sunken stomach
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Bauxitehog
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sunken stomach
I was at a lfs all his African Chiclids are suffering from sunken stomach. I want to give some intelligent suggestion to the owner. Thoughts?
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mewickham
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Re: sunken stomach
A lot of things could cause this. Without seeing the fish and without using a microscope, everything I say is nothing but an experienced guess, but based on 25 years experience as a retailer with hundreds of tanks. Here are some guesses.
1. Feed more. Sunken bellies could be nothing more than underfeeding. Dealers often do this, especially wholesalers and upstream dealers, who need to keep fish from polluting shipping bags with their own wastes.
2. Feed something different. There are many kinds of African cichlids. Some are herbivores, while others are carnivores or omnivores. Providing the wrong diet, or a poorly formulated or stale food could cause malnutrition.
3. There may be an internal infection. I might try metronidazole to treat flagellated protozoans that can infest intestinal tracts. Otherwise, try a good gram-negative antibiotic such as kanamycin, a furanoid, tri-sulfa, or other.
4. Could this merely be a shipment of females that just released fry? Many African cichlids are mouthbrooders. The female holds the eggs and young in her mouth, perhaps for weeks, before releasing them. She refuses food during this period and loses weight.
5. Check water quality. With insufficient water changes, water quality deteriorates. Many fish lose appetites when it deteriorates enough. If water changes are sufficient, perhaps add some African cichlid salts.
6. Check water flow. If there's too much water current, the fish could be burning off too many calories merely to stay in one place.
7. Check for electrical leaks or stray voltage.
That's all I can think of for now.
1. Feed more. Sunken bellies could be nothing more than underfeeding. Dealers often do this, especially wholesalers and upstream dealers, who need to keep fish from polluting shipping bags with their own wastes.
2. Feed something different. There are many kinds of African cichlids. Some are herbivores, while others are carnivores or omnivores. Providing the wrong diet, or a poorly formulated or stale food could cause malnutrition.
3. There may be an internal infection. I might try metronidazole to treat flagellated protozoans that can infest intestinal tracts. Otherwise, try a good gram-negative antibiotic such as kanamycin, a furanoid, tri-sulfa, or other.
4. Could this merely be a shipment of females that just released fry? Many African cichlids are mouthbrooders. The female holds the eggs and young in her mouth, perhaps for weeks, before releasing them. She refuses food during this period and loses weight.
5. Check water quality. With insufficient water changes, water quality deteriorates. Many fish lose appetites when it deteriorates enough. If water changes are sufficient, perhaps add some African cichlid salts.
6. Check water flow. If there's too much water current, the fish could be burning off too many calories merely to stay in one place.
7. Check for electrical leaks or stray voltage.
That's all I can think of for now.
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Bauxitehog
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- Joined: Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:59 am
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Re: sunken stomach
Thanks, very helpful. I noticed they had brought a very large cichlid "trade in" who showed the sunken stomach" I was told he wasn't well cared for and they were gonna get him back into shape. They put him in with the new small guy stock, which I thought he'd eat everyone. I go back several weeks later and notice all the 1 1/2 - 2in fish were showing sunken stomach- kinda alarmed me. Enough to find out what sunken stomach was. I'd never seen it before.the fish I purchase the month earlier has not had this issue thank goodness.