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Freshwater tropical parrotfish; HITH
9/10/17 Rescued cichlids... Please help; hlth., comp.
issues/questions
4/15/17 Cichlid problem. Need info. of use
2/10/17 cichlid dorsal fin closed 12/18/13
Still Learning...Help my Cichlids
please........... Sick and Dying Cichlids, Not Much Info To Go On 05/19/08 Hi WetWebMedia, I am having a bit of trouble with my fishes, and I was wondering if you could help me out. I have a 40 gallon tank with cichlids and many fishes have been dying. This is an established tank and has been there for almost a year now. I do consistent water changes and use tap water conditioner. No aggression has occurred so I believe it is because of my water quality. I test my water every week, and ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are all at 0 ppm. My pH is in the acidic zone, but I heard that I should leave it alone as my cichlids will adapt. I think the main problem is the hardness of the water. It is in the soft zone and my cichlids thrive in moderately hard water. I tried adding crushed coral in a net bag and I put it in my filter, but it didn't really work. Another problem I get is green water. This never happened before. I do not overfeed and I make sure they finish all their food. I do not place the tank in a sunny area and because of the green water, I have to do water changes almost every other day, which is very tiring. I vary their diets with shrimp pellets, flake food, brine shrimp, blood worms, veggie cubes, shrimp, crickets, and beef heart. Please help me out as I do not want my fishes to suffer. Do you think it is the hardness of the water that is causing all this? I used to have plants in there but they all died and floated up. I also used to have a piece of driftwood in there but I removed it because I read that they lower hardness and pH. Please give me any advice you have. Thanks so much, Chris < There are thousands of species of cichlids found in South and Central America as well as Madagascar and India. They come from the very soft acid waters of the Rio Negro in Brazil to very and hard alkaline waters of the rift lakes in Africa. You did not mention the types of cichlids you have, other than they thrive in moderately hard water. This covers a great many species. Your fish are dying yet you describe no symptoms. Are they bloated? Loss of appetite? Color changes? Frayed fins? Open sores? Heavy breathing? Anything? If you are concerned about the water hardness I would recommend that you get a reading for your tap water with a hardness test kit. Modify the hardness you desire in a separate container with commercial buffer and salt additives. Do a water change while vacuuming the gravel and cleaning the filter. Add the new buffered water to the aquarium. You want to make these changes very gradually. Eventually you will get the water in the aquarium to the hardness you desire. Green water comes from excess light and nutrients in the water. I would recommend that you feed you fish once a day and make sure that all the food in gone in a couple of minutes. The floating green algae suspended in the water may be absorbing all the waste in the water thus your zero readings for nitrogenous wastes.-Chuck> Kribs And Exophthalmia - 11/25/2005 One week ago, I noticed my female Kribensis eyes were popped out of her head. She lived for about 2 weeks and then died. Two days ago, I noticed that my male Kribensis had the same problem. I need to understand what is happening. Thank you, -Sherry <Thanks for correcting and re-sending your question, Sherry. Exophthalmia, or "pop-eye", is usually caused by poor water conditions. First, you need to test your water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate; ammonia and nitrite should be ZERO, nitrate less than 20ppm. If any of these are higher, you'll need to do water changes to get them back to normal. Also, please read here for more information: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwpopeyefaqs.htm . One to two tablespoons of Epsom salt per ten gallons of water may help a great deal, once the water quality is back to good. Wishing you well, -Sabrina> Green terror Lost His Head 11/3/05 Hi, I have a
question regarding my Green Terror. He suddenly died yesterday. Our
cichlids started scratching a lot and we thought they were getting Ick.
< Probably high nitrate concentrations. Should have checked the
nitrates. If they were over 20 ppm then you needed to change some water
instead of add medication.> We started treating on Monday with Super
Ick. Yesterday we added another dose and not 30 seconds after that our
Green Terror was at the top floating and then dropped to the bottom.
When we got him out of the tank, my fiancé noticed that the bottom
of his head was not attached to the bottom of his body. Don't know
if that makes sense. I was wondering if you could tell me perhaps what
happened. < Neither ich nor any medication can account for your
green terror's cut throat. I suspect that he cut it on something in
the aquarium or on the top of the tank while thrashing about.>
Nothing else seemed wrong except for the scratching. He was eating
fine. We have a 26 gallon tank with yellow cichlid, electric blue
cichlid, OB peacock, 2 parrots, 1 Texas, 1 albino zebra and a common
pleco. The terror was in there to. All of the other fish seem fine. I
cannot understand what happened. Thanks for your help. Lori Michalski
< Do a 50% water change and add some carbon to the water to remove
the medication. Then add some BioSpira to get the nitrification cycle
started again and check for ammonia spikes.-Chuck> Parrot Cichlids Stressed By High Nitrates 9/19.5/05 I had 2 parrots and a pleco in a 30 gal. tall tank. They were all about 5 inches long. Unfortunately, I let the nitrates get too high! The parrots started hovering around the bio-wheel filter like they couldn't breath and then sunk to the bottom of the tank. I started with an aggressive water change of about 40% to reduce the nitrates and the gravel was cleaned and filter changed. Nitrites were non-existent, PH was good. The only problem seemed to be the nitrates. The next day 1 of the parrots was dead and the nitrates were sky high again! I did another water change and headed to my neighborhood aquarium and fish store. They specialize in fish and their tanks and fish always look clean and healthy. Their answer was the nitrates removed the oxygen from the water. They recommend not adding any meds for ich or internal bacterial infection although parrots are prone to infection with bad water quality, because this too will remove oxygen from the water. They recommend adding an aerator powerhead to add oxygen and also aquarium salt to help with the stress. Since then I have continued testing nitrates and making water changes and the tank seems to be stabilizing to 10 to 20 ppm in nitrates, but the parrot is still not eating, spends most of it's time on the bottom of the tank seeming to gasp for air, or perhaps just too weak to swim. It also seems to be showing slight signs of ich. The pleco doesn't seem to have been effected by any of this. The tank is about 82 degrees (normal for this tank). It's been about seven days since this all started and about 6 water changes later. Will the parrot recover? Could there be anything else wrong? Have I done the right things, or can anything else be done? When should I treat with meds for ich or bacterial infections, if at all? Thank you, Angela < The 82 F will take care of the ich. You parrots have been stressed by the high nitrates and probably have an internal bacterial infection. Keep the nitrates down and treat with Metronidazole for internal bacterial problems.-Chuck> Hole in Severum hello please bear with me as I ask this question as I am new to this ok I have a 55 gallon tank with a Severum in it that looks like an Oscar I have a smaller version of him as well and two cat fish ones a shark like and the other looks black velvet and one jaguar cichlid now they have been awesome since January recently like oh maybe month or 6 weeks ago I added the jaguar now my problem my bigger Severum has these little holes that look like pinholes behind his right eye and on the left eye tonight I noticed a larger hole behind it the one behind the left eye is probably 7 mm in diameter and the ones behind the right eye are problem 1-2 mm and there's like 5-6 of them in a row like someone poked him with a safety pin now he's my baby and I'm new to the whole fish tank thing (I'm 34) love the aquarium its my little place to watch another world and so far so good till this can you please advise me on what this may be the only thing new to my tank in the past 6-8 months are 2 things one the new jaguar who is maybe 3 inches and my BioWheel has kind of stopped spinning but I mess with it so it runs probably 12 of the 24 hours a day still filters water it just the wheel that doesn't turn I feed the fish the normal medium sized pellet food and also treat them to frozen brine shrimp 3-6 times a week and also add feeder fish regularly and they eat em up so please help and I hope I gave enough info look forward to your response soon before anything goes awry thanks Dan <Do a 30% water change and clean the filter. Take it all apart and rinse everything off very thoroughly and reassemble it. It should be working fine with the wheel continuously turning. Vacuum the gravel when you do your water change to remove all the stuff that has accumulated there. The hole-in-the head disease your fish has does not have a specific cure. There are many medications that say they cure it but none so far have been found to be guaranteed. This condition is associated with poor water quality or a vitamin deficiency. Regular weekly maintenance and a varied diet should help. Try some washed earthworms instead of the feeder goldfish.-Chuck> Dan Gies Cichlid rubbing several of my cichlids are rubbing against things what should I do? <Do a 30 % water change and service the filter. When you change the water try and vacuum the gravel to remove the crud that has accumulated there. Check the nitrates too. Add a teaspoon of rock salt per 10 gallons of water to aid the fishes to create a protective slime on their skin.-Chuck> Blood Parrot Fish I have three blood
parrots that are about 10 years old so they are fairly good
size. Last week they started lying on the bottom of
the tank. If I feed them or knock on the glass they
swim and seem OK. On of the fish has a dark underside,
like something is dark and fairly good size under the
skin. I enjoy these fish and don't want to loose
them but haven't a clue as to what to do. I had the water
checked and it is good, no problem. I have started
raising the temp (I don't know what it was), it is hovering
around 76. Do you have any suggestions??? < Try raising the
water temp to 80 degrees and change the diet. Add some live
washed earthworms every once in awhile. If that doesn't get
them going then I would treat with Metronidazole and assume that
they have an internal bacterial infection. Ten years is a very
long time and you are to be congratulated for keeping them going
this long.-Chuck> Linda Bernard My Ocellaris Hello WWM, I have a 72 Imp. Gal. tank. its running for over 2 weeks now and I've originally purchased 2 ocellaris the smaller one died because of stress so I bought more ocellaris the three were in harmony for a few days when I noticed one had his mouth wide open and looks like he's in a lot of trouble. He wouldn't eat and days later he died. Now a day after an ocellaris died another ocellaris showing the same symptom-open mouth!- now he's not eating.. it's almost a write off :( when my fishes often show signs of stress they die. No ammonia is present, low nitrite and nitrates all other fishes seem to do just fine. I've lost so many fishes over the couple of weeks (mainly due to the ammonia spike) that I'm thinking of giving up the hobby! Just because i feel like I'm a bad caretaker! But all i do is worry about them. I'll send a picture < Cichla ocellaris (peacock bass) are South American Cichlids that are actually quite sensitive to water conditions. Just by looking at them you think they would be bullet proof and easy to care for. Actually they are one of the most difficult cichlids to keep. They require soft acidic water similar to discus! Water temp should be around 80 F and a pH of 7 or lower. They almost always require live food and extremely clean water with no ammonia or nitrites and a nitrate level no higher than 25 ppm with 15 ppm and lower even better. These are pretty tough requirements for a fish that gets close to 2 feet long. Try and find an easier fish at first and work up to a peacock bass later after you have become more experienced.-Chuck> Congo and a disease I have a 29 gal good
water quality, 4 fish in a tank one being a cichlid
(Conga) it recently grew a large "cyst" or
bump in it's belly. It's growing rapidly on
one side. This is day 3 and intense research has
produced no known cause or treatment. At first I
thought it'd eaten rocks but the Conga has not eaten in a few
days now and the tumor continues to grow. Can you
help? Also we noticed he has holes in his head but did not eat
any live fish lately(1yr) (as I was told this was the
cause of such an occurrence) Please respond
A.S.A.P. we are desperate for information and local
pet shops and vets are no help thus far. V. Michels, Florida <
Your white convict is commonly referred to in the aquarium trade
as a White Congo. The hole in the head disease and swollen belly
indicate that the water quality may not be as good as you think.
Do a 30% water change, service the filter and treat with
Metronidazole. Follow the directions on the package. When the
swelling goes down, after the internal bacteria have been killed,
and he begins to eat again try feeding some washed chopped
earthworms or brine shrimp.-Chuck> Cichlid disease, environmental Dear crew, I have only been into fish for about 6 months. I have fresh water fish such as Electric Blue cichlids, Electric Yellows, Ghost Knife, Livingstoni, Venustus, two 20cm Oscars, and a colony of 20 fuscus (which I have been successful in breeding!) I have 4, 4ftx2x2ft tanks, and 12, 3x1x2ft tanks as a breeding bank. I've learnt about temp, regular water changes and Ph testing but unsure what else I need to check, (and how?) Also I have noticed a cotton-wool type of growth in a filter. I use internal foam filter/aerator.) And now on a rock in another tank. Please help if you can!! <Check for nitrates. This will let you know when and how much water to change. The cottony grow may be from fungus attacking uneaten food like pellets. Feed only enough so all the food is gone after a couple of minutes.-Chuck> Open mouthed
Oscars Hi, I have been looking for information on what could
be wrong with my Oscars. I have searched all your postings and
while I did find one that related to open mouthed Oscars, it did
not give me much information. I have a black Oscar and a white
one. The black one's mouth has been opened continuously for
about 6 weeks now. The white one for about a month. They are
hungry and try to eat but cannot close their mouths to keep the
food in. I have done a couple of 25% water changes in the past 2
weeks but no change in the fish. I have never tested the water as
I do not know how but am looking to learn. I must admit that I
have not changed filters and water at optimum rates in the past.
Any ideas? < If they are gasping for air then you probably
have some waste build up that needs to be addressed. Change the
filter and do a 30% water change every other day for a week. Next
week vacuum the gravel to get rid of all the junk accumulating in
the sand. Your water should be in pretty good shape by now. If no
improvement is seen then there may be an obstruction in their
throats. Catch one of the fish and look down the throat with a
flashlight and see if there is any visual signs of problems. If
not then their mouths may have been damaged from trying to eat
materials that are too hard to chew, then try and pre-moisten the
food to soften it up and see if that helps.-Chuck>
Thanks,
Brad
Jack Dempsey Hello I have a Jack Dempsey's that is
very ill. I think he has pop-eye. His eyes
are bulging but he is also very bloated. I was gone
for several days and my grandson fed him frozen red worms but I
really don't think that is the problem. I moved
the tank out of bedroom into the living room. I
drained water level down and then refilled ...I took a female
smaller Dempsey out because the larger one was so
aggressive. He had a vase that he stayed in but now he
won't enter into it. He has labored breathing and mouth is
open. I changed air filters around when setting the
other tanks when I returned the air stone was not working
properly but filter was running. Everything I have
read so far says to use antibiotic such as penicillin where do I
get this? I have applied Melafix twice...1 teaspoon
each time. this is a ten gal. tank. I put
the female back in do to air problem in 2nd tank. there is also a
large catfish in the tank and he is fine < Your fish have been
suffering from poor water quality. Catfish in general are more
tolerant that some others. Overfeeding has caused the waste to
build up faster than the filter could handle it and it has made
your jack Dempsey sick. Change 30% of the water, vacuum the
gravel, and service the filter. Treat the tank with Metronidazole
and follow the directions on the package. You should see some
results one way or another in a few days.-Chuck> Open for any
suggestions thanks Coletha Sick cichlids Hello, I have two cichlids...one a tiger and the other one I am not sure of the type. They both have large areas with a white, fuzzy substance in the center. The areas are start between the eyes and continue up the head to almost the top fin. The fish appear to be lethargic and often lay on the bottom of the tank floor. There are no other fish in the tank with them, or any other species. Any ideas on what we can do to make them feel and get better? I hope you can help. Thank you, LB < Do a 30 % water change and service the filters. Vacuum the gravel as you do your water change. Treat with Furanace. This will kill the fungus (White cottony stuff on the head), and treat any bacteria that may be attacking the areas too. -Chuck> Sick fish and cloudy water Hello All, <Hi. Steve Allen tonight.> I have to say I love your guys' website. A lot of useful information. I've gotten a lot of help previously when I had an ich outbreak that wiped out half of my tank. <Glad the site was helpful. It has certainly helped me.> Which is the reason for me writing this to ensure I do treat them in time and correctly and to find out some more info. All 5 of my blood parrots have died but my cichlids are still alive!!!! They were Jellybean parrots which I found out later that they were all injected/dyed <A horrible, barbaric practice indeed> which made them susceptible to disease, but we won't get into that. They've been replaced by more cichlids and catfish. With that said, I think I have too much information stored in my brain in a short period of time and now I'm somewhat lost in which direction to go. Let me tell you what I have before I get started. I currently have a 90 gallon freshwater tank, nothing but fake plants, gravel and some driftwood. Inhabitants are no more than 2 inches <Fish grow you know.> big except for the catfish. I have 1 of each species/genus: Electric Yellow, Cobalt Blue, Kenyi, Auratus, Red Zebra, Bumble Bee, Snow White Socolofi, I think it's a Labidochromis Textilis, can't really find much info on that species though since it's not as popular, Albino Fairy Cichlid, and Daffodil. <I'll be shocked if you can get this many (10!) cichlids to grow and thrive and get along in a tank of this size. You have too many.> I recently purchased 2 Synodontis upside down catfish about 2-3 inches big. A common Pleco about 5 inches and a chocolate Pleco about 3 inches. (I think it's a chocolate/rusty Pleco, it has the closest resemblance to what I can find on the web) I had quarantined all 4 of them for about a week <1/4 of the time recommended.> and acclimated them slowly into the main tank. They disappeared for several days. They've been in the main tank for about a week now. Didn't realize that they were nocturnal. <I often didn't see my Synodontis for weeks at a time.> I've had them for about 2 weeks. Up until a few days ago, I started seeing them chase the cichlids out of the caves they were hiding in. I was starting to get worried that they were dead or something. I did have some algae growing on the wood, the fake sword plant and along the sides of the tank, but now they're spotless!! So I assume they're eating, not only that, they're poop is soo long so they are definitely eating something. Ammonia 0.25 ppm (probably due to overfeeding or from adding the catfish) <And having too many messy fish in your tank.> I did cut down feeding to half now and will continue to do so until zero, maybe even stop feeding them if anything. Nitrite 0 Nitrate 40 ppm Is this level okay or should it be lower? <I'd try to keep it under 20 with a good regimen of frequent water changes.> What is considered to be a safe level of nitrate? What is enough to keep algae growing? <Keep at 20 or less.> pH is at 7.6 Water temp is at 75-78 I've been doing weekly water changes since about 4 months ago I tore down the main tank due to all the parrots dying. At the time I had 5 cichlids left which I ended up using to get the tank to start cycling again. After about a month, I purchased bumble bee, snow white and the Textilis cichlid and added them to the tank. (I know I shouldn't have done that because I didn't know at the time that the tank hasn't fully cycled yet PLUS me had no test kits either...I'm so bad...) A week later I bought the 2 fairy cichlids and added them too. This is when I started doing my research on the Nitrogen cycle and then I went out and bought test kits. About 6 weeks went by and test readings dropped to zero and Nitrate was at 20 ppm that's when I started adding the quarantined catfish. I resisted the temptation of adding more fish. yay!!! <Yes, you already have too many.> I've been changing about 30% of the water weekly <good>, vacuuming the gravel <good>, adding Amquel <bad>, Stress Zyme <not very useful> and Stress Coat <why?>. Last time I changed the water was on Monday 1/26/04, 2 days after the catfish were added. I WAS using aquarium salt when ammonia and nitrite levels were peaking to aid the cichlids in breathing. <not really much help> I knew that this were to help during my research and the cichlids were all at the surface gasping for air so I added extra aeration too. <a better choice> But after getting the catfish I wasn't too sure if they were sensitive to salt so I didn't add any when doing the last water change. Up until last night I noticed that my chocolate Pleco had one white spot on his tail. I checked again today and it wasn't there. Without panicking, I knew it was ich but the source of it was a mystery to me. <One spot may not be ich, but wise to be cautious.> I'll be trying to catch Mr. Pleco tonight and move him to a separate hospital tank which is housing a baby black Dalmatian molly (Nemo) about 1cm, the ONLY survivor out of 15-20 fry and the mommy died the day after. <What are you going to do with the Molly?> All the other fry were probably eaten by the bigger mollies or from the red worms hanging from the mommy's butt. Eww I know. Sad to say I tried to save her but I couldn't. I ended up inheriting her when all of my boyfriend's family's fish had died except a few mollies and gouramis. That's a whole different story, won't get into that. Anyway the cichlids are displaying A LOT of scratching which is starting to worry me. <I'd worry too. Could be ich or perhaps irritation from high nitrate.> Bumblebee is scratching itself against anything non-stop and it's not looking too pretty. And the Lab Textilis is swimming in a funny circular motion. A few of them also hang out by the heater and water current. And they're colors have been changing as well. The chocolate Pleco was the only one who had any ich visible on his body but all other fish seem to be displaying infection as well but no spots. Should I treat the whole tank since they all seem to be showing signs of distress or should I just remove my chocolate Pleco into a hospital tank and treat him there for ich? <Start with the Pleco and getting the nitrates way down with a big water change. Stop using Amquel. It is only a stopgap measure.> I know if I treat the whole tank, the meds might destroy most if not all of my good bacteria but since I've been doing weekly water changes and is in that MODE, <more like DAILY if you kill your biofilter.> I wouldn't mind to continue for a few more weeks...just a few weeks. <Do it forever.> BTW, I haven't changed the filter in the water pump yet, but will do so soon. It's been about 2 months since we cleaned it. <Could be pumping out a lot of nitrate.> What about the catfish, are they sensitive to medications or salt? <Salt is not helpful in with this problem. I suggest you read through the FW Ich FAQs for info on correct treatment.> They seem to be fine, no scratching or spots. Can high levels of ammonia cause ich outbreaks? <Can weaken fish immunity> Right now it's at .25ppm What about cloudy water? <Bacterial bloom. If green, then algae.>After I did the water change, my tank got cloudy, it was cloudy even before the catfish were added....I haven't used activated carbon before but I did purchase a box of AmmoChips. Would this help? <Will absorb ammonia.> In case the cause is from the ammonia. I know it might help with my cloudy water situation. Can ich occur when other fish are picking/nipping at the new inhabitants? <Yes, or perhaps they already had it.> I'm asking this because I've been seeing Bumble bee nip my Pleco's fins which are raggedy and torn right now. Will Maracyn used to treat fin and tail rot help? <Antibiotics will help with fin rot.> The catfish are good "fighters" so none of the cichlids are bothering them and the common Pleco is the biggest fish and I don't think they bother him either. I do have Rid-Ich from my previous experience, which didn't go too well because by the time I found an answer, it was too late to save any parrots. <Check the FW Ich FAQs for the best options.> But the cichlids still lived through it!!! Poor fish, they've been through a lot in the last few months...the good thing is that they're growing pretty rapidly. <And soon will not fit in your tank.> I apologize for slapping you guys with a rather long email and it's been months since I've had an ich outbreak. I have somewhat of a clue of what needs to be done but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you!!! Sandy <My main advice is to stay away from the fish store. Don't buy any more fish until you have another or a bigger tank. You are going to need one just for the fish you already have. Do you have some good aquarium books to read? Hope this helps.> Twitching Cichlids - 7/31/03 I have a 29G African Cichlid tank that has been running for a couple of years. <Very well.> The tank currently has 5 Cichlids (It had 6 until last night). <Sorry to hear, my friend> Two are approximately 2.5" long and the other three are just over 1" (they are fairly new). All of the sudden all of the fish have developed an uncontrollable twitch of the whole body, not just the head or fins. <Whoa. When you say uncontrollable should I take that to mean constantly? Do they scrape against rocks or anything else (heater maybe?)> Ammonia and PH are correct, but the Nitrate level appears to be high. <Water changes my friend. Do it ASAP! Condition your water and make sure PH and temp are exactly the same. We don't want to stress the fish any more than we have too. I keep a bucket of water aerating and temp'ed constantly for my cichlid water changes. You should look into what is causing the nitrates to climb. Change your filter media and rinse the other filter medias that are not being changed out in some tank water. If you have substrate it might be time to start changing it out a bit at a time. The only thing is be sure to keep your water changes as consistent as possible. 10-15 percent of the water.> There are also two live plants in the tank. I don't know if the Nitrate could be causing this, but I also don't know what else to look at. <Possible. Nitrate is not an obligate killer but could cause stress over time and exposure. Not sure what is causing the twitching. Could be parasitic. If there are no other outward signs of distress or parasites, then I would not treat them if you don't have to. -Paul> Please help! Thank You, Shad Steward |
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