Heyas

A couple of weeks ago my EBJD decided to snack on a couple of LARGE Patties I had in the same tank. Unfortunatly his greedyness seems to have come at a price, and now he's not a happy chappy.

He's become quite lethargic, not as active as I'm used to seeing him, and his interest in food has dramatically declined (he used to dance for me waiting for food, now he'll sit in his pot and just look)

He's still eating, although barely. He used to treat himself to a whole cube of bloodworms, now he'll have a pew picks at it, have a small mouthful then go back to sitting on the substrate again. The last feed I gave him I saw him regurgitate a small bit and just left it. This is concerning as he's normally Pig Pig Piggy!

He looks healthy, no signs of any external problems, and is still a very dynamic blue. My concern is that he's battling internal parasites which may have been in the Platties (I have seen white stringy poo!), or he's damaged his internals due to eating something he shouldn't have.

Anyone got any advice as to what to do? I've noted this behaviour for a week now, and are concerned theres no noticable improvement.

Tank Details - 180 Litre Tank, fortnightly 30% water changes, Well established external filter rated from 300 - 500L, Am, N02, N03 = 0ppm

2 Pics attached, 1 with flash, 1 without

Well he certainly looks happy enough.. If he isn't eating and you have seen white stingy poos then I would treat for hex using metro..

I would be doing a low dose test run on any meds for EBJD.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=44991

thats one nice looking fish to me

Ok so the research done seems to suggest internal parasites. I have sourced some 400mg Metro Tabs.

Being such a delicate fish, can anyone make some suggestions as to dosing? I've read it can be mixed in with frozen food. I'd quite like to give this a try if people think its worth a shot?

Or should I jsut go whole hog, hospital tank, and dose properly?

I am not convinced that it is protozoal parasites; however, if you are going to treat using Metronidazole, here are some non oral dose ranges that I have used clinically on numerous fish species: (NB I do not have species specific dose ranges for Metronidazole so use at your own risk if you feel this species is more sensitive than others).

A concentrated bath of 5 mg Metronidazole/litre of water for 4 hours repeating once a day for 3 - 5 days.

Or, 1 mg Metronidazole/10 litres of water for 24 hours, repeating once a day for 5 days with a 25 - 50% water change before each dose.

There are pros and cons to each method.

Ok we might not need to dose anything now

Just watched him eat a whole cube of bloodworms, which he hasn't done for a few weeks now. He was also dancing and waiting for me to feed, another thing he hasn't done. Apart from him taking a while to actually swallow the bloodworms, it would appear he's feeling alot happier.

Will keep everyone posted

Indigestion, perhaps?

He's since coughed a big chunk of it back up again. Still, its a big improvement from waht he has been like. He's also eaten flake.

If it was indigestion, its lasted 3 weeks. I'd be going to to Dr myself!

Good news! Well, if you think of animals like canids, when they binge on a big carcass, they don't eat again for a couple of weeks. Or maybe he just wanted to hock up a 'pellet' of bones like owls do. :roll:

sounds promising, but be aware that coughing/spitting food is also a sign of internal parasites as well...

Still not out of the woods yet, but he's definatly looking happier. With any luck he'll fight off the parasites without my intervention? (Is that possible?)

It is possible, some nematode infections do not cause clinical signs of illness. However, other parasites like flukes and protozoal parasites can cause significant illness. What is he doing now? Not eating and less active? Any other signs?

when i used to keep discus i always seemed to get recurring bouts of internal parasites, would treat they would disappear but return. I'm not sure if they can fight it off themselves.

Agreed. Domestic discus are the exception to just about every rule (and I too can speak with personal experience on that :roll: ). Incidentally, wild caught fish have much stronger immune protection (however the stress of capture and transport greatly affects this).