Kenyi Cichlid didn’t eat today and is doing this

[FrezhFinz]

I have a 10 gallon tank with a few tetras and two cichlids with one pleco the cichlids are Chindongo demasoni or Kenyi one of them when I got home from work is laying down at the bottom my KH=80
Gh=120 PH=7.5 Nitrite=3 Nitrate= 20
I did a water change of 75% after I tested the water and he is still laying down.

 

[Colin_T]

The cichlid on the left in the picture is a lombardoi (kennyi). The fish on the right looks like a demasoni.

Both need water with a GH around 300ppm and a pH around 7.6-8.0. Unfortunately this won't work for tetras.

The lombardoi will also kill tetras and most other fish when it matures. It looks like a female so should be less of an issue compared to a male but they are extremely aggressive when mature.

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The demasoni could be getting bullied or have an illness. It looks ok physically but need a video to see how it is breathing. You can upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.

If you film the fish with a mobile phone, hold the phone horizontally so the footage fills the entire screen. Take about 1 minute of footage and post some pictures of the entire tank. The cichlids need lots of hiding places.

Is the fish eating?
What does its poop look like?

 

[Naughts]

Nitrite needs to be 0, do large water changes (temperature matched and dechlorinated) until it is 0.

Test every day to ensure ammonia and nitrite are zero, do a large water change any day that they are above zero. It may take a number of weeks until the tank has cycled.

Reduce feeding and add floating plants to help keep nitrite from rising quickly.

 

[Kyshiara]

Also I swear they need a bigger tank, don't they get to 10cm?

 

[FrezhFinz]

Also I swear they need a bigger tank, don't they get to 10cm?

Just a temporary tank till they get bigger

 

[FrezhFinz]

The cichlid on the left in the picture is a lombardoi (kennyi). The fish on the right looks like a demasoni.

Both need water with a GH around 300ppm and a pH around 7.6-8.0. Unfortunately this won't work for tetras.

The lombardoi will also kill tetras and most other fish when it matures. It looks like a female so should be less of an issue compared to a male but they are extremely aggressive when mature.

------------------
The demasoni could be getting bullied or have an illness. It looks ok physically but need a video to see how it is breathing. You can upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.

If you film the fish with a mobile phone, hold the phone horizontally so the footage fills the entire screen. Take about 1 minute of footage and post some pictures of the entire tank. The cichlids need lots of hiding places.

Is the fish eating?
What does its poop look like?

So I did a few water changes and he started moving around the next morning and started eating again but now what has happened is I noticed this on him I can’t tell what it can be I am running into a lot of issues it seems.

 

[FrezhFinz]

So I did a few water changes and he started moving around the next morning and started eating again but now what has happened is I noticed this on him I can’t tell what it can be I am running into a lot of issues it seems.

 

[connorlindeman]

So I did a few water changes and he started moving around the next morning and started eating again but now what has happened is I noticed this on him I can’t tell what it can be I am running into a lot of issues it seems.

@Colin_T gave a lot of very important info in his post...

 

[FrezhFinz]

The cichlid on the left in the picture is a lombardoi (kennyi). The fish on the right looks like a demasoni.

Both need water with a GH around 300ppm and a pH around 7.6-8.0. Unfortunately this won't work for tetras.

The lombardoi will also kill tetras and most other fish when it matures. It looks like a female so should be less of an issue compared to a male but they are extremely aggressive when mature.

------------------
The demasoni could be getting bullied or have an illness. It looks ok physically but need a video to see how it is breathing. You can upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.

If you film the fish with a mobile phone, hold the phone horizontally so the footage fills the entire screen. Take about 1 minute of footage and post some pictures of the entire tank. The cichlids need lots of hiding places.

Is the fish eating?
What does its poop look like?

 

[FrezhFinz]

0 ammonia
2.0 nitrite
5.0 nitrate
pH= 7.6

 

[Colin_T]

The nitrate is from the nitrite, but the nitrite is way too high.

Nitrate test kits read nitrite as nitrate and give you a false reading if there is nitrite in the water.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until the ammonia and nitrite are 0ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.