# Sunken belly african cichlids/tiny protrud from anus-worms??



## kj23502 (Jul 29, 2008)

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Tank size: 125 gallons
pH: 8
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 15

tank temp: 79 F

Fish Symptoms- A few of my fish (victorian mbuna like p. nyererei & mbuna c. afra)have had the sunken belly look. I'm beginning to wonder if it's internal parasites/worms. One of fish has some white protruding from its anus. It's not poop, it's different than that. It's like a small blob just poking through. Hemmoroid or worms? This just started in the last couple days. I don't have anything else in the tank, so I'll treat w/whatever is needed. (ie. I don't have to worry about inverts or sensitive fish)

Volume and Frequency of water changes: every 2 weeks about 50 gallons

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: none, have two external canister filters

Tank inhabitants: mbuna pseudotropheus crabro 1 (bumble bee cichlid), mbuna cynotilapia afra 8, lake victorian pundamilia nyererei 5

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): moved my bumble bee in when we had a power outtage. Bee was in QT for over a month when I got it. Other fish were exibiting these symptoms before it was added.

Exposure to chemicals: none

Let me know if you need other info. The fish is only 1.5" long and I doubt I could get a picture that would show it as the anus stuff is about a quarter of the size of a pencil eraser.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Without seeing the protrusion (or a pic) it's very hard to say what is going on. It could be that this particular fish just has some sort of intestinal blockage, or it could be the oviposter of the fish protruding.

The sunken bellies sounds suspiciously like internal parasites, though. Have you treated them for anything?

Are they eating okay? If so, I would pick up some antiparasitic medicated food (or soak your food in metronidazole) and feed this to them for a couple of weeks.


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## kj23502 (Jul 29, 2008)

They are feeding just fine. The fish that has developed this protrusion swims and acts normally like nothing is wrong. It's the male that has the wierd thing. It looks fleshy almost....like maybe a small hernia.

I haven't treated with anything. Is metronidazole the name/brand of the medicine. Do you have any idea if Petsmart or Petco would carry it? I doubt my lfs would as they don't carry much supplies, mostly just food, fish, and an array of filters.

I could try for a picture, but I have a Kodak that's only 4 megapixels w/3x zoom. It's at least 4 years old on top of that :-? Any tips on how to try to get a good shot of it?

btw, I've had these fish since the end of February. I did loose female nyererei a week ago. She appeared to be just fine. When I found her the bottom jaw was missing :-? Any idea on wth that would be? Just fighting, I assume.


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## kj23502 (Jul 29, 2008)

This is the fish (in an older pic)


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## kj23502 (Jul 29, 2008)




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## kj23502 (Jul 29, 2008)

This is what I'm feeding them:


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## kj23502 (Jul 29, 2008)

Some of the other fish have a sunken belly look too!

Another thing. My crabro is starting all these black spots around his mouth. I've read that this can be from a bad strain of fish. Could be be anything else? He acts just fine and feeds normally. Still appears to beg for food when we approach tank.


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

You should definitely treat them for parasites as Kim suggested. Occasionally fish can have sunken bellys from an internal bacterial infections, but it's usually parasites. Metronidazole works on both, parasites and bacterial infections so its a good first choise. If you don't start to see improvement after a few weeks then you made need to switch to a stronger/different med that targets only bacterial infections.

On the black spots. It might be some kind of genetic defect or trait. More often though fish get these black spots either from eating too much spirulina or if the spots are around the mouth it could be bruising from lip locking, (fighting), with another fish.

If it's too much spirulina or other food ingredient its not going to cause your fish any harm BUT it may be a warning to you that you're overfeeding them and that can lead to all kinds of problems. One small feeding a day is plenty. Give them no more food then can be consumed in less than a minute.

If it's from lip locking then you want to make sure there's not a problem with aggression.

Robin


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## kj23502 (Jul 29, 2008)

ok thanks everyone!! I'll definitely treat them. How worried should I be about the meds depleting the bacteria in my filters?

The spots are around the mouth and then go kinda under the mouth and under the head by where the first side fins are. Prob genetic then??


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## kj23502 (Jul 29, 2008)

I'll try reducing the spirulina and see if that makes a difference in his spots


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

If the tank has been set up since February, I wouldn't worry about the bacteria... :thumb:


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