[airedale]

I have had this guy along with two other red zebras for over a year. Got them as babys. Two of them grew up to full size. one is even the dominant fish of my tank.

The sickly looking one looks to be a third the size of the other two and its head looks much larger than the rest of its body. Its mid and tail end is very skinny and he does not hold the same shape as the other two. I have also noticed it doesn't eat very much, yet has many opportunities to.

Anyone else have an experience like this?

 

[bma57]

Not that specifically, but in gereral, various defects aren't all that uncommon. I recently put down a fry that I was growing out because I noticed that he was missing a tail. I've seen plenty of threads regarding fish with all sorts of congenital defects.

 

[Robin]

Could be some kind of genetic defect but it also could be either internal parasites or a bacterial infection.

How long has this fish looked this way? What does it do at feeding time? Does it come out to eat and then not eat? Does it eat and spit? Or does it hang back somewhere? Was there a time when it ate normally? How long ago?

I have a yellow lab that I got as a juvenile six years ago and he's always been a runt and not very good looking however he eats more than any other fish in the tank. So just from my own experience I wouldn't say its a concern to have one fish noticably smaller than it's same-age tankmates but your description of the fish's head being much smaller than the rest of it does sound like some sort of illness.

Robin