Blue Acara Very Ill

[Soundspeedy]

Hello all,

I shall start at the very begining. Ive had my blue acara for a couple of years now and he was perfect, happily living in a 300 litre tank with my rokteil severum, 2 festivums and some different tetras.

In September last year I introduced a firemouth to the tank, everything seemed fine with no fish fighting over territory.
Then I come down one morning probably late November and my BA is keeping to the uppermost corner of the tank, rarely leaving, and showing no interest in food (I feed them tetra prima and freezedried bloodworms)- it sometimes attempted to take some but would completely miss, looking almost drunk.
I thought the situation would improve and all would die back down, as I had not previously seen any confrontation, to its normal self in a couple of days, this did not happen.

The BA stayed in his corner and still would not eat, when swimming doing so in a rocking (side to side) motion.

I do 30% water changes every couple of months and clean the filter bi yearly.

I tried moving the interior around thinking this to be down to a territory arguement, bought some large plastic plants to provide more hiding spots and shorten the line of sight of the firemouth. Only once have I seen the firemouth actually attack the BA and it did not last long but most of the time its just the normal flaring of gills towards it if it ventured out of the corner to which the BA would swim back to his corner.

The BAs fins started to get tatty, scales appeared dislodged and marks appeared on it and it started to get thin. Then one night over christmas one of the BAs pectoral fins got ripped, making the fish immobile. I set up a small tank (40 litres) for the fish to recover in (I realise i should of done this alot earlier and am now kicking myself)and transferred the fish across with water from the 300l.

Things started to look up, he was feeding and getting bigger again, and fins started to heal (treating with fin rot and fungus control as the directions said use on tatty/torn fins). However, 2 weeks of progress, I came home today and the fish is floating around the tank on its side, in a banana shape, sometimes righting itself and swimming but the majority of the time not moving. I fear it is on deaths door. Will it recover?

So what have I done wrong? I thought that firemouths and blue acaras could be kept together no problem and that my tank was big enough to do this. Was this down to a dispute in territory or did something else happen, such as an illness, to the blue acara first, leaving it a target for the firemouth? Why does it suddenly look about to die when it was on the road to recovery with no other tankmates to bully it?

Any suggestions welcome

Thanks

A very sad Danny

 

[Liam2368]

you only do a 30% water change every couple of months? that should be done weekly! what are your water stats?

 

[Soundspeedy]

Last time I checked, november, everything was fine, I cant remember the exact stats but noting was of alarm.

 

[ZoddyZod]

Last time I checked, november, everything was fine, I cant remember the exact stats but noting was of alarm.

although the above reply is a bit alarmist, he does have a point. Keeping the water as clean as possible via weekly water changes of around 25% is a good way of ensuring the optimum living conditions for the fish. Good clean water will also help fish regenerate any damgage to their bodies or fins that occur.

The age of the fish should also be highlighted. Did you have the fish from a juvenile? Any idea of the age when first purchased?

The seperate tank that you placed the acara in, was the filter/tank cycled at all? Are you familiar with the term 'cycling'? If not, have a read in the beginners section. If it was not, then the fish may have perked up at first but the water could have become poisoned from the fishes waste as the filter was not able to process the harmful ammonia and or nitrite.

 

[Liam2368]

I'd suggest to test your water then we can know more, if you are only changing. your water and filter that often I reckon the quality of water must be very poor, it does not sound like it is the firemouths fault, when a fish is sick and more important a cichlid it will be picked on by other cichlids because it's vulnerable add to this the stress of it all and you get one sick unhappy cichlid that usually ends in fatality, clean water helps fish to not only stay healthy but to heal too, was your small tank cycled?

 

[Soundspeedy]

Last time I checked, november, everything was fine, I cant remember the exact stats but noting was of alarm.

although the above reply is a bit alarmist, he does have a point. Keeping the water as clean as possible via weekly water changes of around 25% is a good way of ensuring the optimum living conditions for the fish. Good clean water will also help fish regenerate any damgage to their bodies or fins that occur.

The age of the fish should also be highlighted. Did you have the fish from a juvenile? Any idea of the age when first purchased?

The seperate tank that you placed the acara in, was the filter/tank cycled at all? Are you familiar with the term 'cycling'? If not, have a read in the beginners section. If it was not, then the fish may have perked up at first but the water could have become poisoned from the fishes waste as the filter was not able to process the harmful ammonia and or nitrite.

Okay, I shall do more regular water changes.
I bought the firmouth as a juvenile i believe. It was about 2 inchs in length but i am unsure of age.
The blue acara was a juvenile when i bought it 2 years ago.
The filter is one that I have used previously. The tank had been cycled for a week with a cycle product with half fresh water and half tank water.
Thankyou for you reply
Danny