Fish Going Off Their Food! Why?

[mark4785]

I've noticed over the past 2-3 weeks that one of my male Bolivian Rams started to only eat the miniscule particles breaking away from the sinking tabimin pellets I was putting in for the Corydoras. I put this highly selective behaviour down to the fact that their is another male Bolivian ram in the aquarium that tries to nip him when he swims to the actual pellet on the substrate. Yesterday, however, the Bolivian (I'll call this bolivian A) had its pectoral fins clamped and was hovering in one position for up to 2 hours at a time and it is not eating anything. Today, the other Bolivian (Bolivian B) is being more selective in what food it consumes (it spits some of it out and even does a spitting motion with it's mouth when it's not eating). Bolivian A is looking slightly emaciated.
 
In the preceding weeks I've had neon tetras just bloat up followed by long (but very very thin)strands of stringy pooh hanging from them. This is followed by their underside going red and then they literally explode from the underside; their is a massive crevice where their underside should be. I can only presume that one of the Bolivians (hopefully not both) has consumed some of the skin that came away from the neon tetra and has made it ill too? It goes without saying that the neon tetra that exploded is no longer with us.
 
I don't know what I'm dealing with here. The internet is full of comments saying that the symptoms I've described may be parasitic or bacterial. For this reason, I have tried treating the aquarium with metronidazole (an anti-biotic and anti-parasite) on the basis that emaciation and white pooh can point to hexamita which is a parasitical issue. Am I using the correct treatment?
 
I have to hand waterlife Sterazin, Protozin, Myxazin and Vitazin as well as Metronidazole, Kanaplex and Kusuri Wormer Plus. Metronidazole seemed like the best one to use. Anyone concur? 

 

[star4]

From memory Sterazin (for parasites) and myxazin (bacterial) can be used together, but a quick e-mail to waterlife would confirm this (contact details ...
http/www.waterlife.co.uk/waterlife/contact.htm). Vitazin is a food suppliment booster, you soak food in it and feed it to the fish giving them additional vitamins and minerals to help boost their immune system, it also stimulates a fish's appitite and can also be used when you are medicating a tank.
 
You really need to identify what sort of parasite you have, Sterazin is very very good (I have used it before) but it will not kill camalanus worms, these worms can be seen when the fish is at rest hanging from the anus as small red threads - for these you would need sera nemotol or I believe Kusuri Wormer Plus will also control these worms, but I have never used Kusuri myself.
 
Hope this helps.

 

[mark4785]

I have not seen any small red threads hanging from the anus. I just see long minuscule white threads which is thought to be a symptom of hexamita. I'm not sure how I'd positively identify the parasite since if it is hexamita, the damage is being done inside rather than outside. Would it be worth getting a skin mucous sample?
 
If it isn't hexamita, the only other thing that causes the symptoms I've described is fish TB. There is another disease that results in the same symptoms but is confined to neon tetras that have neon tetra disease.

 

[star4]

Chances are it is a bad bout of hexamita, most medications only "control" the parasite not kill it off entirely and a second or even third dose is needed to get it under control - allowing the fish to re-gain its strength and immune system (Hence using vitazin is a big help) to a stage where the hexamita is no longer a problem.