Golden Nugget With Empty Stomach

[kniesh]

Hi, bought a Golden Nugget today, unfortunately I forgot to check its stomach before I got it home. Got it in the tank an its stomach is almost concave. It looks as bad as I've seen. Does this mean there is no hope? Anyone with any experience of turning this round as i dont want to take him back and course him more stress, I would much rather try an get him through it myself, even though it means losing my £18. Anyone got any ideas on what I should be doing? He is in a 180gal and is only about 3" if that, there is a 3" Royal in there too but doubt competition will be a problem at that size in this tank. Any ideas?

 

[Davo86]

key is to try and get it feeding, try starting with bloodworms feeding 2-3 times daily and see if it is interested, if so add in a few diced prawns,
Also leave a courgette (or two pieces as you don't want it to have to compete with the royal) in the tank overnight.

Do you have a smaller tank setup? it would obviously make it easier to monitor if it is feeding

 

[8inary]

i doubt if you will have this, however - if you have liquifry 'liquid food for fry' drop some in, at least this will put food 'so to speak' into the water, so it'll be getting something over nothing

 

[kniesh]

Thanks for the replies. It is currently sitting in behind a massive fluvel filter. It appears to be grazing on the glass at the moment, gonna add some cucmber in a sec. There is a fair bit of algae on the back glass. I leave this here as you cant see it with the black background, I'm hoping this helps too.

 

[Davo86]

There is a fair bit of algae on the back glass.

The GN isn't an algae eater so that won't help, it requires high protein foods

 

[Inchworm]

Hi kniesh

Good luck with him!

I'll be moving your thread to the Plecos and other Loricariids section.

 

[kniesh]

Thanks, I put it in the discussion as I was just bein a bit inpatient sorry I know how long it can take in here.

Anyway thanks davo, I hadnt checked the full diets of them, it just looked like he was grazing. I have added a load of peas now, see if that helps. Put a lot right by where him an the royal are hangin out so should be ok for neating if its not too late.

 

[~T~]

It may be worth treating for worms. Is there any way to move him to a small quarentine tank where you can be sure the no other fish will eat any food you put in. Veggies will be eaten by nuggets but its best to get some high protine food into it as soon as possible. A small slice of courgette cant hurt though as it may even nibble at this first.

 

[markandhisfish]

when i got my gn i was advised to check stomach 1st etc as specemins with concave bellies seldom survive due to the loss of gut flora. and even in the right tank with good food etc can starvee to death before the body can replace it . im not too sure what the gut flora is exactly but im 99% certain its essential for digestion.

if it was me then i would be taking it back to lfs as chance of survival is slim at best if you look at the golden nugget in the tff species index its explained better there plus a couple of tips of what to look for when buying etc

 

[kniesh]

thanks, yeah i knew what i was looking for with plecs and the gut flora, problem is, I just totally forgot to look when i was there as this shop rarely gets anything other than BNs an Commons and this was the only one he had. I dont want to take it back as it will probably mean certain death, i would rather give it more of a chance here, losing £18 wont be the end of the world---so long as I dont tell the missuss it has died

thanks for the advice guys, i will get some blood worms in there too later or in the morning.

 

[markandhisfish]

prawn and mussel are good too

 

[kniesh]

Good, this tanks main diet is the big bag of mixed, prawns, squid, mussels, an crab meat.

 

[Darkstar]

GN's are aufwush grazers, i.e. they graze on the layer organic layer which covers most hard surfaces (rocks etc) in search of higher protein foods.
As someone mentioned above, they are often starved before transport in order to reduce fouling of the water - ironically to help reduce fatalitys during transport - which often causes the loss of gut flora, the healthy bacteria required for digestion.
In all honesty the fact that your fish is already in this condition, imo, means the outlook isn't good but there's still some ideas worth giving a go.
You could try adding aquarium garlic to help stimiulate it's appetite, by placing some onto other foods stuffs such as algae wafers. However, I think the best option would be to offer food stuffs in a format which is more natural to the fish. Since they're grazers, you could try the following which has been used by many a new gn owner.
Get yourself a shallow saucer, tile (an aquarium safe one) or even just a smooth rock out of your tank. Then make yourself a mixture using egg white, prawns, flake, some veg if you wish, mussel, beefheart etc and crush it into a paste - you could add the aquarium garlic to this mix also. The recipe varies depending on who you talk to but the common ingredient is the egg white as it helps bind everything together. After you've got your paste ready, 'paint' it onto the saucer or rock or whatever you're using and place it in the freezer. After it has set you can place it in the tank and hopefully the gn will find it and be more inclined to graze on it. I've also heard of people recommending using a shallow saucer and filling it with egg white and all the other food stuffs of your choice and then minimally microwaving it. This has the added bonus of 'cooking' the egg white which means you don't have the freeze it, as well as stopping the protein washing away in the water.

 

[~T~]

GN's are aufwush grazers, i.e. they graze on the layer organic layer which covers most hard surfaces (rocks etc) in search of higher protein foods.
As someone mentioned above, they are often starved before transport in order to reduce fouling of the water - ironically to help reduce fatalitys during transport - which often causes the loss of gut flora, the healthy bacteria required for digestion.
In all honesty the fact that your fish is already in this condition, imo, means the outlook isn't good but there's still some ideas worth giving a go.
You could try adding aquarium garlic to help stimiulate it's appetite, by placing some onto other foods stuffs such as algae wafers. However, I think the best option would be to offer food stuffs in a format which is more natural to the fish. Since they're grazers, you could try the following which has been used by many a new gn owner.
Get yourself a shallow saucer, tile (an aquarium safe one) or even just a smooth rock out of your tank. Then make yourself a mixture using egg white, prawns, flake, some veg if you wish, mussel, beefheart etc and crush it into a paste - you could add the aquarium garlic to this mix also. The recipe varies depending on who you talk to but the common ingredient is the egg white as it helps bind everything together. After you've got your paste ready, 'paint' it onto the saucer or rock or whatever you're using and place it in the freezer. After it has set you can place it in the tank and hopefully the gn will find it and be more inclined to graze on it. I've also heard of people recommending using a shallow saucer and filling it with egg white and all the other food stuffs of your choice and then minimally microwaving it. This has the added bonus of 'cooking' the egg white which means you don't have the freeze it, as well as stopping the protein washing away in the water.

Thats a good idea as long as the other fish dont get to it first. What about covering it with some kind of fine mesh so the other fish are less inclined to eat it and the nugget can suck the food through? I agree about the garlic.

 

[Darkstar]

Thats a good idea as long as the other fish dont get to it first. What about covering it with some kind of fine mesh so the other fish are less inclined to eat it and the nugget can suck the food through? I agree about the garlic.

Other fish getting to it first is moot point since the same thing could happen with any food item being put in the tank. Other fish may well peck at it, or even rasp at it if it's another plec..but assuming you've made enough and placed it near to the gn there's no reason why they shouldn't still get enough.
A fine mesh won't stop other fish accessing it and may well cause the gn or other fish to become temporarily caught.