Female Apistogramma viejita has sunken stomach

[ongtw]

Hi guys,

i've recently purchased a pair of viejita (thanks to bro zen). Attached are the picures of both the male and female. My problem is, the female apisto doesn't seem to like eating the NLS pellet i bought for the pair. On the other hand the male is like a garbage collector, eating anything that is in sight.

currently the only thing that the female eats is the bloodworm and she doesn't eat a lot of it either. i'm a little worried as i can see that her belly is a little sunken.

pls advice!

Thanks in advance.

male viejita after a meal


female viejita - notice the sunken belly.

[genes]

She does seem a little off in the picture. Try to fatten her up with life adult brine shrimps. If not, baby brine shrimps.

Its usually difficult to cure them of their sunken belly since they do not take medicated food like sera bakto tabs readily. You can try medicating her in a hospital tank wtih primafix, melafix.

[ongtw]

hi genes,

does it mean that she's infected with some internal parasites?

[doppelbanddwarf]

NLS TheraA worked for my Apistogramma baenschi, when it had a sunken belly. However your Apisto may not take to it.
If you are feeding live bloodworms, its not a good idea as they often cause internal parasite problems especially for Apistogramma.

[ongtw]

hi guys,

i've just removed the female into a smaller container. i was wondering whether its safe to just leave her there? reason being i've noticed how the LFS(Y61 put these apistos into very small cube tanks. my container is slightly bigger and currently i've put something on the top to ensure she doesn't jump out and commit suicide.

i put some food in there to see if she takes it. below is the pic of the container

[leeruisheng]

To play safe I would not advise this. On top of that, she's ill. The uneaten food and her waste will pollute the water. Small volume of water very responsive to changes in parameters. So water parameters would be quite crucial at the moment.

I would recommend either get a basic proper setup with the right conditions or I would rather add the medication straight into the main tank.

[ongtw]

weird thing is,

when the fish is left alone, she just stays in the container quietly. once she sees me coming she swims around like crazy darting here and there.

[leeruisheng]

That sounds very normal to me. Whenever I transfer fishes using tau huay container, same thing happens. I guessed it's because she's been in a confined space and fear of the green net.

[genes]

I would not put in a small container for too long. There is no proper filtration. Water will be soiled quickly. This will just stress her out further as well as create a very unhealthy environment. When fishes are stressed, immune system goes down, diseases set in faster.

Alternatively, you can give her the bath treatment. Which means treat for sometime in the container, then release her back to the main tank. Process is repeated until she recovers. However, this can sometimes stress the fish further due to the constant netting and changing of environment.

Its not wierd but normal behavior. Not moving because she is spooked.

[Samuel2618]

Give her a bath treatment like what Eugene said.. Pour some water from the tank into a small tank then put concentrated yellow powder into it.. Make sure the tank is aerated properly.. Bathe her for some 15 mins then put her back into the tank.. Proceed for the next 2 days to see if she will feel better.. However like what the rest said.. All these will stress the fish further and lead to poorer health.. It's really up to you to leave her alone in the tank and hope she will recover on her own or.. You try to revive her by putting her into all these stresses.. No methods are 100% in curing sick fishes..

[ongtw]

hm..

thanks guys for your input. what i did was i put her back to the same tank but into a breeding container which i had for breeding guppies last time. as such, water quality and aeration shouldn't be a problem since its sharing the main tank's water.

in there i've included some nls pellets and some leaves for her to probably take shade. anyway i will put her there for a couple of days and monitor it.

thanks!

[doppelbanddwarf]

Make sure you cover the container while you are giving it a bath treatment. When I was trying to treat an apisto the other time I made the mistake of not covering it. Fortunately I witnessed it happening. However the fish didn't recover from the sunken belly.

[ongtw]

hm....

i just let it back into my tank without doing anything. looks like her condition is deteriorating. keep hiding behind the filter inlet and refusing to eat. i'm not sure if my water condition is playing a part. the male looks perfectly fine.

one thing i noticed is if she happen to be near the cave, she tend to do the "scratching" move where she tend to scratch her head against the cave. after which she quickly goes back to the hiding area.

looks like she's not going to make it. i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[ongtw]

one more thing to add, she just hovers at the top of the tank all the time while the male is swimming everywhere.

[genes]

Scratching? Sounds like white spots. If she is gasping for breadth on the surface. It usually means imminent death. The disease have spread into the organs of the fish.

[ongtw]

hi genes

i'm not sure if she's got white spots but doesn't look like it to me. i suppose symptoms of white spots means the spots are on its body? weird.. the moment i introduce it to my tank its been like this.

she's been hovering at the back for the past week.

[joopsg]

think she infected by internal parasite. Hope it is not too late. go and get the Miracle baby i mention in another thread. it is very good. get the Mq4 and Mq5. it should work.

[ongtw]

hi joopsg,

thanks for your input. anyway the female passed away yesterday night . miracle baby huh? hm.. where can i get those? i'll keep that in mind and use that the next time *touch wood*.

[joopsg]

Sorry about your lost.
I think can find it in C328 or Petmart.
Gotten mine from petmart. I recommend to a fellow forummer and he gotten it at C328.
This medication was initially used for discus and when i encountered internal bacteria in my apisto and i gave it a try and it works. however, the treatment required some routine work. but it is for your prize apisto and i think it is worthwhile. MQ4 is a dewomer and MQ5 is for internal bacteria. Mind you that this brand is from taiwan. Some of us may be wary of taiwan and china brand products but this medication works and i will recommend to all apisto keepers. It can used for quite some time. value for money.

[ongtw]

thanks again

i'll defnitely get my hands on this. hm.. now my mission is to get a female viejita for my male. any sightings?