat. I'm not sure what may have caused this, because, as I have stated, I always make sure his tank has optimum conditions. Maybe Reggie's age (5.5 years) has finally set in.

With all of this in mind, I am starting to toss around the idea of euthanizing the poor guy. I thought I would send out this message as a final effort to gather any opinions on his condition, and prospects for ever pulling through. Any further comments would be appreciated.

Thanks again guys.


----------



## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Sounds like he is suffering. If it were me, I'd euthanize. Another medication is Clout, but sounds like he's beyond help at this point. Sorry to hear of his and your troubles.


----------

