Mottled and fridging.

[Sarah Jane]

Hi, Bobothy is about 3 years old. For the last fortnight he has had less of an appetite than normal, Today he is floaty, with a mottled greyness to his black skin. His skin also looks almost furry or as if it is coming off in patches. Please forgive me asking for help with this issue, when all the hep is probably here already, but I can't find exactly what I need and am starting to panic. I have fridged him but cannot decide if I should also be salt bathing, or what I should be doing to his tank in the meantime. I would really appreciate advice. Thank you very much.
New photo by sarah hunt

 

[EasternRomioi3]

He appears to be underweight, at least. Is he eating at all? What are your water parameters? My immediate thought is to check those. I have no idea what would cause the skin to change colors. Floating is usually due to needing to use the bathroom, has he done so recently? Also, what is your substrate, like what do you have as the bottom of your tank? Ultra fine sand or bare bottom?

Do not be afraid to reach out, I have done it a lot and gotten a lot of help from it, but sadly, the forum hasn't seen a lot of traffic, from what I can tell, lately.

As for fridging him, how long are you doing so? Like, 10 minutes? I wouldn't do it more than 10, and a salt bath, I don't think he needs one. It doesn't look like fungus to me, BUT it could be, I do not know. Mine has only had gill fungus, never on her skin.

 

[Sarah Jane]

He appears to be underweight, at least. Is he eating at all? What are your water parameters? My immediate thought is to check those. I have no idea what would cause the skin to change colors. Floating is usually due to needing to use the bathroom, has he done so recently? Also, what is your substrate, like what do you have as the bottom of your tank? Ultra fine sand or bare bottom?

Do not be afraid to reach out, I have done it a lot and gotten a lot of help from it, but sadly, the forum hasn't seen a lot of traffic, from what I can tell, lately.

As for fridging him, how long are you doing so? Like, 10 minutes? I wouldn't do it more than 10, and a salt bath, I don't think he needs one. It doesn't look like fungus to me, BUT it could be, I do not know. Mine has only had gill fungus, never on her skin.

Hi, thanks so much for taking the time to reply. He as eaten about 1 1cm3 blood worm cube in about 5 days. Water parameters seem fine but I am going to do a daily water change of about 25% for a few days. No evidence of him going to the bathroom recently. Bare tank bottom. He has been in the fridge overnight, and I was going to leave him there for now. His slime layer is definitely shedding, so I am also going to do some tea baths.
Once again, thank you.

 

[EasternRomioi3]

I wouldn't leave them in the fridge at all for more than 10 minutes. I really don't like fridging as an option. I would forego doing those and do the tea baths and keep trying to feed him. Do you use any pellets or earthworms? Bloodworms are not good for adults only because they have no real nutritional value for the adults. I think if you can get him to eat an earth worm like once every other day for a week, you'll see some improvements.

 

[Sarah Jane]

i, Thanks for reaching out again. And thanks for the blood worm info - I had no idea, I have pellets, and will source worms. Bobothy is doing ok in the fridge, but I shal try to get him to eat today. I've written a new thread 'post-fridging parameters' to try and work out what went wrong and check the tank is good after a 50% water change.

 

[EasternRomioi3]

You only needed a little bit more advice to put you guys back on track. I think you really need to get some weight on him. Keep trying the earthworms. Does he react if you like drop food in front of him? Like if I put my girl in her quarantine tub and drop a pellet in right over her, she goes nuts and sucks it in instantly. Her eating instinct is high, so I hope that would trigger your little guy into eating.