# Blue Acara possibly sick



## mobby_6kl (May 9, 2014)

Hi folks. I inherited a 250l/66g mostly-cichlid tank recently when a coworker moved to another country. I mostly kept things the way they were and everything was ok, but lately the adult(?) blue acara's been looking off.

Basically, he spends way too much time sitting at the bottom of the tank, so if I randomly come by the aquarium, there's a very good chance he'll be chilling in the corner somewhere. Maybe there's a bit more stiffness in the movement and more effort in maintaining level, but that's hard to say for sure since this wasn't an instant change.









Yep, that's a convict in the background there, but I haven't seen any fights or aggression between them, and no signs of injuries, either. If I approach the tank or some food falls in (I feed them cichlid pellets, algea flakes and the occasional worms), he'll be swimming around with everyone as normal. Speaking of everyone, all other fish are doing fine.

Any ideas what might be wrong? I have an empty quarantine tank but didn't want to move him unnecessarily before I knew what to do. Thanks!


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## wolfemitch (Jan 5, 2014)

From what I see in the picture he looks beat up...tear in the dorsal fin, pectoral fin and it looks like he is missing quite a bit of scales on top and sides. I would chalk this one up to getting heavily bullied. If you acquired him like this and haven't seen any further damage since then or seen any regrowth I would think about getting the quarantine tank set up, cycled and also read up on API Stress Coat to aid in the regrowth or whatever you are used to. Once he is better, read up on reintroducing him to the tank in a few weeks.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

I agree with wolf. Acara are a calmer/timid species in comparison to other CA and SA cichlids.

What other species do you have in this tank? Dimensions?

Read this thread- http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?nomobile=1&f=23&t=29339


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## mobby_6kl (May 9, 2014)

Thanks for the suggestions. Here's some more information: there's this Blue Acara and a couple of younger ones, the mentioned convicts, clown loaches, tiger barbs and a Pleco of some kind. WDH are 130/40/60cm or 52/16/24".

NO3 25 mg/l
NO2 0
GH ~7
KH 4
pH 6.5
Cl2 0
Ammonia's also 0.
A water change is due soon so that should take care of NO3 and other than that I think only the KH and pH are on the low side, but it's probably been that way since the beginning. Would adding the soda/salt make sense at this point?

Back to the Acara, I think the fin damage was there as long as I can remember. Not sure he's missing some scales, that might be due to the angle of lights and camera (no off-camera flash) but here are a couple extra photos where they seem to be in place...
http://i.imgur.com/8QdDjnh.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ll7QcPa.jpg

Convicts aren't the friendliest bunch (they sometimes bite me when I try to clean up their poop) but as I said I haven't seen them be aggressive towards the Acara. Doesn't mean a fight didn't happen though at some point. So in any case I'll get the hospital tank set up and ready, can I just use water from the main one to start it? Also it doesn't seem like API Stress Coat is available locally, are there any good alternatives for it?


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Transferring water over will not help with cycling. You'll need an extra filter with some of your established media.

I wouldn't worry about the kH and gH, but keep testing every few days to ensure that they're consistent.

The fish certainly looks beat up to me. It's always looked like this? Just recently sitting on the bottom?


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## mobby_6kl (May 9, 2014)

Yeah I think that's more or less what he looked like since I got him, certainly seems like the fin damage was aways there but maybe I should just do regular individual photoshoots for future reference  In any case I'm not really doubting that me might be getting bullied, that's certainly possible with a bunch of convicts.

I set up the hospital tank (a bit too small perhaps at ~6g but will have to do temporarily) with some seed filter material and have been running it empty for a couple of days. I'll just need to pick up some ammonia to test if it can be considered cycled and then in he goes. Any particular treatments I should try?


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

I would just move the fish now. Some seeded media should be plenty for one fish. When medicating you're often doing daily water changes so you can use a product like Seachem Prime to bind up any ammonia that may be too much for the filter. If you're testing the hospital tank water and see anything over .25 ppm just add some more established media.

I think people use Melafix for damaged fish. I have never used the product.


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