Very sluggish runt

[sleepers]

Hey all-

That runt I've mentioned before has been hiding extra lately and this morning I noticed his very movements are lethargic... he's not paddling, his face is gaunt, and his scales are "peppering" on and off.

I'm not reallt sure what it means or how to correct it... the ammonia and nitrites are 0 nitrates almost 0 PH is right about 7... it really looks bad, like when I've had fish die before.

Any thoughts?

[Merrilyn]

Hi sleepers, this is the one that isolated itself from the group right from the start, isn't it.

Have you ever observed it's droppings, and are they white and jelly like. If the fish is now gaunt in the face, it would appear that he is suffering from hex and should be treated with an antibiotic.

I'd be isolating the little guy, and treating with Flagyl (also known as Metronidazole) at the rate of 400mg per 10 gallons every 8 hours with a 30% waterchange between treatments.

Keep the tank lights out, and feed sparingly while in the hospital tank. If you don't have a hospital tank, you can treat the whole tank, and it won't harm your plants or bio filtration, but it will of course, be more expensive to do it that way.

Treat for a full 5 days, and hopefully you will see some improvement.