Sick Yellow Lab Please Help.

[Snake42490]

hey guys i just got home from a camp for 4 days. i left my tank in charge with my mom.. i trust her and know what happened wasnt her fault... anyway i came home to my small yellow lab hiding in the upper part of the tank not accepting food. Hes always been small. always been a huge eater to. I have made sure and watched my tank for hours... no fish pick on him. i know its not normal for him.. any help would be greatly appreciated... thanks

as of right now. im taking that fish out as it appears to be suckin air.. / very stressed for whatever reason. im putting him in my qt tank right now. then im going to do a good water change on main tank.

everyone i have talked to has just told me to put it out.. but i would hope it may have a chance. thanks and maybe be optimistic?

Seth

 

[Arimus]

What are the water stats?

(I first read this thread expecting a sick dog.... next time I'll look at the forum topic rather than just the thread title - I know more about mutts and felines than fishies )

 

[dthoffsett]

If you could answer as much of the following as possible we'll see what we can do to help.

Request Help

Tank size:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):

 

[Snake42490]

ok sorry about long response.

Tank Size: 55 Gallons

Ph: 8.2

ammonia: 0 all though there was a ton of uneaten food on bottom( mom overfed when i was gone)

nitrite: 0

nitrate: very very low... cant really give you an exact.. somewhere between 0 and 5 ppm though

not sure on KH or gH.

tank temp: between 78 and 79

Fish Symptoms: hiding at the top. not active. very skinny.. hes the only one that hasnt grown in the tank. doesnt get pickedo n either. i noticed today putting a light up to him. rightwhere the heart area is it is red... like something burst inside... almost like internal bleeding?? colors still vibrant... im thinking it could be a birth defect but who knows

i do 25% water changes every 3 or 4 days. i may have gone one week two months ago. always keep up on them

Tank inhabitant: Yellow Labs: 4 Red Zebras: 4 Kennyi: 4 Synondontis Petricola: 6

havent added any fish for 3 months. last fish i added were the synos. they were qted for 4 weeks then added. no problems with them

Chemical exposures: was using half dose aqua sol. ich preventitive med. i stopped using 3 water changes ago before fish started acting up. other than that i use prime water dechlorinator


Going to get some pics now. Thanks

 

[Snake42490]

right now i cant find my camera. i think my parents have it. The fish seems to be getting worse.. i can tell for sure just from day to day that its going to die. what would you guys recommend doing to put it out of its misery?

 

[Snake42490]

another question i was going to ask was stocking levels. i was eventually wanting to add 2 im not sure what fish they are.. they are in the assorted tanks at the local stores.. all white with a bit of red..like eyes... body shape similar to a kennyi i would say? would i have room for those in my tank and would they work with the fish i have now? filtration i have

Rena XP3
Aquael unimax pro 250 uv cannister filter
penquin 150 bio wheel

current

4 red zebra
4 kennyi
3 electric yellows
6 syno petricola

I wont be adding for i would say a few weeks. i want to make sure nothing is going to happen with the rest of my tank. all though i wanted to know if that would be an option. thanks Seth

(Also, those fish are in with Red zebras and some kennyi. if that would help.

 

[Snake42490]

well the fish just died... i looked at him and it looks like blood underneath where its heart would be.. almost like something smashed it or something...

 

[dthoffsett]

Not really sure what killed it, sounds kind of like septicemia though. I'm sorry to hear it died. Keep a close eye on your other fish.

As far as stocking, I would get back up to 4 labs and keep it at that. 12 cichlids and 6 synos is a good stocking level.

 

[Snake42490]

ok so i got a new yellow lab today. hes in my qt tank. The other fish are doing great. i see absolutely nothing wrong with them. how long do you think i should keep the yellow lab i got in the qt tank before adding it back to the main tank to get the levels back up to 4? Thanks Seth

 

[dthoffsett]

I usually keep a new fish in qt for 3 to 4 weeks, that's usually enough time for any diseases/parasites to show up.

 

[stryper]

Sorry to hear about your fish loss mate sad indeed. I always found with any sick malawi that i put in a tank on its own never did well. So i always put them in with young fish that were too big to eat. This always promoted them to eat were as when they were on there own this didn't always happen. Although i will stress this was mainly fish that got beat up pritty bad of course.

Another thing i've never done and really don't see the point of is qt tanks. There is still a chance that ANY new fish when moved again can come down with something because of stress or the riggers of a new tank. I know i'll get it in the neck for this lol.
.

 

[dthoffsett]

Sorry to hear about your fish loss mate sad indeed. I always found with any sick malawi that i put in a tank on its own never did well. So i always put them in with young fish that were too big to eat. This always promoted them to eat were as when they were on there own this didn't always happen. Although i will stress this was mainly fish that got beat up pritty bad of course.

Another thing i've never done and really don't see the point of is qt tanks. There is still a chance that ANY new fish when moved again can come down with something because of stress or the riggers of a new tank. I know i'll get it in the neck for this lol.
.

Great advice, but you are about 2 years too late.

 

[stryper]

Story of my life i guess lol.