Thoughts On Bent Spine

[karin]

Don't know if you remember but about 3-4 weeks ago I got a shipment of 5 cupid cichlids with two having sunken stomachs and all of them not eating anything but frozen blood worms. Well I did a course of metronidazole/praziquantil (general cure by API). Then I started feeding bloodworms everyday with snacks of garlic soaked flake and pellets. So 3 weeks or so later here I am. The cupids are all feeding well and starting to accept flake and pellets. BUT... Tiny Timmy is the most sunken of the bellies but I have to say he also is the most assertive of the eaters. He gets right up there with the angels and tetras to get his fill of worms and flake. He does not give up. I know he is feeding well. So why the sunken belly? I took pics, can you tell if he has a bent spine? Is this just a matter of let it go and he may make it he likely won't?

This is the other skinny one but he is not as skinny as tiny timmy

I also found this somewhere on the web... seems to describe my two skinny guys and maybe that I should just stop worrying about them.

"Things do not improve for many months thereafter. It is the experience of many that B. cupido, while eventually acquiring a hearty appetite in the aquarium, never seems to fill out, and grows painfully slowly. Moreover, their drab coloration (your basic gray fish) and sometimes bellicose disposition have led many aquarists, including myself, to take them to auction well before any reproductive behavior is in evidence. Those aquarists who have persevered, and I finally did so, have been rewarded with a dramatic aesthetic metamorphosis that occurs around the second year of life. A white-edged lyrate tail sprouts and a beautiful, coppery-gold saddle develops complementing the electric-blue vermiform markings that develop on the snout — a simply breathtaking fish!" Originally Posted by Dr. Wayne Leibel

THOUGHTS ON THE SPINE AND ANY OTHER ADVICE?

 

[snowflake311]

What do you mean by bent spine? Is it when you look down at him his spine is like an S? Or is it looking at him from the side his spine looks like a lump or hunch back?

The S spine can be fish TB and the fish will die from it. It could be deformed like my ebjd.

If your fish looks like a hunch back. That could just be due to sunken tummy. I would think internal worms if the fish eats but will not put on any weight in a month or get worst I think worms. They are wild caught and that means good chance they could have worms. It's hard to treat internal worms best way is by adding meds to food so they eat the meds. Water treatments are not the best if there are lots of worms.

Stress can do It too. My male blue acara got beat up by the female and the stress caused him to not eat much. He soon stoped eatting then passed away. I had a festivum that sounds like your little guy. He got picked on but still was fresh with other fish. He got very skinny but still would eat. Then I saw ( when it was too late) he was getting picked on bad by the other 2. In the end I had to just put him down he was a tiny bag of bones with no energy.

Some fish are just weak and don't do well with stress. There is a good chance your others will be just fine. But if the skinny one is not getting better the end might be close so sorry.

 

[karin]

I guess I mean hunch back. Yeah and I couldn't tell if it was just sunken stomach. Do you think another course of a wormer? In the US, anyone know of a medicated food? Although maybe I just need to soak the worms in meds, that would get it in this guy. Again he is very full of energy, eats like a horse and poops a normal looking brown poop. He doesn't act very stressed, he is busy in the tank but does often have his dorsal lowered and does get a bit of chasing action from the other cupids. Funny thing about him is he is more energetic and more assertive and aggressive about his food than the others and that brings him out to the front of the tank and often to the top where he almost takes food from my fingers.

Should I try another course of the API General cure and soak frozen worms and shrimp in the stuff?

 

[snowflake311]

Sounds like my festivum sorry. He too was strong but skinny till the end. I did not think he was getting picked on as badly as he must have been. I still have a festivum from that group of 3 that is healthy and growing. Some fish like I said are just weak for whatever reason. It could be medical could be an interal organ problem somthing not working right. It's
not always worms. Could even be cancer we will never know for sure the reason.

If the poop is good I would think it's something more then worms. The stress of him move from wild to store to your tank could have been enough to weaken him badly. Could you put him in the 10 gal where no one will pick on him?

 

[karin]

Ahhh the 10 gallon. You would think I was the lamest fishkeeper if you look at my 10 gallon experiment. I would definitely do more harm putting him in there. Kill him for sure. 10 GALLONS ARE HARD!!!!

But I hear what you are saying. I think for now, I'll just let him do his thing. He is not being excessively picked on unless the fish are completely different when I'm not here.

Thoughts on medicated food? I found this anti-bacterial food. Don't know if these fish would take it. Would something like this risk the biofilter?


Jungle Labs has developed the first medicated fish food, designed to combat internal bacterial problems in aquarium fish. When combined with external medications, this medicated food helps to fight the problem from within. Fed as directed, will not cloud water.

Specifications
Package Size 1 OZ.

Active Ingredients SODIUM SULFATHIAZOLE, NITROFURAZONE

Type Of Disease INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL BACTERIA

Invert Safe NO

Aquarium Type FRESHWATER, SALTWATER

Form FLOATING PELLET

Instructions
Gently spread food over water surface so that it floats.
Feed exclusively for 5 to 10 days as required.
Do not use other foods during this period.
Feed 1-2 times daily as much as the fish will eat.
May be used with external water treatments and antibiotic/fungal/parasitic treatments.

Ingredients
Sodium sulfathiazole-- 2.3%, Nitrofurazone-- 0.13%Soybean meal, sorghum distillers dried grain, sorghum distillers dried grain with soubles, ground grain sorghum, fish meal, fish oil, dicalcium phosphate, dl-methionine, ascorbic acid, ethoxyquin, calcium carbonate, vitamin E, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, d-calcium pantothenate, niacin, folic acid, riboflavin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, biotin, choline chloride, vitamin D3, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, zinc sulfate, cobalt carbonate, ethylenediamine dihydriodide, ferrous sulfate, sodium selenite, vitamin A, mineral oil, vitamin B12.

 

[snowflake311]

I have used that stuff it's ok but some fish will not touch it. I think it might be best to just hope for the best and let him live out his life. Good luck with him. You did treat them once and the others did well right? So it makes me think his guy has something more that might not be treatable.