# Health trouble with my Cichlid tank. Please help.



## adshaffer22 (Jan 15, 2015)

Hello,
This is the first time I have actually posted on here, but I spend a lot of time reading the posts and looking at the pictures. I have a 75 gallon tank stocked full with mainly Africans and a few Americans, 18 fish total. I have had several cichlid tanks over the past 15 years. This current tank is 2 years old, with some fish being added to it 2 months ago after a very healthy year and a half. I do weekly 40% water changes and thoroughly clean the gravel each time. I use 2 filters, a whisper 30-60 and an aquaclear 110 that get cleaned in tank water every other week. There is a large stack of rocks, as well as a few fake logs, and plenty of open space to swim. I have 2 large air stones on each end of my tank to provide plenty of aeration. I use stress coat and Epsom salt (to raise my gh) at each watching change. My city tap water comes out great besides the gh. I have my light on a timer for 10 hours per day. My parameters are, and always have been very close to: nitrate 0-20, nitrite 0, ammonia 0, gh 150, kh 220, ph 7.8, temp 78. My problems started about a month ago when I noticed a few of my fish scratching against the gravel. It started with just a few and progressed to about half of the tank over the next week. After researching, I decided to treat the tank for parasites. First, I ran a full coarse of prazipro to treat any possible external parasite, while feeding medicated flakes for any internal. I also did salt and heat (81) to help fight it. Over the next 7 days I saw very little to no improvement. IN fact, I saw more bad signs of illness. My giraffe cichlid started to show signs of fin rot and had an open wound on its body about the size of a pencil eraser. After the prazi treatment I did my normal water change, put the carbon back in my filters and gave the fish a few days in good water. More research led me to give Melafix a try in order to treat the tank for a possible mild bacterial infection. This was one week ago and I just finished up that today with a 50% water change. Over that period things seemed to only get worse. Flashing became more often and now nearly every fish in the tank was doing it, all while my female aurautus was holding eggs and still is. The giraffe did not improve, and I noticed a couple white spots form on the body of my oldest fish, an electric yellow. This is not ich, as I have had and treated this several times over the years. IN just a couple days, those white spots began turning into open sores (reddish, white in color). Slightly different from the Giraffe's open wound and fin rot, which are more of a blackish, red. IN the last two days I have noticed similar white spots on the body of my leader, a male kennyi, female acei, and possible a couple others showing very early signs of the white spots. Flashing is still occurring quite often, including my aurautus while holding. I do not think this has anything to do with the fish being bullied, as this tank is quite peaceful, even during breeding. Any advice from experienced cichlid keepers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Adam.


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## adshaffer22 (Jan 15, 2015)

I forgot to mention my feeding. I feed twice daily as much as they will eat in 30 seconds to one minute. They get a combination of flakes, small pellets, large pellets, algae discs, cucumbers, and an occasional treat of bloodworms/krill. The fish are still eating and behaving normally.


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

I would first like to mention that u sure never medicate and raise temp at same time. the meds decrease oxygen in water as does the higher temp. the two combined will further stress the already sick fish making it harder to fight off illness. Second i see your readings for tapwater but i do not see any indication if a water conditioner when adding new to remove chlorines, chloramines, etc... i would also suggest for future reference not just throwing various meds in the tank until u know exactly what u are treating for. u could do more harm than good. the meds that u have used prizbo(parasites), melafix(bacterial), but i do not see anything for fungal infections such as pimafix which is suggested to be used along with melafix.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Any chance you could post some pictures of the affected fish? 
What's the rest of your stocklist like? 
Would you say the sores are the effects of scratching against objects/substrate or do you think they're more likely appearing on their own?
My first inclination would be to suspect aggression since you mention auratus and kenyi which are arguably the two most aggressive mbuna species. If you haven't already, spend an hour watching the tank from a spot where they can't detect you, this way you can monitor for aggression while the fish behave normally and aren't expecting to be fed.


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## The Cichlid Guy (Oct 18, 2014)

API Stress Coat is a dechlorinator/mild antiseptic.

I see you mentioned rinsing your filter media weekly, and "putting the carbon back" into your filters after medicating. How often do you change your carbon? Did your problems begin shortly after adding new fish, or seemingly out of nowhere?

A temperature of 81 will not do much in the way of helping (or hurting) your fish, but combining medications with salt and heat can be dangerous.

It seems like you've done a little bit of everything, in terms of medicating, but you will likely need a more in-depth course of specific treatment once the problem is identified. If you can post pictures of some of the affected fish, it may be helpful in determining the illness. :thumb:


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## adshaffer22 (Jan 15, 2015)

sumthinfishy, i use api stresscoat to during every water change. And I did not just throw meds into my tank recklessly, i spent hours on here researching to find out what i should do and then took action. gtz, i have tried several times to get pics but i just cant get one that shows anything at all clearly, ill keep trying. There is some chasing in the tank, but no tail nipping or over-bullying of any kind. I watch my tank a lot, especially lately, and the scratching followed by the fin rot/white spots/sores came out of nowhere. They are still extremely active and have not shown any change in behavior/feeding. Cichlid guy, i alternate every other week cleaning my 2 hang on back filters to ensure i do not destroy my bio system. I change my carbon about every 2 months in each filter. I did a 50% water change this morning and got my salt number back to normal after treating with melafix. My stock list includes, Kennyi, arautus, acei, 2 elec. yellows, bumblebee, socolofi, maingano, cobalt, giraffe, milomo, blue dolphin, sunshine peacock, butterfly peacock, jewel, convict, bolivian ram, and a pleco. Thanks for the help, i just want these guys to get better.


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## adshaffer22 (Jan 15, 2015)




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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

another suggestion i made was using pimafix, which is for fungal infections. u used meds for parasites and bacterial infection, but nothing for fungal. the manufacturer of melafix suggests that pimafix be used in conjunction with the melafix. i cant tel much from pics, but from what i can see i would say it looks fungal (but hard to tell). do the white spits stay as they look now or do the start to look cottony?


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## adshaffer22 (Jan 15, 2015)

I went to the lfs today and purchased some pimafix, but have not treated yet until I gather more info and opinions. The white spots on the male kennyi look very similar to the spots that were on the electric yellow before they quickly turned into the sores in the picture. the spots seem to grow marginally every day. I never noticed spots on the giraffe, just the dark colored sore on his side and fin rot out of nowhere.


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

good luck. hopefully u can find a treatment that works. keep us posted.


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## adshaffer22 (Jan 15, 2015)

thanks for your input stf. After a full day of no meds and having the tank at normal operating conditions the fish are doing the same. The only sign of anything being wrong is the physical appearance (white spots, sores, and fin rot). The activity level/feeding is still normal. Any more suggestions on what I should do next? Thanks guys.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Apart from the lab pics, the marks on the rest of the fish look to me like the results of aggression. Regardless of what's causing the injuries, the lab injury looks like it may be infected. Personally, I view Pimafix/Melafix as more of a preventative and I wouldn't trust them in cases where an infection is already present. My go to recommendation for a broad based antibacterial treatment is to use both nitrofurazone (API Furan 2) and kanamycin (Seachem Kanaplex) as directed.
Which fish were introduced 2 months ago?


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## adshaffer22 (Jan 15, 2015)

the fish I added 2 months ago were both peacocks, small elec. yellow, maingano, aurautus, and bolivian ram. None of these fish have any sign at all of white spots or sores. The infected elec. yellow in the pics is my oldest fish, I would say he almost 4 years old.


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