Wasting Disease?

[PrairieSunflower]

Awhile ago I bought 6 Norman's Lampeyes....  Four of the fish were a good healthy size while two were very small and not really growing.  I started a little thread about it found here.
 
Well... one of the two has fattened up significantly and though not all that much longer is obviously on its way.  The other.... is just not picking up weight and I have begun to wonder if it might have wasting disease and need to be put out of its misery... when I look at it, it just looks abnormally thin.
 

 
 

 

[techen]

If you can see it eating food then I wouldn't believe removing it would do much. He might just have a smaller stomach compared to the rest of them, Every fish is different in its own little way.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

He does eat, but nowhere near as much as any other fish... and he doesn't seem driven to eat.  When I watch he has maybe 2-3 bites during the time all the other fish are rushing to get every single bit they can.  I've had him separated in hopes that he would somehow get more with no competition but he isn't any more driven to eat.  He does swim around constantly but doesn't look like the others.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I would say wasting disease. hard to get good meds for in the UK. ANd cold as this may sound, the cost of getting them is disproportionate to the cost of the fish. Given that the ds are by the time you are able to get a good treatment and use it, the fish will likely pass. And the meds are likely too late, and the fish will still likely pass. If it is something else, the odds are you cannot discover what before the fish will likely die.
 
All of this leads to euthanizing the fish as the most likely best solution. I cannot say if the fish suffers or not here, so I cannot tell you you are putting it out of its misery. But I can't imagine slowly starving to death is a positive experience for any living thing.
 
Sorry that I do not have a better idea or opinion of things. But your fish looks pretty far gone and not eating means its close to the end and beyond saving at that body weight.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Yes, my thoughts were also that it might spread if the fish dies and other nibble on him (if it is wasting disease) and I'd like to minimize possibilities of it spreading.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I have said good-bye to this little fishy.