Anorexic Sailfin

[Gourami Girl]

I am having trouble with my male sailfin who is refusing to eat. The tank is a Juwel Rio 125 so it is just under 3ft in length and about 15" wide by about 18" tall. It has been running for about 6 weeks and i have been gradually adding new tank mates, these are his female partner, 4 ancistrus, 2 pink kissing gouramis and 4 Goldon Wonder Panchax. Everything was fine until two weeks ago when we had a really hot spell and the mail sailfin seemed to be suffering, so i resorted to unplugging the heater and adding ice packs, as the water wasn't getting any cooler. After a while he seemed much better. But i noticed yesterday and today he is looking very thin and isn't very interested in eating. He was sitting on the bottom of the tank when i got home from work yesterday and was shimmying as well. Having read that shimmying can be due to them getting chilled i have now switched the heater back on. But when i come to feed them all in the mornings he just doesn't seem to have any get up and go, he has a look at the food and might even suck it in, but it comes straight back out again. I'm getting worried as he is getting much thinner than everyone else who incidentally seem perfectly happy.

Firstly i did a water change and i have put in some Vitazin to give him a boost of vitamins. I also keep the salt levels up to ensure the water is hard enough. Obviously i use dechlorinator and bacteria when refilling. I take out about 10% and normally do this once a month, the filters in the Juwel get replaced and cleaned when necessary.

I feed them a variety- plant flakes, TetraminPro, seaweed sheets, freeze-dried blood worm and daphnia, Tetrafresh Delica bloodworm, i've tried everything and nothing seems to tempt him-HELP!

 

[fawnmodel]

Okay maybe there is something else I am missing, but you do only a 10% water change ONCE a MONTH!?? Is this a typo???

 

[Gourami Girl]

well maybe i have my percentages a bit wrong!

i take two buckets out of 125 litres, the buckets are ordinary 'bucket size'.

 

[WILDER]

Is he getting thin hrough not eating, or did he get thin before he stopped eating, anything prutruding from the anus, is the anus enlarged and inflamed, what does it look like when he goes to the toilet.

 

[Gourami Girl]

well i'd say he's only just started getting thin, since he hasn't been eating. he used to be full of gusto and chasing everyone around the tank, now he just seems listless.

 

[Gourami Girl]

sorry, i forgot to answer the rest of your questions.

i haven't seen him poo for a while, presumably because he isn't eating. his appearence is thin, but apart from that normal.

 

[WILDER]

It's hard ot pinn it down could be parasites or bacterial, can you issolate him to try a bacteria med on him.

 

[Gourami Girl]

Well i was wondering about parasites. This morning he did look as though he had a bit of a protrusion around his anus, it's not red or angry looking, just pale yellow, similar to his colour.

i could try treating him, i'd need to treat the whole tank really as i don't have a second tank. Would parasites stop him eating though?

 

[WILDER]

Depends on your location but internal parasites are very hard to cure, yes you add the med to the whole tank, yes it can stop them eating, i would issolate him if you can.