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A few months ago I bought a small male bolivian ram to go with my large female. He was a little thin when I bought him but I figured he was like most fish, when you first buy them they just need some good food. So when I brought him home I fed him some brineshrimp and he didnt eat much. However as time went on eat got more used to the tank and ate a whole lot in one sitting just like the female. But I never saw any weight gain. Actually I have started seeing weight loss and clear poo. So I bought some Jungle(c) brand anti-parasite medicated food and I have been feeding him that for the last 3 days. The instructions say 3 days per week. He doesnt seem to interested in them. But everyone else is. Anyway, he is still pretty active, and his colors are ok. So, if anyone has any suggestions please share. Here are some pictures of him, compared to the female.
Thanks!
http://i26.tinypic.com/ir83fn.jpg

I think you need to QT him, and feed him vert little of the normal food so that he reall hungry and he eat the meds.....He dosn't look happy and his stomach is sunkin in. I think you right about the parasites

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

Thanks for the reply, I am worried about QT-ing him because I just dont want to stress him out anymore. I will see how he does with the food for a while but if I need to I will QT him.
Thanks again. I still would like to hear from more people.

I think QTine is a good idea. Will he fit in a breeding trap? I know he might jump out but it'd save the move to a whole new tank. If you can set up a different tank, use the water from his current tank to fill it, then refill the main tank, rather than putting fresh water into the qt.

I seem to remember having trouble getting the fish I was trying to treat to eat the jungle medicated food, I think I remember the same issue, everyone but the intended was eating it. You can try dipping it in some garlic juice. Garlic is also used against parasites (though not as effective as medications). It's supposed to be an appetite enhancer.

If you have a straw, you might be able to use it like a pipette and direct the food to the intended while distracting the others with some flake or frozen.

^_^

My stock has just been recovering from a camallanus infestation, how they got in my tank i will never know. I've tried the jungle medicated food and it didn't seem to do much after a couple of weeks so i went ahead and soaked the food they normally eat in praziquantel and acriflavine. After a couple weeks most of the fish were pooping normally and didn't snow any signs of worms. I'm still medicating for another week just to be sure i've got all the worms.

Thanks for the help but the little guy died tonight. He just wouldnt eat anything.

Sorry to hear of your loss Punk. I had a female boliv who went the same way. She just wasn't a good doer. The wholesale fish shops call them skinnies and they usually just get culled as meds are expensive with no guarantees.

I was wondering if the dissolve in water meds have anything which could combat worms. There has got to be an easier way than trying to get a sick fish to eat the meds.