Sunken belly, where does it come from?

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Hybridfish7

Hybridfish7

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I have had a couple run ins with the generic "sunken belly white poop" disease in cichlids, and have treated it rather easily with metroplex. Now what perplexes me however, is where it comes from. It is a parasite, and unlike bacteria that would cause things like fin rot or other bacterial infections based on wounds that are pretty much always there, I do not expect it to always be present in tanks. Furthermore, where does it come from? Unless I am mistaken, and it is in fact always there and just affects mildly immunocompromised fish like TB does, but just isn't pandemic levels of infectious/contagious/deadly.
 
It’s a parasite that lives in the fish. It’s likely in small concentrations kept in check by its immunity. When stressed it’ll start growing and get the fish sick. Metronidazole is the drug of choice.
 
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I would think that if you medicate the tank correctly you would kill all the parasites. Unless you introduce the parasite again by adding a fish that hasn't been quarantined properly you shouldn't have that issue again. Like a lot of parasites if you properly get rid of them they are not ever present. Unfortunately some parasites are hard to properly kill and have dormancy periods that help protect them until the time/conditions are right which make it appear as if they are always there. Which is why you always finish the meds/treatment procedure.
 
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kno4te said:
It’s a parasite that lives in the fish. It’s likely in small concentrations kept in check by its immunity. When stressed it’ll start growing and get the fish sick. Metronidazole is the drug of choice.
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Ah my suspicions were correct. I'd also assume there is in fact a dormancy period within it's reproduction that resumes the harmless infection post treatment, as I have had fish be infected twice in their lifetimes with no contact with other new fish.
 
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