Advice needed re: young and listless

[Dan Gottsegen <dgotts@linex.com>]

Hi, all:
Well this is the kind of post I hate to make; it is regarding rx. In my
grow out tank of young A. uapesi is one of the gang that is clearly
dominant and much larger than the rest (about 2 or 2.5 cm. long). Lately
he (or she) has been acting occassionally listless and hanging out in
the top of the plants (kind of resting on the leaves).  His (or her)
color at these times seems to tend towards an almost brownish cast (not
the robust usual tone). On occassion (s)he does swim about actively, but
is eating a bit less voraciously than in the past. (S)he did flick
against some surfaces a couple of times the other day, but shows no
signs of external infection or parasites (ie., ich, etc.). No other tank
inhabitants (other smaller "teens" of the same species, a few Corydoras
hastatus, and some japonica and bumblebee shrimp) seem at all effected.
The only change in the routine of late was that I did feed them some
live brine shrimp for a few days last week (and this particular fish
really gorged itself). I fed other tanks as well though and no other
fish are showing signs of any illness. I should mention that in this
same tank I once had a pair of A. borrelii that did not make it (the
female acted similar to the fish now in question, listless and near the
top of the tank, before it died). I never determined the cause of that
loss, but that was many, many months ago, and other fish have been in
this tank with no loss at all for many months. In fact, these young A.
uapesi were born in the tank months ago and have been robust since then.
Sorry about going on so long. Anyway, what to do? Wait it out?  Treat in
some way ( I am reluctant to do this for obvious reasons)? Change the
diet? Quarantine the individual in question... again a bit reluctant to
do so, because I don't know if (s)he would survive the shock of a move.
Thanks for any help that can be offered, though I know there is not a
lot to go on here.

-Dan



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