marginoferror
New Member
Two of my 8 cichlids have gone belly-up and are hyperventilating. Tank is cycled and has been up for 2 months. There seem to be no issues with the water tests. The water is hard and slightly acidic though. I did a 75% water change yesterday, and then today I did a 50% water change and sucked the gravel (for the 3rd time since I started). The two fish have retreated to the same corner, though that could have been due to filter flow that they ended up there.
The first one started to only swim left today, one day after the first water change. At first, it became distressed and started lying sideways on the bottom of the tank. Minutes later, it swam only to the left (while looking like it had rigour mortis) and rolled over in order and swam left to turn to the right. About an hour later of mostly panting, it started to float belly-up on the bottom. I did a water change immediately thinking I might have caused an ammonia spike, then around 30 minutes later, another one of my cichlids (different species) went through the same stages, but 10x faster. I should note that all the other fish swam to the top and remained there for about 3 hours after the second water change. Also, there are three small crayfish living in the tank that all seem to have "fur"-like protrusions between their claws, below their tails, and protruding from their eye/antenna area.
I immediately took a magnifying glass to look to see if there was any sign of the problem when the first one started lying on its side beside the other fish, but then it panicked and then it (like a dog chasing its tail) circled vigorously for about 7 seconds and then stopped (it was entirely immobilized, except for fast-moving gill flaps). They are both still in the same position. Any idea what it could be or what I should do?
The first one started to only swim left today, one day after the first water change. At first, it became distressed and started lying sideways on the bottom of the tank. Minutes later, it swam only to the left (while looking like it had rigour mortis) and rolled over in order and swam left to turn to the right. About an hour later of mostly panting, it started to float belly-up on the bottom. I did a water change immediately thinking I might have caused an ammonia spike, then around 30 minutes later, another one of my cichlids (different species) went through the same stages, but 10x faster. I should note that all the other fish swam to the top and remained there for about 3 hours after the second water change. Also, there are three small crayfish living in the tank that all seem to have "fur"-like protrusions between their claws, below their tails, and protruding from their eye/antenna area.
I immediately took a magnifying glass to look to see if there was any sign of the problem when the first one started lying on its side beside the other fish, but then it panicked and then it (like a dog chasing its tail) circled vigorously for about 7 seconds and then stopped (it was entirely immobilized, except for fast-moving gill flaps). They are both still in the same position. Any idea what it could be or what I should do?