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
