Missing scales and more

[raquelds]

I have a bit of a problem, and any advice would be appreciated. I have a 30 gallon tank, which contains the following fish:

1 satanoperca jurupari
1 tretocephalus
1 brichardi
1 black calvus
1 tropheus kaiser
1 gold ocellatus
1 gold compressiceps
1 bemba julie
1 clown pleco
3 rosy barb
3 brilliant rasbora

Now, I *know* there are several problems with this group of fish, the biggest one being that the jurupari (my sick fish) is a South American cichlid, and the other cichlids are African. And there's community fish in the mix. I went to my LFS that I had gone to for over a year and asked them to help me set up my first cichlid aquarium, and since I trusted them, this is what I ended up with.

The tank has had these same fish in it since February of this year. The jurupari had a problem with a yellow lab that was in there originally, but I removed the yellow lab within the first week and all the tankmates had been getting along fine since then.

I noticed about a week ago, my jurupari looked "off". His color wasn't quite right, and I wasn't sure but his fins looked a little rust colored in the spines. After more careful watching, I think I see now that he has some scales missing. He also looks thinner than normal.

My tank stats are all normal. I do weekly water changes (about 20%) and have an Eclipse 3 filtration system. I have tried watching for aggression from the other fish, and I have seen the tretocephalus come up to him and nip closely at him (not actually nip him, but nip close to his body) and then swim away. I can't tell if he is being beat up or if he has some sort of disease.

When I fed them this morning, the jurupari came rushing to the surface to eat. Also, he has been swimming mostly in the middle of the tank, whereas in the last few months he was mostly in the bottom part.

Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be? If he needs to be separated from his more aggressive tankmates, I have a few tanks already set up, but I don't know if he could go in any of them:

2.5 gallon w/1 male betta (I'm sure he can't go there)
3 gallon w/1 male betta (can't go there either)
10 gallon w/4 long finned danios, 3 female guppies, 1 bengal loach (I wouldn't trust this tank, one of my danios has been swimming around erratically for months now, and no meds seem to help)
15 gallon w/2 female bettas, 2 dwarf honey gouramis, 3 gold while cloud minnows, 1 cory cat, 1 oto, 1 dwarf pleco

Here is a pic of the jurupari:

That spot to the left of his eye is on the aquarium itself, not on the fish.

He has looked pretty much the same the last few days. Any ideas or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

 

[raquelds]

Here is a picture of the jurupari from March I believe:

 

[WILDER]

Look like a secondary infection has set in with the finrot, you say there was a rusty colour on his fins, well a rusty colour can sometimes be velvet, has he been flicking and rubbing on objects, i wondering if them missing scales are due to him scratching himself.

 

[raquelds]

I haven't seen him flicking on anything. Usually, he would hang out by the bottom and suck up bits of gravel as these kinds of fish like to do, but now he just swims in the middle, away from everything. I moved him into my 15 gallon aquarium and will try a treatment of melafix.

 

[WILDER]

His fins look really raggy in the pic i think i would treat him with an internal bacteria med, can you issolate him.

 

[WILDER]

Has he always had golden bits on him,. sorry on the first pic the fins look abit raggy but not in the second, do they look like they are stredding abit.

 

[raquelds]

Yes, he has always had the gold shimmer to him. I do see the difference in his fins between now and when I first got him. Unfortunately, I do not have an empty tank to put him in. He seems at least calmer in the 15 gallon and he isn't clamping his fins anymore. I plan on keeping the lights off for the rest of today and see how he is in the morning. I also added a dose of melafix. While it does kind of look like fin rot, I'm not entirely convinced... He may just be stressed. His fins haven't deteriorated since I first noticed. They just look a little jagged and rusty colored. But if the melafix doesn't work, I will definitely move on to something else.

 

[WILDER]

Not sure on what most of them fish are in the tank, as i only no them by there common name, can you post latest test results in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph, when a fish clamps it's fins it's a sign of stress, and due to the nipping he has come down with something could be a parasite infection or bacteria have to find out which one, does your lfs do scrape samples, missing scales can be a number of things.

 

[raquelds]

Not sure on what most of them fish are in the tank, as i only no them by there common name, can you post latest test results in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph, when a fish clamps it's fins it's a sign of stress, and due to the nipping he has come down with something could be a parasite infection or bacteria have to find out which one, does your lfs do scrape samples, missing scales can be a number of things.

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My ammonia and nitrite for both tanks are 0. Nitrate for the 30 gallon (the one he was in originally) is 25. The nitrate for the 15 gallon that he's in now is 20. I don't have a pH test.

He seems a lot better now. He is swimming around more, clamping his fins less, and eating well. The rust color is also gone from his fins. While he is still missing some scales, his color seems more normal than before. I'm not sure if my lfs does scrape samples... I don't know what that is.

 

[CFC]

The only thing wrong with that fish is it is being stressed to death from fin/scale nipping African Cichlids, move it to another tank and treat it with good clean water and melafix and it will be as good as new in a few weeks. South American Cichlids and African Cichlids should never be mixed under any circumstances as the outcome is never pretty.

Wilder please please stop recomending strong anti bacterial medications for every thing you see. By over use of medications bacteria and parasites are able to build resistence to the active ingredients creating super strains that do not react to treatments. Unless there is a strong sign that the fish has a bacterial infection such as bulging eyes, swollen bloated stomach or blood streaked fins (where no fin nippng has been happening) then the anti bacterial meds should be the last thing to try. In cases of bullying the first course of action is always seperation and then treatment with melafix and daily water changes to aid in the regrowth of the fins.

 

[WILDER]

mistake

 

[raquelds]

The only thing wrong with that fish is it is being stressed to death from fin/scale nipping African Cichlids, move it to another tank and treat it with good clean water and melafix and it will be as good as new in a few weeks. South American Cichlids and African Cichlids should never be mixed under any circumstances as the outcome is never pretty.

Wilder please please stop recomending strong anti bacterial medications for every thing you see. By over use of medications bacteria and parasites are able to build resistence to the active ingredients creating super strains that do not react to treatments. Unless there is a strong sign that the fish has a bacterial infection such as bulging eyes, swollen bloated stomach or blood streaked fins (where no fin nippng has been happening) then the anti bacterial meds should be the last thing to try. In cases of bullying the first course of action is always seperation and then treatment with melafix and daily water changes to aid in the regrowth of the fins.

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Thanks CFC. That's what I have done (tank change and melafix) and he seems much better. Thanks for everyone's suggestions!