Severum with Eating Disorder 8/30/05
Hi guys, I'd really appreciate some opinions here. I have a 6" male
green Severum (appendiculatus) that has a slightly inflamed/swollen
anus. I've had him almost 2 years in a 75 with 3 other similar sized
cichlids (gold sev, blood parrot, Paratilapia small spot). My water
parameters are stable, ph out of the tap at 7.4 and no trace of
amm/nitrite (the tank is well filtered with 2 Fluval 404's and a couple
FBFs, plus a powerhead w/ filter). The Severum is acting healthy in
every way, except he seems to periodically go through bouts of what I
would liken to trying to clear his throat which can last a couple of
minutes. I thought he might have had a blockage and actually netted him
a few months back with tweezers ready, but upon shining a light down his
throat I couldn't see anything odd.
So basically he is just as hungry and active, but has a puffy anus and
this periodic coughing thing. His feces appear not to have changed, but
they will sometimes take longer for him to pass like he might be
constipated. All the other fish are fine. I feed twice per day. The
green Severum gets a 1cm cube of dried Tubifex worms in the morning, and
1-2 Hikari gold pellets at night. I also feed thawed uncooked shrimp
once per week, and some worms from my worm farm once per week. I feed
parboiled lettuce 1-2 month.
Please let me know what you think the problem might be, whether it could
be diet related (should I pre-soak the pellets?) or if there's a
bacterial problem. I haven't seen any small red worms around the anus,
so I don't think it's Camallanus. I have tried feeding Spirulina based
pellets to try and get him more greens, but he didn't like them. He also
isn't really interested in the vegetables I've tried (spinach, peas,
zucchini). Lettuce is the only thing he'll go for, and even then not
very enthusiastically.
< When your fish was young it required more protein. Now that it is older it
doesn't need as much protein and actually requires more fiber (vegetable matter)
in its diet. The prolapsed anus can be taken care of with smaller feedings and
switching the diet to something with more vegetable matter. The throat thing is
the pharyngeal jaws chewing hard foods such as shrimp exoskeleton and hard
pellets. Smaller pellets or prehydrating them may help, it is worth a
try.-Chuck>
Anyway, I really appreciate your help. This fish is virtually perfect,
and I'd hate to lose him. Please let me know if you need more info.
Thank you for your time,
Corey Cormier
