Feeding the Fish, when they won't eat

[multifaciatus]

So last Wednesday, I recieved a two live pairs and one dead female of N. rachovii quelimane and now my problem is that except for one male who eats everything, they wont eat anything I'm trying to feed them.

I've got mosquito larva, bbs, earthworms (the peices still wiggle), and gammarus. And they won't eat any of it. According to the guy I bought them from, he feeds his tubifex and bbs, alternating, but has fed most of the food I have now in the past. So any suggestions? One female has died and the other looks pretty bad. Is there any way to get them eating again?

~Melissa

[multifaciatus]

Tank conditions are:

pH: 7.0
GH: soft w/ salt at the recommended amount on the front page of this site.
The fish are separated with the two females togeather and the two males each have their own tanks.

~Melissa

[timebomb]

I don't know what advice I can give you Melissa but usually when the fish are not eating, the problem does not lie with the food. In other words, you can try any sort of food and the fish will still not eat it. In your case, it's hard to tell where the problem lies but if I were you, I will do a water change. If that does not work, change something else, like for instance, put in a filter if there's no filter in the tank, add some plants if there are no plants, put the tank somewhere dark if it's in a bright place.

It could be the fish are simply scared from moving from one tank to another or it could be something else.

But don't worry too much about the food. Fish can go for days without eating and not suffer any serious damage to their health. Whatever you do, do not leave too much uneaten food in the tank. That's one of the surest ways to pollute the water and kill the fish.

Loh K L

[TyroneGenade]

Seperate the males and females this minute. Go down to the LFS and get some octozin (a product of Waterlife) and dose with that. Else, try some flubendazole. The odds are that an internal flagelitte infection has broken out because of stress in transit. Males are tougher than females but treat them too. Hopefully the fish will recover.

[TyroneGenade]

Hi,

Are the fish eating yet? How are they doing?

[multifaciatus]

Both males are still alive, but the last female died yesterday. I couldn't find the medication you were talking about, but I did have some methelene blue, which said it was an anti-protozoan and according to wikipedia, stays intact after being ingested. So I gave her some of that, and she started to poop dead worms and eat afterward so I guess it worked. Meanwhile, the fish developed some kind of bacterial infection, which ate a large hole in her side and killed her in two days. So, I'm not buying fish from that source again. Thanks for your help.

~Melissa