Green Terror not eating

[missyintx_99]

I don't think my Green Terror, Cuervo is eating. For the first time since I've had him (about 5 months now) I saw him poop and it was white! I know this isn't good but I am not sure what to do about it. He's been growing, and even tonight when I was looking at him, it seems like he's grown some more. But he doesn't come up to the top with the Oscar and start eating the pellets I put in like he used to do.
I'm really worried cause this guy is *MY* baby

Now, I have another 55 that we moved the Jag in to. My husband has said all along that if he (the Jag) can't live with other fish in a big tank that we would take him back. I don't know if he's really ready to do this yet, so thats still got to be worked out. But what I'm thinking of doing in the interim is move the Jag out of the 55 and put him in the 30 that I have the Texas and Con in and move them back into the 55 with the Oscar, which would get him out of the 55 with the Green Terror.
I haven't done anything yet. I'm just really worried about Cuervo.

Just to give you a better idea of what I'm dealing with, none of these fish are full grown yet. The Jag is about 3.5", the Oscar is about 6", Cuervo is 5". The TExas is 3.5", Con is 2.5". The GT and O have a pink con tank mate thats probably about 3.25" now.
Any ideas?

 

[smb]

Might be an internal parasite. I would put the GT into a hospital tank all by himself and see if you can treat him and give him less stress.

be careful about putting the smaller fish in with that O. If they can fit in his mouth he'll surely try.

Have you done any meds yet and if so, what have you treated for?

 

[missyintx_99]

No, I haven't tried anything yet. Not sure what direction to go in. I can call the LFS where I got him. The guy there is very good at helping dx problems.
I just know it would break my heaert to lose him. I've got to try and get some new pics of him, his fins are really coming along as he's getting bigger. They are so beautiful getting longer and trailing more every day. He's a really good looking fish!
Matt says he could potentially be a show fish someday. But I'd never want to get rid of him either.
Right now, the only meds I have are Melafix and Rid-ich.
Thanks for any guidance SMB!

 

[missyintx_99]

Boy, its nice to have friends, both online and here in town where I live. I called the LFS where I got Cuervo (GT) and told the owner who knows me what was going on. Now, I don't get paid until tomorrow and let him know that and he said to come on in and get this medicated food he has and I can just pay him for it tomorrow.
Cross your fingers that it works. I did see Cuervo come up and eat a pellet this morning but then the O was right there and he went back down to the bottom of the tank. And yes, I put food on both sides, trying to spread it out so they don't *have* to bunch up to get at them.

I'm not going to put anymore food in the tank now except the medicated flakes until I know for sure the GT is eating it. I don't know what else to do. Greg at the LFS suggested I feed it to all the fish in there in case they tried to eat any feces.
Cross your fingers for us!

 

[smb]

Does it look like the Oscar is bullying him at all?

Do you have a divider you could put in for a few days and see if he'll eat then?


That's nice of your lfs to do that for you.

 

[missyintx_99]

I moved the O to the other 55g with the Jag. The Jag is not happy about it, but since the O is over twice his size he doesn't care how much the jag flares his gills at him. The O just ignores him.

So, I have the GT in a 55g with a 3" Pink con, some cats and barbs and a pleco. None of those fish bother him. I started trying to feed him medicated flakes yesterday, but he won't eat them. So when I went by the LFS, I talked to the owner and he had me get some Neomycin. I'm concerned about this however. I am on a few other boards and they have all said it sounds like internal parasites and I should treat with a Metronidazole based med like Hex-a-Mit.
I just *really* want to get the GT better. What would you do?
(And yes, SMB, I am asking specifically what you would do!!!)
(And anyone else willing to give an opinion!!!)

PLEASE!!!! I really need some advice!

 

[smb]

(And yes, SMB, I am asking specifically what you would do!!!)

OK.

Like I said in my first post I would treat for internal parasites. That's what it sounds like to me. I've heard Hex-A-Mit is pretty good but I've never used any meds before so I can never claim any actual experience with any of them but go by what I read from others.

 

[juanveldez]

you know bert my JD did the same thing for about three weeks and he would only eat about once per week although I fed him every day but now he is all better.

 

[missyintx_99]

Well! A little good news. He came to the top of the tank and ate a bite or two twice this evening!
I also decided after reading a pinned article in the Trauma section to go ahead and start treating with the Neomycin. I figure if there is no improvement in a couple of days, I'll do a good water change, run the filter with the pads in for 24 hours and try the hex-a-mit.
Sound like a good plan? Especially if he continues to at least eat a bite or two for me every time I feed him. I've cut back on the quantity from 2-3 good meals a day to 5-6 smaller ones with the medicated food. Hopefully this will do the trick!

 

[smallmouth]

its definately internal parasites. i had the same problem and lost a bunch of fish until i figured out what it was. good luck