Malawi trout heavy breathing...

Jezza
Jezza Member Posts: 276
in Emergency Room
Hi guys, been a while since I've been on here!
Just have a quick question. Ive got a juvenile malawi trout maybe around 12-13cm in length. Have noticed that he seems to be breathing heavier than usual over the last week or so...
Its not a question of not enough oxygen in the water. I have a dual air pump running 24/7 and my other fish are perfectly fine. He doesn't hang around the top, he is more near the bottom. And he eats perfectly fine.

Not really many more details i can give. Has anyone experienced or seen this before, and what was the cause?

I actually have recently (last 10 days or so) had a wave of white spot go through the tank which i have treated. Not sure if this may have put him a bit off colour and be acting weird...?

I had a feeling maybe he had something lodged in his mouth/gills, but he is still to small to take out and have a look at. Any way i can give him some sort of bath to flush his gills etc....

Thanks!
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Comments

  • Doug
    Doug Member, Classifieds Posts: 2,371
    From a bit reading it seems like that it is a very active fish and needs lots of O2 so anything irritating the gills it will be a bit annoyed. I'd look at doing a salt bath to see if there are any parasites on the gills and then look at thing like that.
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  • Jezza
    Jezza Member Posts: 276
    Thanks Doug, what sort of salt bath? Never done one before..
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  • Heintz.G
    Heintz.G Moderator Posts: 1,367
    When ever i had to do it , it was 2 Table spoons of epsom salts to 5 lires of tank water for 20 minutes in a clean container every day if necessary till the parasites are gone.
    Good luck.
    Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes & dreams.
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  • Jezza
    Jezza Member Posts: 276
    Thanks Heintz will give that a shot..

    Doug, i did realise that since you mentioned that they require lots of O2, and i have turned up the temperature by a couple of degrees because i was treating white spot, i think the higher temperature has depleted the oxygen levels in the tank a bit and he might not like it...
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  • Doug
    Doug Member, Classifieds Posts: 2,371
    yep, i reckon that might be your ticket, not to mention there still might be a few lingering whitespot cysts on its gills
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  • Mooo
    Mooo Moderator Posts: 7,653
    =D> Hope he's felling better, I'd have to agree with previous posts :D
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  • Jezza
    Jezza Member Posts: 276
    I actually noticed that he seems to do it right after having a bit to eat. He swims around as normal before eating. Once i feed him, he eats a little bit and then swims off and breathes heavily. Comparing this to a month ago where he would shove as much in his mouth as he could, it does seem a bit weird. But then again, he may just be a little bit off colour at the moment as well?
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  • Jezza
    Jezza Member Posts: 276
    Well he looks fine now and eating all good. I'm guessing once the remaining white spots on his gills and inside his mouth hatched, he felt better :)
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  • Heintz.G
    Heintz.G Moderator Posts: 1,367
    Good stuff Jezza, glad he's doing well now. =D>
    Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes & dreams.
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