Post by jred on Dec 12, 2014 12:42:28 GMT -5
Figure out the diet of your fish and stick to it! Don't just buy some cheap food without first checking the contents, as it may contain ingredients which aren't proper for your fish which may result in your fish getting sick. If the better food is a few more bucks just buy the better stuff rather than loosing a fish/having to pay for medications.
How it happened:
About mid last week I noticed one of my female redtops get a nice plump belly and I thought she was getting ready to mate (as she is about 2.5") so just getting into breeding size. So I just kept on my merry way, feeding and watching the fish until later this week I notice her belly was far to large to be just eggs and other fish in the tank were starting to swell as well (the males were a huge indicator something was wrong). I quickly realized it was likely Malawi Bloat which is a common yet fatal disease for African cichlids and quickly started a search for how to treat it - coming up with few different medications and techniques for saving the fish. Needless to say I am not treating the entire tank for an internal parasite which could have been totally preventable had I just fed my fish the proper food (bought some cheaper stuff in the states which is great food BUT it was from another hobbyist so the bag didn't have the ingredients or content percentages) and now have to play the waiting game.
