# Prized Cichlid May Be Sick !?!?!



## drummerguydw (Mar 28, 2008)

Ok, so I just started my mbuna tank, and I got it cycled and everything. Then after it was done with that, I decided to add some mbuna

current list

2 yellow labs
4 cobalt blues
4 red zebras
2 rusty cichlids
1 johanni
1 Metriaclima zebra

*** been testing the water and everything looks really good, I did a 40% water change when adding these new guys in. I am running a wet/dry sump doing about 650 gallons per hour in a 55 gallon tank. I use seachem malawi buffer and almquel+ for the dechlorinater. I am feeding hikari cichlid staple pellets with spirulina flakes 2 times a day, about as much as they can eat in 45 seconds per feeding.

When I brought home the big metriaclima mentioned, he looked very normal, nothing wrong, a little aggressive. But very healthy, its been about 4-5 days now and he looks kinda bloated now. He doesnt seem to want to eat nearly as much, and his agression has gone down a little. He is very active still, still shows he is the boss of the tank, and is swimming normally.

My question is, I personally think he might have bloat because he looks considerably fatter/declines eating, plus I saw some strands of white/clear feces in the tank today. Nobody else seems to think theres anything wrong, they think it may be on the verge of laying eggs to brood them (doubtful), or it just ate too much and is cutting back now.

What are your opinions, I have a hospital tank up and running now just in case I should take him out and start treating.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

It's impossible to say at this point.

You may be overfeeding them, so I would fast them for a couple of days, and add epsom salt to the tank at 1 cup per 100G - it serves as a laxative and may solve your problem.

This is going to remain a high stress tank with all those zebra variants, they are all going to see each other as competition, and it's not that large of a tank. You may have continued health problems because of the stress!

Kim


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## drummerguydw (Mar 28, 2008)

o ok, thanks, I have a feeling he might have been overeating a fair bit so that might help. *** been watching them several hours a day to really determine the stress level in the tank, and remarkably, *** seen very little agression, and everybody seems calm and comfortable all the time It is kinda hard to tell at this point though, because the only real sympton is he's kinda chubby looking, and he's always far away from the food when i feed them, so it might just be that he isnt seeing the food.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

If you fast them for a couple of days and he's not slimming down or starts to refuse food completely, post back. The epsom salt should also help, so don't forget that.

Should you see any white stringy feces accompanied by refusing food or reclusive behaviour, you might be dealing with bloat and would need to treat. But since he is still eating some, I wouldn't medicate a new tank unless I had no other choice.

This is a fairly new fish, so he's adjusting to your foods and feeding amounts. I'm always hesitant to offer new fish pellets, since you can pretty much bet on them being fed flake in the LFS. Dietary changes and overfeeding can cause the problems you are having now.

It's hard not to jump to conclusions, especially when we hear so much about bloat with these fish. The truth of the matter is that if we reduce the stressors in our tanks, we can almost completely eliminate problems like that, so it's always good to be aware of what is going on in your tank. You mentioned aggression in your first post, and this is a highly aggressive mix of fish.

Kim


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## drummerguydw (Mar 28, 2008)

thanks for the replies cich, I remember when I first had the fish in the tank there was a fair bit of aggression, but since I added some more to deter his attention the overall aggression has gone down considerably. I think I may have been overfeeding a bit, I switched over to hikari pellets and a lot of the fish eat them, but it doesnt seem to be very appealing to any of them, I think its more just the fact that they're hungry. I was feeding them 3 times, so that might have been the problem, he still acts very healthy minus the fact that he looks kinda fat. I noticed also, he/she looks like he is building a cave under one of the rocks in the tank, I kida figure thats just normal mbuna behavior but maybe that could mean something that I dont know about.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

No, no hidden agenda with the digging. Welcome to the world of mbuna! :lol:

They eat, they dig, they poop, they fight. Then they dig some more. They drive me crazy and I drive them crazy, leveling the sand back out so they can start all over again...

After you fast them for a couple of days, try cutting back to one feeding a day, no more than they can consume in 1 minute. For people who tend to overfeed (like my husband) that seems to work better for them, and the fish!

Kim


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## drummerguydw (Mar 28, 2008)

well it is midway through day 2 of fasting, I added the epsom salt as was suggested. The one cichlid mentioned seems to have gotten his full appetite back, I put my hand over the tank to see who comes up to beg for food, and he's right up up there now looking for food. He is very active, and acts normal now, but he still looks a little plump, not really bloaty plump, but overlly fat plump, and when we got him he looked totally normal.


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