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I wanted to share this success story with my fellow box'ers. Some of you know the history of these guys, but for those of you who don't, I'm going to document it here.
Back in late February, I drove out to pick up some fish from a friend at a LFS. He had mentioned having some Tropheus Moliros that he had received in a large order that were very sick. He offered to let us have them since they were in such bad shape and he wasn't going to be able to sell them. He told me that when they had arrived they had a severe fungus which he had treated with an anti-fungal medication. Their eyes were almost completely covered with a white film and they wouldn't eat so they were very very thin. Honestly, I wasn't sure we'd be able to save them, but decided to give it a shot.
I brought them home and put them in a 55 gallon all by themselves. We started out treating the entire tank with Erythromyacin for a few days. Then we switched to Tetracycline for a few days. Finally, I found some Tetracycline Gel-drops and made a paste out of Spirulina flakes and the Tetracycline medicine. I made little food/medicine balls and let them drop to the sand. The Moliros found the food/med and ate it right up. This is how they were fed for several days. During all this, we did 30% water changes 3 times a week. Blind fish are messy eaters.
They've gradually gotten better and better and have put on lots of weight and have brilliant color. They are still blind and I suspect they always will be, but we have a system for feeding that works great. We buy the Hikari Cichlid Excel MEDIUM pellets and soak them until they get soft and puffy. Then smush them just enough so that they will sink but stay large. The Moliros graze along the bottom of the tank and slurp up the pellets that they bump with their noses. It works!
So, tonight we moved them out of the 'special needs' tank and into a 135g with some other Trophs. They are doing so good that I had to share this experience and post some before and after pictures.
Before - these are from the first day they came home to us.....
And these are from tonight, after being moved into a tank with other Trophs!
Back in late February, I drove out to pick up some fish from a friend at a LFS. He had mentioned having some Tropheus Moliros that he had received in a large order that were very sick. He offered to let us have them since they were in such bad shape and he wasn't going to be able to sell them. He told me that when they had arrived they had a severe fungus which he had treated with an anti-fungal medication. Their eyes were almost completely covered with a white film and they wouldn't eat so they were very very thin. Honestly, I wasn't sure we'd be able to save them, but decided to give it a shot.
I brought them home and put them in a 55 gallon all by themselves. We started out treating the entire tank with Erythromyacin for a few days. Then we switched to Tetracycline for a few days. Finally, I found some Tetracycline Gel-drops and made a paste out of Spirulina flakes and the Tetracycline medicine. I made little food/medicine balls and let them drop to the sand. The Moliros found the food/med and ate it right up. This is how they were fed for several days. During all this, we did 30% water changes 3 times a week. Blind fish are messy eaters.
They've gradually gotten better and better and have put on lots of weight and have brilliant color. They are still blind and I suspect they always will be, but we have a system for feeding that works great. We buy the Hikari Cichlid Excel MEDIUM pellets and soak them until they get soft and puffy. Then smush them just enough so that they will sink but stay large. The Moliros graze along the bottom of the tank and slurp up the pellets that they bump with their noses. It works!
So, tonight we moved them out of the 'special needs' tank and into a 135g with some other Trophs. They are doing so good that I had to share this experience and post some before and after pictures.
Before - these are from the first day they came home to us.....
And these are from tonight, after being moved into a tank with other Trophs!
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