Jack Dempsey Troubles

**fignewton1988** · 09-25-2012, 02:23 AM

Hi guys. This is my first post so please bear with me. I'm looking for some advice on my Jack Dempsey. Ive had it (pretty sure its a him) for 2 years now. My buddy asked if i wanted to adopt him when he was getting beat up by the other fish in his tank. So I have him in a 20 tall with some live plants rocks and drift wood ect. Over the course of the 2 years I have had him he has slowly lost parts of his dorsal fin. I have tried treating for finrot but hes not showing any other symptoms besides the fins slowly disappearing. This has been a VERY slow loss of fins over many months so slow that I didn't notice right away. In the past month or so hes become very lethargic laying on the bottom in a corner of the tank. Hes always been shy, but now he hides the second anyone approaches the tank and will not eat while I'm watching. Ive tried varying his food, including some small feeder fish that hes always seemed to love before. I have started treating with melafix this week as the fins seem to be getting worse again. Can anyone give me some suggestions on what to do?

**sheamurai** · 09-25-2012, 02:30 AM

A bigger tank, and water changes...it's likely suffering poor health from being stunted in a tank that's too small.

Your link just brought me to a gmail log in site, try attaching your pic directly...

and welcome to AC!

**Lab_Rat** · 09-25-2012, 02:34 AM

Agree with sheamurai, a JD needs a much larger tank. 55g would be a minimum, preferably a 75g. You don't mention your wc schedule, poor water quality is likely the main reason for your problems.

**fignewton1988** · 09-25-2012, 02:43 AM

Wow that was fast. Thanks for the quick reply. Ive been doing 30% water changes every week. He is about 4.5 in long. Is that really too large for the 20gal?

Heres the picture.

Jack Dempsey.png

**Lab_Rat** · 09-25-2012, 04:55 AM

Yes, he looks very stunted. See how large his head and eye are in comparison to the rest of his body?

This is what a young JD (about 6") should look like. The picture is not the greatest but you get the general idea about the size of the eye/head in comparison to the rest of his body.