Fish refuses to eat food

[PumpKineTick]

If it's any comfort, fish won't die immediately if they haven't eaten for a few days. From what you have said this seems like the first time it has happened with him, and I wouldn't be so concerned unless this behaviour becomes a habit, goes on for a long period, or is accompanied by any other worrying signs.

Now that I received all these reassuring replies I'm definitely more calm.

 

[PumpKineTick]

What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH (in numbers) of the tank water?

What else do you feed the fish besides the pellets?

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Don't worry too much about him starving because he is in good shape and a reasonable size and can live for a few months without food. However, it is not normal for fish to stop eating. The most common cause of this is poor water quality and an infection in the mouth or throat.

I would do water changes more often and do bigger water changes. Small water changes once a month allow harmful disease organisms to build up and gradually they affect the fish.

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Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. Then do it once a week after that. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt, (see directions below).

If there's no improvement after a week of water changes and salt, post another video of him eating. Upload the video to YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can go to YouTube to view it.
If you use a mobile phone to film the video, have the phone horizontal so the image fills the entire screen and we can see the entire fish.

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

The problem seems to be my nitrate levels (100 ppm). My ph is ~8.0 which is due to my tap water quality (I have asked about it and they use basic chemicals to filter it). The shop assistant aslo advised me to clean my substrate and my filter. I also added pothos to my filter to help me with the issue. She also told me that there might be a problem with his bowels (inflammation to be exact).

 

[PumpKineTick]

For the upcoming week I'll do the water changes and clean the substrate as you advised.

 

[Slaphppy7]

For the upcoming week I'll do the water changes and clean the substrate as you advised.

100 ppm of nitrates?....wow...what test kit do you use?...which water conditioner?...how often do you perform WC's, and clean the filter?

 

[Slaphppy7]

People may dislike this but jags are predatory, go buy a few tetra put them in the tank , if they survive there is something wrong with it

Tetras?!?.....nooooooo!......

 

[Slaphppy7]

Read back through your thread, you should be doing weekly WC's, and cleaning the filter(s) (not the media) monthly....the high nitrAte is not good for the fish, and is causing stress.

 

[PumpKineTick]

100 ppm of nitrates?....wow...what test kit do you use?...which water conditioner?...how often do you perform WC's, and clean the filter?

The test kit I used was this: (now I know it has to be crap)

And the test kit the assistant used was a JBL brand one.
For the water conditioner I use sera's Aquatan.
I change about 50% of the water monthly (but now I know that's not enough)
And I cleaned the filter monthly too.

 

[PumpKineTick]

Read back through your thread, you should be doing weekly WC's, and cleaning the filter(s) (not the media) monthly....the high nitrAte is not good for the fish, and is causing stress.

I hope to stride that way.

 

[Slaphppy7]

I hope to stride that way.

Good deal.

Get one of these: https://apifishcare.com/product/freshwater-master-test-kit
And some of this: https://www.seachem.com/prime.php

 

[HoldenOn]

Oh I didn't see your water change schedule. Yea so it's pretty common advise for big cichlids to have over filtration. You're fine in that department but you need to keep the media clean and filters clean. You clean the media by swishing it around in a bucket of tank water. Also, weekly water changes will keep your nitrates in the 20s, which is perfect. Slaphppy got the rest!

 

[PumpKineTick]

Good deal.

Get one of these: https://apifishcare.com/product/freshwater-master-test-kit
And some of this: https://www.seachem.com/prime.php

I have heard about the Seachem products so I'll definitely give them a try.

 

[Colin_T]

I prefer Sera to Seacheam but use whatever you can get.

Just do daily water changes and gravel cleans for a week to clean the tank up. Then do it weekly or at least once a fortnight.

I doubt it has an inflamed bowel. It's probably just upset by the high nitrates. When they come down it should eat again.

 

[PumpKineTick]

Thank you all for the advice I'll be working on this the upcoming week and I'll update you if anything happens. Until then have a nice weekend

 

[PumpKineTick]

I have really good news everyone! After just 3 days of water changes, I went to get my parameters tested and my nitrates came out to be really low! I'm going to test if he eats soon (in about 2-3 hours is feeding time) [I hope he does].
- Until then - Your help was much appreciated. I'm still quite inexperienced but I always try to do what's best for my pets.

 

[PumpKineTick]

What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH (in numbers) of the tank water?

What else do you feed the fish besides the pellets?

--------------------
Don't worry too much about him starving because he is in good shape and a reasonable size and can live for a few months without food. However, it is not normal for fish to stop eating. The most common cause of this is poor water quality and an infection in the mouth or throat.

I would do water changes more often and do bigger water changes. Small water changes once a month allow harmful disease organisms to build up and gradually they affect the fish.

--------------------
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. Then do it once a week after that. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt, (see directions below).

If there's no improvement after a week of water changes and salt, post another video of him eating. Upload the video to YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can go to YouTube to view it.
If you use a mobile phone to film the video, have the phone horizontal so the image fills the entire screen and we can see the entire fish.

--------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

I can just hope he goes back to normal so I don't have to do all this ...