# Bumblebee signs of illness



## kmw2282 (Jan 10, 2013)

Hello!
I'll admit I use this site often to find information and advice but I've joined this site out today of concern for my Bumblebee cichlid. Let me start off by explaining my set up and water conditions.

- 55 gallon long, plenty of caves on either end with swimming space in center, no live plants
- Gravel substrate
- Emperor 400 filter
- Plenty of aeration from air stones 
- Running for close to 6 years
- 1 Male Bumblebee (Purchased at about 2" ~5 years ago, today ~6" and he has been this size for several years. He is and always has been very dominant and aggressive. Constant digger. Never shown signs of stress or disease, until now)
- 1 (presumably female) Unknown Hybrid Peacock - pale light blue and yellow (Purchased at about 2" ~5 years ago, today ~4-5". Very shy. Hides in cave much of the time from Bumblebee but does come out for food and some curious peaking. I do feel bad that she must hide all the time but she seems healthy and this is not a new behavior.)
- 1 (unknown gender) Common Pleco - (Purchased small ~5 years ago, today ~4-5" and has not gotten any larger in the past several years. Super active, will fight back again the Bumblebee. Huge eater/waste producer, I stopped feeding him algae pellets many years ago because he became more interested in the cichlid food and I did not want the additional waste.)
- When I first set up my tank I did have several other cichlids, but over the years I did lose 3 to bloat. No new additions since then and no loses or signs of disease/stress in the last 2+ years.

Regular Maintenance:
Monthly filter maintenance. New inserts, unclogging ect.. Have not touched biowheels since set up a little over a year ago.
1-2 times a week gravel vacuum with Eheim gravel vac (love this tool)
10 gallon water change, with partial gravel vac with siphon every 1-2 weeks, local tap water treated with either API tap water conditioner, stress+ or the tetra water conditioner, depending on stock at store.
- Regular supplements- african cichlid additive, stress coat supplement

Water parameters as of last night:
78 degrees 
0 Ammonia 
0 Nitrite
20 ppm (mg/L) Nitrate (?)
300 ppm (mg/L) Hardness
180 ppm (mg/L) Alkalinity
7.0 pH (I know this is on the low end, but it has been steady for quite a while with no problems)

Now on to my Bumblebee. The symptoms started out about a few weeks ago. He was still very active, normal looking and interested in food, but he began spitting a lot of it out. I typically alternate between Aqueon pellets and flakes. This continued for a few days so, figured it was boredom so switched foods with no change in the spitting habit. After about a week I began treating the tank with aquarium salt and daily 5 gallon water changes and gravel vacuuming for the next week with no change except he stopped eating altogether, but he still acted interested in food. During this time, no change in behavior or appearance other than not eating and he stopped digging/moving rocks. Other tank mates have shown no sign of stress or disease at all. This week he is still not eating, though still showing some interest in food and started again taking it in and spitting out, and while he is still swimming around the tank his activity level is down. I have also started to notice a few white lumps on his body and fins. Some minimal flashing but not often that I see and not very hard. He has not lost any color, but has not shown all black dominant color he turns when chasing tank mates or eating. Minimal fin clamping on occasion. I removed the carbon and began a Lifeguard all-in-one treatment yesterday with a 40 gallon dosage. Made water slightly cloudy last night, but has cleared up as of this morning and his condition seems unchanged. I will be doing the second treatment this evening, but I would love to hear any thoughts or advice or what this ailment may be. I have not experienced any diseases aside from bloat, which this does not appear to be. Thank you in advance! I have provided a few pictures I just took but can add more if needed.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Does it look like ich?


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## kmw2282 (Jan 10, 2013)

Thanks for the reply. No it doesn't appear to be ich. I haven't personally dealt with it, but seen it in other tanks and this appears to be different. Lumps/bumps are larger and more sporadic than ich, not completely white, and he is the only one affected. I'm leaning towards flukes but again, I don't have any experience with it which is why I chose the all-in-one medication for treatment. Or could it just be old age?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Ich starts as one bump and maybe he is just the first affected? IDK about coloration or size as I have not personally dealt with it either. Old fish don't get bumps...they just fade and become less active. Maybe someone else will chime in.


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## kmw2282 (Jan 10, 2013)

He has been showing signs of illness for close to a month. Would it take ich this long to start showing? Also, how would ich be introduced without new additions to the tank?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I'm not saying it is ich...IDK...but to answer your questions...first the fish is stressed (showing signs of illness) and then an opportunistic illness like ich shows up. No need to get it from another fish. We always look for ich when a tank has accidentally gotten cold after things are gradually warmed up.


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