skinny fish

[Ryan1988]

Hey All,

Just wanted to get your thoughts. the circled fish has been with me for 3 weeks now as has the other 5 congo tetras. he is much smaller than the others. Leading me to believe he has wasting disease or some other parasitic infection. Should I treat all of them or just the little guy?

[anodyne99]

You definitely want to get him to a separate tank. He could have parasites, he could have mycobacterium, in either case, continuing to keep him with the others is only going to spread disease. I would treat him for parasites separately and see if he improves, if so, treat the whole group. If not, you can try treatments for wasting disease and supportive care in a separate tank where he won't have to compete for food. 

Edited April 25 by anodyne99

[Colu]

What I would do is treat with expel p active ingredient levamisole once a week for 4 weeks add an extra air stone During treatment and black out the tank for 24hr during treatment as levamisole a light sensitive medication @Ryan1988

[Tropicalfishkeeping201]

@Colu, I have a juvenile platy that is very skinny, has hollow belly, and swimming somewhat hunched over. Last week that I tested my water parameters, everything was fine except for Nitrite, there was low levels of Nitrite, which I did a water change afterwards but then within a few days, I noticed this platy started getting skinny.

Do you think this can be Fish TB? 

My fish have been treated with levamisole and prazipro in the past

[Lennie]

I have a similar looking rummynose. They have been with me this way for more than 2 years by now

I did deworm before with levamisole and praziquantel. Nothing changed.

 

I consider a possibility of deformations due to overbreeding.

I also had a similar looking red lizard and only thing worked was antibiotic food. 

 

I would say, in addition to colu's recommendation of deworming, try antibiotics in food if it eats. You can never be sure what causes this sort of skinny look, and sometimes no medicine work ever.

I actually never witnessed an observable positive effect of deworming myself ever. But giving it a try sounds reasonable and I still do it no matter what if I suspect anything. 

Edited April 25 by Lennie

[Colu]

On 4/25/2024 at 4:04 PM, Tropicalfishkeeping201 said:

@Colu, I have a juvenile platy that is very skinny, has hollow belly, and swimming somewhat hunched over. Last week that I tested my water parameters, everything was fine except for Nitrite, there was low levels of Nitrite, which I did a water change afterwards but then within a few days, I noticed this platy started getting skinny.

Do you think this can be Fish TB? 

My fish have been treated with levamisole and prazipro in the past

Fish TB unlikely your more  likely dealing with wasting disease how many round levamisole and prazipro did you do 

Edited April 25 by Colu

[Tropicalfishkeeping201]

On 4/25/2024 at 9:05 AM, Colu said:

Fish TB unlikely your more  likely dealing with wasting disease how many round levamisole and prazipro did you do

Last time I treated them with Levamisole was last year in October for Camallanus Red Worms. I did a total of 8 treatments of Levamisole and 2 treatments of prazipro. 

The first 4 treatments of Levamisole, I did it last year in March along with two treatments of prazipro, at this time the platys were much smaller, but had to discontinue these two meds because my fish got really stressed out and started developing Ich. Then, after a few months of no meds, I did again another 4 treatments of Levamisole late September but not prazipro. During the course of treating Levamisole, I had a bare bottom tank and I would blackout out the tank for 24 hrs. 

I did lose two fish about two weeks ago but I think it was because of the low Nitrite levels and currently all my other fish are active and eating well except for this juvenile platy. I noticed on Tuesday that I was feeding blood worms, that this platy would take in food but then spit it out. 

Edited April 25 by Tropicalfishkeeping201

[Colu]

On 4/25/2024 at 7:10 PM, Tropicalfishkeeping201 said:

Last time I treated them with Levamisole was last year in October for Camallanus Red Worms. I did a total of 8 treatments of Levamisole and 2 treatments of prazipro. 

The first 4 treatments of Levamisole, I did it last year in March along with two treatments of prazipro, at this time the platys were much smaller, but had to discontinue these two meds because my fish got really stressed out and started developing Ich. Then, after a few months of no meds, I did again another 4 treatments of Levamisole late September but not prazipro. During the course of treating Levamisole, I had a bare bottom tank and I would blackout out the tank for 24 hrs. 

I did lose two fish about two weeks ago but I think it was because of the low Nitrite levels and currently all my other fish are active and eating well except for this juvenile platy. I noticed on Tuesday that I was feeding blood worms, that this platy would take in food but then spit it out. 

Given the fact they have had 4 treatment twice with levamisole that would have  effectively dealt with camallanus worms what I would do is quarantine the platy in question and do two more courses of prazipro and add aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 2 gallons for two weeks good from there the salt will also help with nitrite poisoning  as well it's

[mynameisnobody]

I’ve gone through the same issues with various fish at times. I feed Rons medicated food and it worked every time. It’s a little tedious because you must gravel vac every other day while meds are fed, but usually half way through, you see a big difference. I used to use all sorts of meds, but now I just feed this stuff at the sight of anything that may be an issue. Has worked every time. 

[Tropicalfishkeeping201]

On 4/25/2024 at 3:05 PM, Colu said:

Given the fact they have had 4 treatment twice with levamisole that would have  effectively dealt with camallanus worms what I would do is quarantine the platy in question and do two more courses of prazipro and add aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 2 gallons for two weeks good from there the salt will also help with nitrite poisoning  as well it's

Thank you very much @Colu, I haven't noticed any more camallanus worms which hopefully means that I eradicated this parasite. I will do this, Thank you again! 

[Tropicalfishkeeping201]

On 4/25/2024 at 3:49 PM, mynameisnobody said:

I’ve gone through the same issues with various fish at times. I feed Rons medicated food and it worked every time. It’s a little tedious because you must gravel vac every other day while meds are fed, but usually half way through, you see a big difference. I used to use all sorts of meds, but now I just feed this stuff at the sight of anything that may be an issue. Has worked every time. 

I'm glad you have had success, first time I hear about this medication, Thank you for sharing 🙂. I looked it up and saw that it treats various diseases which is great, I'm going to purchase it to try it out.

Do you use it for all types of fish or just Cichlids? 

[mynameisnobody]

@Tropicalfishkeeping201 I use it basically all fish. On the site, you have options for whatever size and type of food to pair with the meds. I’ve always been pleased. 

[Tropicalfishkeeping201]

On 4/25/2024 at 8:44 PM, mynameisnobody said:

 I use it basically all fish. On the site, you have options for whatever size and type of food to pair with the meds. I’ve always been pleased. 

Thank you @mynameisnobody 🙂 I’m going to check the options they have to purchase it