bristlenose with sunken eyes

i was cleaning the filter today and noticed two of my bristlenose acting different and on further checking them they had sunken eyes and one had sunken stomach.

the others in tank all seem fine apart from those two and i am concerned incase it affects the others somehow and what might be best to treat with if needed or what caused it.

thanks

Hi,a sunken stomach is obviously a sign that they havn't eaten for a while,this could be for a few reasons.It may be parasite related or bacterial or bullying.Best thing to do is quarantine the two sick fish if possible.Do all the others seem o.k and have you tested the water?I am not sure on what to suggest you treat them with if anything so I will leave that to someone who knows.I wish you good luck with them.

yeah, i would be seperating them and treating both tanks with some multicure

thankyou for replys

i have done a water change today and have waterlife myxazin to hand if thats ok to use with BN ??

will treat for parasite and bacterial infections but how do i know or tell if its bullying ???

i noticed the 3" male BN with sunken eyes and stomach must be eating a little as seen pooing today and will see how he is over the next few days with treatment.

the 2.5" female L144 has lost all colour (nearly white now) just doesnt seem to be herself and has sunken eyes with normal looking stomach, she also looks a bit rough and ragged today.

i am curious to know why this has or might have happened. would these BN have been diseased from birth or is it due to the other BN bullying in the same tank etc, as the others all seem fine at present as actually found some young L144 and brown fry today which i wasnt expecting.

gary

What is the colour of their poop, if there is any?
If white or pale yellowish, digestive tract is malfuntioning.

If I were in your shoes, I would give them deep frozen zuccini and/or Hikari wafers, as those are most nutricious.

Hi Gary,i have a few questions for you I hope you don't mind.

How big is the tank?
How many bns,what sex and what size are in it?
Have you tested the water?
How often and how much water do you change?
Do you hoover the gravel (if you have any) regularly?
Do you have wood in the tank?

I doubt that it is anything they had at birth as they probably would not of made it to that size.

poop colour is tan browny colour.


approx 2.5 ft.
ph around 7.2 and nitrites zero.
gravel gets done now and again but not as regular as the water changes.
1 piece wood in tank.
if i have the time a water change gets done every other day or larger weekly one.
stock is
pair 3.5-4" male/female,
pair 3" male/female,
pair 2" male/female,
3x 1" calico,
7x 1.5" L183,
1x 1.5" albino,
1x 1" super red,
1x 2.5" super red,
pair 2.5" male/female L144,
some 0.5 " BN fry,
growing on some young malawi cichlids in it too.

Hi Gary,sorry to say but in my opinion that tank is way over stocked which could be one of the problems.Also if i was you I would be hoovering the gravel once a week with that many fish in it.What is the nitrate reading?

P.S What do you feed them on ?

Certainly agree about the overstocking and I think this is where the problem stems from. Even with daily water changes having so many fish will cause problems, your stocking levels must be 600%+, 4 or 5 BN's in a 2.5ft tank is about the optimum. Having so many fish will cause health and growth problems and you should look at reducing the number of fish. Overstocking is probably something we have all been guilty of at sometime.

Surely the young Malawi cichlids should be in a tank with higher pH than 7.2

Agree with bristlenoses about the over stock,

i had a 3ft tank with 5 common long fin and 4 albino long fin and it was too much biologically, i was running the juwel internal filter and a fluval u3 and i had to move some fish out,

i keep about 5 adults and 2 x1" in there now and its nice and settled,

would defo have a look at your stocking level's.......and sunken eyes is potentially going to be a under feed pleco and possibly a bacterial infection as well....

does he have sunken belly maybe sunken head aswell ?

i have read that all fish have the bacteria in them already but when they start to get stressed due to water conditions, bullying etc it get bring it on...

in my case i moved the lessor fish gave them a once over with a bacterial treatment (waterlife, at half dose) and game them food with out competition, i lost 1 of the 3 that where affected,

all the best,

Dave

lost the L144 female and the only thing that looks wrong with her was her eyes looked sunken in and the stomach was normal looking(not bloated or sunken). the other male one seems to be coming round a bit although i am starting to think is maybe being bullied as he looks a little rough like its been fighting. its eating but just doesnt seem to be putting any weight on. currently treating him with waterlife myxazin at normal dose.

sorry, maybe got bit carried away with the BN stock as i am used to over stocking with my cichlids and i know the tank is currently overstock (temporarily) and it has not always been stocked like this. i have been growing some on to take the pick of them before moving to a 5ft setup. i have since moved some over the weekend to the 5ft tank now but would have prefered to grow them a bit more before the move.

tank breed malawi is ok from ph 7 up although higher is recommended unless wild which would need to be definitely higher.

my BN foods vary from,
spurilina flake, tetra pro vegetable, brine shrimp flake, earthworm flake, krill flake, hikari algae wafers, NLS algea wafers, NLS 1mm pellet, fresh cucumber, sea veggies green seaweeed, astax red crumb, earthworm pellets, Kingbritish catfish pellets, tetra prima, JBL algae sticks, hikari sinking pellets, nutrafin max sinking granules, brine shrimp granules.



what would be an ideal number of either some young/sub adult/adult to have in the 2.5 ft please ?

how many could i keep if i set another 2ft tank up ?

whats the maximum mix of different BN pairs/trios etc i could keep in a 5ft tank ??
will the different types be ok to house together in one tank when adult ??

thanks

gary wrote:

lost the L144 female and the only thing that looks wrong with her was her eyes looked sunken in and the stomach was normal looking(not bloated or sunken). the other male one seems to be coming round a bit although i am starting to think is maybe being bullied as he looks a little rough like its been fighting. its eating but just doesnt seem to be putting any weight on. currently treating him with waterlife myxazin at normal dose.

sorry, maybe got bit carried away with the BN stock as i am used to over stocking with my cichlids and i know the tank is currently overstock (temporarily) and it has not always been stocked like this. i have been growing some on to take the pick of them before moving to a 5ft setup. i have since moved some over the weekend to the 5ft tank now but would have prefered to grow them a bit more before the move.

tank breed malawi is ok from ph 7 up although higher is recommended unless wild which would need to be definitely higher.

my BN foods vary from,
spurilina flake, tetra pro vegetable, brine shrimp flake, earthworm flake, krill flake, hikari algae wafers, NLS algea wafers, NLS 1mm pellet, fresh cucumber, sea veggies green seaweeed, astax red crumb, earthworm pellets, Kingbritish catfish pellets, tetra prima, JBL algae sticks, hikari sinking pellets, nutrafin max sinking granules, brine shrimp granules.



what would be an ideal number of either some young/sub adult/adult to have in the 2.5 ft please ?

how many could i keep if i set another 2ft tank up ?

whats the maximum mix of different BN pairs/trios etc i could keep in a 5ft tank ??
will the different types be ok to house together in one tank when adult ??

thanks

Hi Gary,sorry to hear you lost the 144,I hope the male pulls through.My advice would be to cut right back on the protein foods and only feed them as a treat once in a while.Feed them on algae and veg for the most part.Try them on a few boiled,deshelled peas (peel the skin off).

In a 2 foot tank I would only have one male and one female and maybe a hand full of babies.Once the babies got to about 3cm i would then be thinking of moving them out.The reason I say just one pair is because if they regularly breed you will soon be over stocked with babies.You would also need a good filter or maybe two (if they were internals) and a good surface agitation and/or air stone.Also a good regular cleaning routine,including hoovering gravel (if used).If you have a grow out tank for babies then you could probably keep one male and two females in a two foot tank but I wouldn't personaly have any more than that.

That is just my personal recommendation and opinion.Over stocking will lead to lots of problems and is best to under stock really.

In a two and a half foot,one male and a couple of female would be o.k but again if they bred regularly you would have to be careful of over stocking happening.I am of course talking about adults obviously.If you want to keep babies or half grown fish in it you could have more but you would have to move some when they grew bigger.It is difficult to say for sure but i always under stock and over filter and carefully watch the fish regularly.I hope all goes well for you,good luck and keep us updated.If there is anything else you need help with do not hesitate to ask.

Other keepers will also give their opinion and advice and help you