Cichlid actin WiErd?
14 posts • Page 1 of 2
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JazzyD_KingRoy - Posts: 32
- Joined: Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:47 pm
Cichlid actin WiErd?
I have a 65-70 gallon african tank. All of my fish are small 1-2in, and they seem 2 be happy. ( i do have 1 dom. male who chases the others around) but for the most part, everyone gets along. Then all of a sudden my Pombo rocks, who was one of my first fish, started acting funny. I havent noticed him eating at all, and he or she (not sure) is hanging out by the powerhead..? I checked him out, and he dont have any marks or signs of diease. I do frequent water changes, and im super into the health and happieness of the comunnity. Could she be holding, even with only one of her? Or Dying? Or stressed? Anyone who may have advice. Thanks! JazzyD
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miami754 - Posts: 373
- Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:18 am
Did the fish at one point try eating and then spit it out and the moved to not even trying to eat at a later date? If so then it sounds like Malawi bloat. It will kill your fish every time if left untreated and you have to act fast. If you don't treat it within the first several days then the fish is doomed. If you catch it early though, the treatment is almost 100% effective. Let me know whether you ever saw the fish spitting food out (more than they normally do - I am talking like the fish runs up to a pellet, eats it for a couple of seconds, and then spits the entire pellet back out). In the mean time, I'll type up the cure. Good luck
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miami754 - Posts: 373
- Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:18 am
Also, you should be able to tell if the fish is holding. You are right that your symptoms may be a result of holding, but it is usually very easy to tell this unless it is only holding a few eggs for some reason.
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miami754 - Posts: 373
- Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:18 am
Also, have you noticed him being picked on more than the others. It is perfectly normal for there to be aggression in your tank, but I have had instances where it seemed like a single fish was picked out of the group and picked on until they were forced to hide for a while.
What are your water parameters and what other species are in the tank? How often on the water changes? What kind of food and how often?
What are your water parameters and what other species are in the tank? How often on the water changes? What kind of food and how often?
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miami754 - Posts: 373
- Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:18 am
Okay, here is the treatment. Please note that Clout is pretty rough stuff so we need to be sure the fish has Bloat before you use it. Your answers to my other questions will help here. At the same time, if it is Bloat then we need to act somewhat quickly. Because Clout can mess with your bacterial colonies, it is best to set up a hospital tank. That being said, I did use it on my main tank twice because I did not have a hospital tank at the time. You should be warned though that this is not recommended.
Follow the below instruction EXACTLY and you should be good assuming you caught it early enough. I have done this on six fish now and all have survived, but I also watch my fish closely and caught it right away. It will depend on how long your fish has not been eating.
To treat this disease, first put the ill fish into your hospital tank. Do not feed during this entire treatment. On day one, treat the fish with a full dose of Clout (1 tab/ten gallons) remembering to remove the carbon from your filter. On the second day, treat with a half dose of Clout (do not perform a water change). On the third day do nothing. On the fourth day, perform an 80% water change and treat with another full dose of Clout. Do nothing on days five and six. Your fish should now be healed, but will require some additional days to recover. Leave the cichlid in the hospital tank for another 5-7 days and then reintroduce it to the main tank.
Some key points for this treatment include making sure you do not feed the fish for the whole six days and making sure you follow through with the complete treatment even if you fish starts looking good part way through.
Good luck and as I said, try to answer my questions so we can be sure the it is Bloat. I don't want to assume and have you do all this when it is something else. We need to narrow down the other possibilities.
Follow the below instruction EXACTLY and you should be good assuming you caught it early enough. I have done this on six fish now and all have survived, but I also watch my fish closely and caught it right away. It will depend on how long your fish has not been eating.
To treat this disease, first put the ill fish into your hospital tank. Do not feed during this entire treatment. On day one, treat the fish with a full dose of Clout (1 tab/ten gallons) remembering to remove the carbon from your filter. On the second day, treat with a half dose of Clout (do not perform a water change). On the third day do nothing. On the fourth day, perform an 80% water change and treat with another full dose of Clout. Do nothing on days five and six. Your fish should now be healed, but will require some additional days to recover. Leave the cichlid in the hospital tank for another 5-7 days and then reintroduce it to the main tank.
Some key points for this treatment include making sure you do not feed the fish for the whole six days and making sure you follow through with the complete treatment even if you fish starts looking good part way through.
Good luck and as I said, try to answer my questions so we can be sure the it is Bloat. I don't want to assume and have you do all this when it is something else. We need to narrow down the other possibilities.
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JazzyD_KingRoy - Posts: 32
- Joined: Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:47 pm
Damn mimmi, my fish is dead, along with 2 others. HELP!
Only 8 cichlids left, could they be sick 2?
Should i treat the entire tank?
i do a 20% water change weekly, sometimes more. My PH is 8.0-8.2 and i have a bio-canaster filter, so i assume everthing else is good. i use toner in my water when i do changes, and add 2 tsp of aqu. salt.
I'm really trying to do everything rite, but so far, i have had alot of deaths! Im so sad, because i try hard 2 prevent problems.
My entire tank had that eye and mouth thing about 3 or 4 months ago, and i just started feeling good about all of my surviors, so i added 3 new fish.
My fish list is on my profile, but i deleted most of the fish pictures since most of them died last diease.
How dose bloat happen?
Please Help with more advice. Thanks
Only 8 cichlids left, could they be sick 2?
Should i treat the entire tank?
i do a 20% water change weekly, sometimes more. My PH is 8.0-8.2 and i have a bio-canaster filter, so i assume everthing else is good. i use toner in my water when i do changes, and add 2 tsp of aqu. salt.
I'm really trying to do everything rite, but so far, i have had alot of deaths! Im so sad, because i try hard 2 prevent problems.
My entire tank had that eye and mouth thing about 3 or 4 months ago, and i just started feeling good about all of my surviors, so i added 3 new fish.
My fish list is on my profile, but i deleted most of the fish pictures since most of them died last diease.
How dose bloat happen?
Please Help with more advice. Thanks
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JazzyD_KingRoy - Posts: 32
- Joined: Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:47 pm
lol, sorry about the spelling Miami...
Oh, New life Spectrum Cichlid food, and flaks, also alge disks(2). 1x per day,(about 5-6 pm) but only a little bit.
Oh, New life Spectrum Cichlid food, and flaks, also alge disks(2). 1x per day,(about 5-6 pm) but only a little bit.
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miami754 - Posts: 373
- Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:18 am
Hmm . . . it sounds like you are doing everything right. Your tank has good cover and rock work, your water changes look good, your pH is fine, and you are using the best food.
Bloat usually doesn't kill that fast. It usually takes awhile before it will kill the fish. There is some speculation that when one fish gets bloat 1-2 more will (people have mentioned this often), but no one really knows why. Know one knows for sure what causes bloat. Many speculate that eating high protein meaty foods causes it (not your problem since you are using the right food), while others say it is from stress, and then others believe it is for different reasons (too high of salt concentration, etc.). There is no universal agreement. I wouldn't bother treating the bloat in your case any more because if it was bloat then it has probably run its course for the time being and I don't think it was bloat due to the quickness of the deaths. Keep the treatment around though because you will more than likely get some cases if you keep cichlids for a while. It is especially true when you bring a new cichlid home. Two of my cases were from fish that I brought home. When you introduce a new fish, watch for thr spitting and then treat immediately if it happens. Were the three fish that died the new ones you just bought? It could have just been that the ones you got from the store were stressed before you got them or something.
Do you have a test kit so you can tell me your nitrates, nitrites, ammonia levels? Your water changes look fine. but maybe something else is going on that these results would indicate.
Is there any insane aggression going on in the tank (for example, the bumble bee really tearing into fish or something like that)? I'm not talking about normal chasing, but like severe fin nipping or lip locking.
Bloat usually doesn't kill that fast. It usually takes awhile before it will kill the fish. There is some speculation that when one fish gets bloat 1-2 more will (people have mentioned this often), but no one really knows why. Know one knows for sure what causes bloat. Many speculate that eating high protein meaty foods causes it (not your problem since you are using the right food), while others say it is from stress, and then others believe it is for different reasons (too high of salt concentration, etc.). There is no universal agreement. I wouldn't bother treating the bloat in your case any more because if it was bloat then it has probably run its course for the time being and I don't think it was bloat due to the quickness of the deaths. Keep the treatment around though because you will more than likely get some cases if you keep cichlids for a while. It is especially true when you bring a new cichlid home. Two of my cases were from fish that I brought home. When you introduce a new fish, watch for thr spitting and then treat immediately if it happens. Were the three fish that died the new ones you just bought? It could have just been that the ones you got from the store were stressed before you got them or something.
Do you have a test kit so you can tell me your nitrates, nitrites, ammonia levels? Your water changes look fine. but maybe something else is going on that these results would indicate.
Is there any insane aggression going on in the tank (for example, the bumble bee really tearing into fish or something like that)? I'm not talking about normal chasing, but like severe fin nipping or lip locking.
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miami754 - Posts: 373
- Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:18 am
Do your suckerfish and snails gets along with the cichlids? I have heard a wide variety of reports - everything from they coexist perfectly to the cichlids attacking them to them attacking the cichlids. I was just curious about your experience because I like to hear from people regarding this. Thanks,.
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JazzyD_KingRoy - Posts: 32
- Joined: Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:47 pm
No, Miami, we dont test for nitrates or ammonia. I kinda figured that between the primer, filter, and water changes, i really didnt have to worry about that. True?
And no, (funny, you are the second person to ask) but my bumble bee is really cool. She dont bother anyone, and seems to get anolg with my giraffe well (my only hap in the tank). I didnt plan on keeping him/her (my hap) but it been through alot (buble eye, mouth rot) and it made it. A real surivor! But if it gets way bigger than the rest in the future, i will have to part with it.
The only aggressive fish that i do have is one that im unsure of. I dont know what kind of fish she is. I have looked through so many pictures on cichlidfourm.com, but i still cant tell. She is all light blue, most times she looks solid blue, but other times i can see her blue zebra stripes. She also has 2 really light blue marks on her face. Prety, but she chases everyone in the tank. She is the bigges fish i have,(not by much) plus she thnks the entire tank is her territory! But after saying all that, she dont reallt bite, just chase.
Now about my sucker fish. My cichlids never bother them, and they stay on the wood most of the time, unless i feed them an alge disk. Then they will fight the cichlids for the disk. The fish will take the disk from the sucker, and the sucker will get it back. Fun to watch because its almost like a game that they play...
My sucker fish are about 2x the size of my cichlids tho. But never had a problem. I did have south americans before africans, and i have had problems with them biting and eating my sucker fish and catfish. Red devils and oscars are some beasts!
But i do love my africans the best.
Tanks for the advice miami...ttyl
Oh yea, i also feed live food once a month. Shrinp, and guppies.
Could that be bad?
Let me know.
And no, (funny, you are the second person to ask) but my bumble bee is really cool. She dont bother anyone, and seems to get anolg with my giraffe well (my only hap in the tank). I didnt plan on keeping him/her (my hap) but it been through alot (buble eye, mouth rot) and it made it. A real surivor! But if it gets way bigger than the rest in the future, i will have to part with it.
The only aggressive fish that i do have is one that im unsure of. I dont know what kind of fish she is. I have looked through so many pictures on cichlidfourm.com, but i still cant tell. She is all light blue, most times she looks solid blue, but other times i can see her blue zebra stripes. She also has 2 really light blue marks on her face. Prety, but she chases everyone in the tank. She is the bigges fish i have,(not by much) plus she thnks the entire tank is her territory! But after saying all that, she dont reallt bite, just chase.
Now about my sucker fish. My cichlids never bother them, and they stay on the wood most of the time, unless i feed them an alge disk. Then they will fight the cichlids for the disk. The fish will take the disk from the sucker, and the sucker will get it back. Fun to watch because its almost like a game that they play...
My sucker fish are about 2x the size of my cichlids tho. But never had a problem. I did have south americans before africans, and i have had problems with them biting and eating my sucker fish and catfish. Red devils and oscars are some beasts!
But i do love my africans the best.
Tanks for the advice miami...ttyl
Oh yea, i also feed live food once a month. Shrinp, and guppies.
Could that be bad?
Let me know.
