Treatment for Sunken belly and fin clamp in CPD

[James7]

Hello everyone, unfortunately I have some very sick looking fish!

The background: I’ve had 10 green neon tetra and 6 Celestial pearl danios in a fully cycled tank for just over a month. The only other inhabitants are some RCS (finally breeding!!) and a LOT of pest snails.

A couple of days ago 1 of the CPD had a noticeably sunken belly and fin clamp. It has been growing at the same rate as 4 of the other CPD. I immediately took it out and put it into a quarantine, whilst doing so I noticed that the other CPD had hardly grown and also had fin clamp. This one is also in quarantine. Now it looks like another CPD is suffering a sunken stomach and possible a few of the GNT, they are also not as interested in food for the last couple of days, I’m thinking that this could be down to a water change of over 50%.

Everything points towards internal parasites, but in the U.K. I can’t get general cure, paraguard or any similar meds so what can I treat with? Shall I put the 2 quarantined back in the tank and treat all or treat them separately?

Thanks for your help ( and reading my essay lol)

 

[Colin_T]

Pictures of the fish?

Clamped fins is normally caused by poor water quality.
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the tank water?

Are the fish eating?
What do you feed them?
How often do you feed them?

What does their poop look like?
If their poop is white and stringy there is a problem. If it's coloured then it's fine.

 

[Derekshatch]

Arent they very skiddish maybe they are stressed from not enough cover.

 

[seangee]

It could be being bullied and it most likely is being out competed for food. I have quite a large group of these in a tank with no other fish and it does occasionally happen to one of them. They are quite feisty at breeding time, you won't see this unless you sit in front of the tank for ages because they are also quite shy and will dive for cover when they see you. I have never kept neon green tetras so don't know what they are like, but CPD are generally recommended to be kept in a species only tank.

What are you feeding? I have recently started giving mine this. Its been a real hit as it is small enough for them to eat in one go and floats for ages. They find their food by sight so once it hits the substrate they can't find it again. You may need to turn your filter off for 10-15 minutes while they feed. I also feed high quality sinking wafers (Omega One veggie rounds). Feed a few hours before lights out and they will nibble at it for hours. It needs to be big and a different colour to the substrate for them to find it.

 

[James7]

Thanks for the advice, I can’t get a pic very easily but will try tomorrow. I didn’t think it would be a problem for the 2 to be together, they were both similar sized at the time I put them into the tank (still are now apart from a couple of the GNT) they actually all shoal together, the tank has a mixture of live and plastic plants for cover and some driftwood so they have plenty of places to hide and it’s running a sponge filter. Also, baby shrimp have recently spawned.

I have been alternating feeding hikari first bites and tropical flakes morning and evening, nothing special but I make sure the flakes are crushed very small. None of the other fish have fin clamp, just the 2 I have quarantined. Can’t say I’ve seen what their poop looks like, sorry. I’ve got some hikari algae sinking wafers and vitalis catfish pellets, but don’t think either of these will be any good to feed?

Water parameters were 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5-10 nitrate. pH 7.2. Hardness GH 10.

The end plan was to move them all into a larger tank with my honey Gourami and Pygmy Cory but if the CPD won’t do well with competing for food I will have to rethink that.

Thanks

 

[seangee]

 

[vanalisa]

It could be being bullied and it most likely is being out competed for food. I have quite a large group of these in a tank with no other fish and it does occasionally happen to one of them. They are quite feisty at breeding time, you won't see this unless you sit in front of the tank for ages because they are also quite shy and will dive for cover when they see you. I have never kept neon green tetras so don't know what they are like, but CPD are generally recommended to be kept in a species only tank.

What are you feeding? I have recently started giving mine this. Its been a real hit as it is small enough for them to eat in one go and floats for ages. They find their food by sight so once it hits the substrate they can't find it again. You may need to turn your filter off for 10-15 minutes while they feed. I also feed high quality sinking wafers (Omega One veggie rounds). Feed a few hours before lights out and they will nibble at it for hours. It needs to be big and a different colour to the substrate for them to find it.

Are you familiar with Hikari first bites?
If so would you say they they are similar to the food you reccomended?
Just curious.

 

[seangee]

Are you familiar with Hikari first bites?
If so would you say they they are similar to the food you reccomended?
Just curious.

No I am not. But if the fish are eating them and thriving keep feeding it.

 

[vanalisa]

I just love your Pearl's. I had 7 (3m 4f) in their own 6g tank but lost 3 of the females. True they are shy.
Now the 3m 1f are in a community tank (never planned on that but it just turned out that way)! Luckily my 6 ( 3m 3f) minnows are apparantly VERY chill and they all get along and are polite with one another. I think with the minnows they have become less shy.
I do have to watch out for the CPDs at feeding, but not much.

Forgot where I was going with this...
Oh yeah. I plan to get more but last time my LFS got them they didn't last a week.

 

[vanalisa]

Hello everyone, unfortunately I have some very sick looking fish!

The background: I’ve had 10 green neon tetra and 6 Celestial pearl danios in a fully cycled tank for just over a month. The only other inhabitants are some RCS (finally breeding!!) and a LOT of pest snails.

A couple of days ago 1 of the CPD had a noticeably sunken belly and fin clamp. It has been growing at the same rate as 4 of the other CPD. I immediately took it out and put it into a quarantine, whilst doing so I noticed that the other CPD had hardly grown and also had fin clamp. This one is also in quarantine. Now it looks like another CPD is suffering a sunken stomach and possible a few of the GNT, they are also not as interested in food for the last couple of days, I’m thinking that this could be down to a water change of over 50%.

Everything points towards internal parasites, but in the U.K. I can’t get general cure, paraguard or any similar meds so what can I treat with? Shall I put the 2 quarantined back in the tank and treat all or treat them separately?

Thanks for your help ( and reading my essay lol)

You could try target feeding, especially if the tetras are aggressive feeders.

 

[seangee]

I have been alternating feeding hikari first bites and tropical flakes morning and evening, nothing special but I make sure the flakes are crushed very small.

Mine won't take flake food. They love bug bites but these sink too quickly and are too big for their little mouths. This may be coincidence but when I switched food about 10 days ago 2 of my young males had the sunken bellies you described. One was so bad he looked deformed. One of these now has a normal belly and I can only recognise him by his size (I occasionally have fry survive and he was born in the tank). The other now has a flat belly - no longer sunken or deformed looking but still needs to fill out. The little guys are about half the size of the adults - and a similar size to the original fish when I bought them.

 

[James7]

You could try target feeding, especially if the tetras are aggressive feeders.

The tetra were a bit quicker at feeding but in the last few days neither species have been particularly interested.

 

[vanalisa]

The tetra were a bit quicker at feeding but in the last few days neither species have been particularly interested.

I'm sorry. Did you say how long you had them? I always wait a week or two before I even get them from the fish store, then QT for another couple weeks.

(Learned a hard lesson with 16 Green Neon Tetras).

 

[James7]

I'm sorry. Did you say how long you had them? I always wait a week or two before I even get them from the fish store, then QT for another couple weeks.

(Learned a hard lesson with 16 Green Neon Tetras).

I have had them for about 5 weeks now.

 

[James7]

I still think I will have to medicate the tank with something but I can’t get any of the suggested mess in the UK