Cichlid Sick?

[B20luda]

I had just cleaned the tank a week ago, all other fish seem to be acting normal and doing the normal thing

However my blue lake malawi guy isnt so normal, i found em in the corner wedged between the glass and a peice of lava rock, he didnt appear to be stuck... maybe he was i dunno, i got him out of there, fins are a bit chewed up doesnt appear to be ich or anything of the sort.. He isnt swiming as Efficent we'll call it as he normally does almost looks to wiggle, not sure what to do there was a mark on his side, but it looks like he rubed on to a rock or something, scale is damaged... what to do? ive had him a couple years some of the fish in this tank are 5 years old dont wanna loose any

 

[B20luda]

Just a small update, since i have free'd up the guy he seems to be swiming a bit better, i treated the tank as a precaution, hopefully it doesnt hurt the fish if they may no need treatment,

Fish seems to act normal just swiming a bit goofy and fins are pretty haggered nothing ich like though perhaps he was getting picked on?

These fish have all been together for over 2 years... would it be possible that they dont get along later in there adult age?

 

[Athena]

Well, it could have been a territorial issue going on. What's the tank size and what's your current stock in there?

If this fish had been picked on by another fish then that could be why he squeezed himself into that gap next to the rock, trying to escape or hide. Do you have plenty of hidey holes/caves for the fish to go in? They should each have their own hideout in their bit of territory.

What did you treat the tank with?

Regards, Athena

 

[B20luda]

Well, it could have been a territorial issue going on. What's the tank size and what's your current stock in there?

If this fish had been picked on by another fish then that could be why he squeezed himself into that gap next to the rock, trying to escape or hide. Do you have plenty of hidey holes/caves for the fish to go in? They should each have their own hideout in their bit of territory.

What did you treat the tank with?

Regards, Athena

The tank is 85 gallons

i have 2 mubuna cichlids 5.5 inchs

1 jack dempsey ( a very nice mannered one) 6 inchs

4 5 bar cichlids very from 1.5 to 5 inchs

2 clown loachs 3-4 inchs

1 masked cichlid maybe 2 inchs

these fish have been together for 2 years, the jack clown loachs and 2 of the 5 bars have been together nearly 5 years

i treated the tank with aquatronic methy blue, i admit it didnt really fit the symptoms but i treated anyways with a light doseage, it was the only thing i had at the time safe for my loachs...

He seems to be doing better, he may have just been stressed out from what you said he had been down there for 2 days, i got busy and forgot about it

 

[B20luda]

here are a few pictures, and a decent close up picture of the fish in question...

 

[Skins]

Nice pics

Keith.

 

[B20luda]

Update to this situation...

The cichlid in question did die, i ended up putting him out... after a long way, he just got worse and worse and was clearly not gonna make it, im surprised how slow and long this all went on..

Unfortuantly it seems that my Jack Dempsey is starting to act strangely, always hiding, very skidish, doesnt come out to eat when fed ALWAYS did before ALWAYS!!

Appears to swim ok, but doesnt use his tail fins much at all, kinda like there clamed up or something.. Im unsure of what to do... i checked the water, water seems normal, temps ok, some of these fish are 5 years old had them a long time, not sure how to fix this...

Any ideas on treatment or advice would be great..

 

[Athena]

Hello again. Sorry to hear you had to euthanise that poorly fish.

Not so good that you still seem to have problems going on in the tank eh?

Clamped fins, as you described, are a sign of bacterial disease usually, often brought on by stress. Something must be stressing your fish - but what? Possibly you have such a variety of different cichlids and other fish that as they have grown to adult they are now more territorial than before? Is there much chasing or harrassing going on? Maybe when lights go out?

Hope you are aware that by nature those 5 bar cichlids are known to be very aggressive and shouldn't really be kept in a community tank once they are past the juvie stage. Also, these fish don't do well kept in groups of their own kind... so I'm inclined to think that they may be the culprits here!

I'd do a bit of research on them if it were me, and then think about rehoming some of them for the sake of keeping peace & happiness in your aquarium because, as we all know, happy fish are healthy fish LOL.

Regards, Athena

 

[B20luda]

There really isnt much bickering going on in the tank at all, they chase every now and then, usually during feeding and a litte bit after wards, but there is lots of hiding for all of them... I honestly dont see that being an issue, these guys have been adults for some time now as well....

the Dempsey is the largest in the tank, hes not very aggresive at all, never really has been, no other fish even trys to battle him for territory... so it just seems werid to me that the most dominate fish in the tank is suffereing from stress... my little masked cichlid at just 2 inchs has been around for nearly 5 years...

Anything good anyone can advise on treating the tank, i will do another water change tomorrow and treat the tank with..... something....



I should also add that my tank has sand as a substrate, and ive always had trouble cleaning it, i normally just kinda stir it up some and rotate it around and just vacuum up debris, the tank is also very over filtered, i have a canister style filter and a bio wheel style filter, both are able to handle the 80 gallon tank size on there own and i run both...

I had tested the water before i changed it yesterday

Good PH

0 ammonia nitrate and nitrite