Ancistrus Weight Loss

[NikkiC]

I keep six Ancistrus in a 330l aquarium. A few months ago, seemingly out of the blue, a few of the Ancistrus's stomach became concave and their skeletal structure started showing. The smallest Ancistrus succumbed very quickly and died. So I now have six remaining, with two exhibiting this wasting disease. The other four seem completely untouched. I have two other tanks populated with Ancistrus and these show no similar symptoms. I feed them all the same food.

The medications I have tried with no improvement are Waterlife Sterazin, Interpet Anti Internal Bacteria and Kusuri Wormer Plus. Putting extra food in the aquarium appears to help with their concave stomachs. They are still very interested in food and will fight for it. Once they've eaten their fill their stomachs slightly protrude, until the next day when they are back to concave.

Anyone have any idea what the cause could be? Any suggestions appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[Mattsissons]

I had the same problem a while back, make sure you put enough food in so they dont have to fight for it, pellets, fresh veg etc, see how they go. Mine took a couple of weeks to get his belly back, but hes done very well considering how skinny he was

 

[NikkiC]

I had the same problem a while back, make sure you put enough food in so they dont have to fight for it, pellets, fresh veg etc, see how they go. Mine took a couple of weeks to get his belly back, but hes done very well considering how skinny he was

Thanks for the reply. So you used no medication and his belly returned? So there's hope! They probably need an aquarium to themselves so they can sit on some zucchini for the whole day.