CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Hi all...we have a Red Tiger, Hannibal. He has been in our family now for about 2 months. When we got him from the LFS, he had been on a diet of Meal Worms....now, before we got him we researched the diet of these fish, and purchased some Hikari Gold Pellets. He did eat them, in the beginning....but now, he wont touch them. He had a bout of HITH, treated with meds, but he has since lost body mass...(he's very skinny now), he is approximately 5". We also have a Lutino Oscar who was much smaller then Hannibal when we got her, she is healthy and getting biggher then him. I posted this question on another site, and I was told to not feed him for a few days, that he "will not starve himself".....we did this, and he still wont eat. His waste is bright yellow, with tinges of red/pink. He will eat a bit of shrimp if I give it to him, but even that is not appealing to him now. I've tried everything: Shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, bigger Hikari sticks, corn, peas, flakes, shrimp pellets (they are my bottom feeder's food) algae wafers.....EVERYTHING! I'm so upset, and I dont want him to die. I'm wondering if he might have some type of internal parasite or a bacterial infection of some sort. Does anyone have any suggestions? He looks so pathetic. He will come to the top when I approach, as if he's hungry, but he wont eat anything. I even went back and got him some meal worms, thinking that he was used to those, NOPE...wouldnt touch em. Please help if you can......

I'm wondering if he might have some type of internal parasite

Sounds like that may be the issue,but it's always hard to guarantee something with a yes or no anwser by hearing about a problem over the internet.

If it was my oscar - here's what I'd do.
First raise the temperture of the tank about 2 degrees from whatever it's at no more though - so you don't shock the fish or cause an ICH outbreak. and add one table spoon of aqarium salt per 5 gallons of tank volume.

salt actully kills a lot of parasites freshwater fish can carry.

If nothing changes in a few days

Prazipro,Metronidazole and Malachite green are medicines/treatments that will clear most internal parasites and are usually easily found or found as ingredients in the easy dose type tablets most fish store carry. Just make sure to follow they're directions.

Good Luck with the oscar.

Thank you very much for the info. We are adding some aquarium salt right now. I sure hope this helps, if not I'll get the meds and try that...poor guy, he's such a nice looking fish, I would hate to see anything happen to him.....thanks again.