# why are my peacock cichlids and catfish twitching???



## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

so yesterday i notcied that my peacocks and haps and aslo my syndontis petricola catfish are like twitching in the water. i noticed it and quick did a water change. it is a 75 gallon and i changed about 25-30 gallons and replaced it with my tap water(with water coinditioner in it). then i after i did my water change they were all twitching more than they were before the water change. so i had a thought that it might be my tap water. but i changed my other 2 fish tanks with the same water and nothing happened. eveything was normal. so it leaves me wondering what is going on with my cichlids. it has handy sand in the tank as a substrate. 
a few thoughts of what it could be from and i need you to tell me if it could be a possibility or not.
- air pockets trapped in the sand being released
- the poop balls i added maybe leaking something??
or is it just my tap water? maybe the PH isnt high enough?
or could it be another reason and how do i treat it.
*** never had this happen before so im clueless to whats going on.
they are eating when i feed them.
thank you!


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## Derpfish (Jul 26, 2012)

temperature ok?


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## Doyoulikefishsticks (Jan 10, 2013)

I've had the same experience with a peacock in my tank (with mostly African cichlids) he would swim really fast and dart around all over the place, then when he stopped moving around he would just freak out and twitch in place. Like going into a seizure. It kind of scared me as well.

Turns out, when I got my water hardness kit in the mail my KH was very low for the Africans. Probably at like, 3 drops. I gradually increased it day by day up to about 7 drops. My peacock no longer twitches after I raised the KH.

So, obvious question is this: What are all your water parameters?


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## Yael (Nov 25, 2012)

what are poop balls?


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

Pool balls* sorry haha


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

yes temperature is fine! temp is 79-80


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## Yael (Nov 25, 2012)

ok so what are pool balls and what do they do in an aquarium?


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## metricliman (Sep 3, 2012)

Do you mean pool balls as in the game billiards?


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

Yes billiard pool balls. I went to Petco to try and find a testing kit to test kh but they didn't have anything for it


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

what should the kh be? mine is between 80 and 120. my nitrite is 0 nitrate is 0-20 ph is between 7.0-7.5(to low?) amd gh is about 180


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

turns out the test kit i got did test kh and gh so scratch what i said before


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

ph is actualy 8.0


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## metricliman (Sep 3, 2012)

jsmeesterr said:


> Yes billiard pool balls. I went to Petco to try and find a testing kit to test kh but they didn't have anything for it


Why did you put those in your tank?


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## Yael (Nov 25, 2012)

yeah, that'd be my question too - I'd be terrified if I were your fish - something huge over my head - white - I'd think it was a horrid predator


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

i put the pool balls in as decoration. they float to the bottom so im not sure what is the white thing at the surface. i went to petsmart today to get my water tested and they said everything was normal. i also brought my sink tap water and my tub water(i use both when making water changes). im even more confused. all petsmart told me to get was some stress coat and i already added that. my fish were expensive let alone they are my pride and joy, i do not want anything to happen to them! i live in the city and the petsmart guy said one thing it could be is that the city adds chemicals or something every once a year and that could be it....? but i have no idea.


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

i just read a bit of info on flukes.. a gill parasite or something. could this be it? how do i get rid of it? i forgot to mention that i recently bought 5 new fish( 2 synodontis petricola, 1 synodontis flavitaeniatus, 1 placidochromis milomo, 1 copadichromis borleyi(kadango) and 1 aulonocara jacobfreibergi) and added them about 2 weeks ago without quarantine( have never needed to quarentine so i didnt even think of it, and i also trusted the place i got them from) and maybe those fish carried something into my tank?


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## jas1313 (Dec 3, 2012)

Yael said:


> what are poop balls?


Sorry that's just funny. If you're concerned about tap water use prime. I have good results and from what I hear its one of the best water treatments.


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

lol so i just took a video of my fish acting crazy from my iphone. i know how to move the video from my phone to my computer, but i need to no how i can put the video of here so all of you can see what my fish are doing and help me!


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## DanniGirl (Jan 25, 2007)

Upload the video on youtube and past the link. Above where you type your message, click on the YOUTUBE button and paste the Video ID String between the Youtube tags. The Video ID String is the numbers and/or letters immediately following the v= part of the Youtube URL and ends before the & symbol.
Click on PREVIEW before submitting to double check that it works.


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)




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## Doyoulikefishsticks (Jan 10, 2013)

jsmeesterr said:


> i put the pool balls in as decoration. *they float to the bottom*


I think this might be your problem :lol:

Tub water? Like, a hot tub?

When you do water changes are you neutralizing the tap water? (Chlorine/ammonia and metals are in tap water)

I think some rocks could be bad to put in aquariums. You'll have to get info from somebody else about that though. I guess because if its soft rock it can leech minerals you may not necessarily want in your tank.

Also, you didn't post your ammonia levels. Knowing this can be very helpful as well. It needs to be at zero.


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## cbechdel (Jun 9, 2012)

to me the video looks more like territorial disputes and guarding.

perhaps adding the new fish is causing the fish to start to guard more. my fish twitch like that when they get invaders near....


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

It surely isn't territorial disputes. Some in the water is wrong and today I'm going to take out some decorations that could lead to leaking of chemicals. For example the pool balls. When I checked my ammonia is was indeed at 0


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

i have another theory.
a couple weeks ago when i swithced my tank from gravel to sand, i used a razor to scrap all the algae off of the glass and when i tried to look for it after i was all done, it was missing and i couldnt find it anywhere. so maybe it is somwhere in the sand rusting away? could this be what is leaking into my water causing my fish harm? if so i will take all the rocks out and dig my hands into the sand trying to look for it(without getting cut if its in there).


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## Derpfish (Jul 26, 2012)

A little rust isn't going to harm them. If you want to try and eliminate anything in the tank as the cause then you could put some of the fish in another tank or bucket (don't use water from the main tank) and see if they behave any differently.

Have you noticed any other signs of stress? heavy breathing, fin rot, etc...


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## Doyoulikefishsticks (Jan 10, 2013)

Is this actually happening to all the fish or just a few? Because in the video it looked like it was just that one fish. I'd probably go with Derps suggestion of isolation for that one, but ONLY (Correct me if I'm wrong experts) if you have a hospital tank set up and established. People say its not good to move a fish into non-cycled water. Meaning, straight tap water that has not become biologically established via the nitrification process. So, if you don't already have a hospital tank setup elsewhere, I wouldn't suggest moving him into a bucket of "tub water" or tap water.

BUT, you could test to see if its a *behavioral* problem by doing the opposite of what Derp suggests. Move him into a clean bucket filled with the aquarium water. :thumb:

And about that razor...I don't know. If I knew I left a razor in my fish tank I would try and find it immediately. But maybe it truly doesn't hurt? Not sure if iron oxide will hurt the fish. Maybe its stainless steel? :lol:


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## jas1313 (Dec 3, 2012)

To me it totally sounds water related. But u also tested and said all levels were good, right? So question for the experts cause I don't know - is there a test kit that tests for other things beside the regular. Like maybe metals etc,etc. I'm not sure what other elements could be in there or what's harmful.


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

as far as stress signs, i do not see any heavy breathing and or fin rot. my 2 synodontis petricola catfish do have a white patch on the body now which im unsure what that is. all of the fish in my tank are being affected by whatever is going on except my rainbow shark and albino rainbow shark. all of the affected fish are twitching there body and darting across the tank, they are also opening their mouth how fish do when they are trying to spit something out of it.

unfortunately i do not have my 30 gallon set up right now for a hospital tank. my mom told me that the razor was stainless steel so that probably isnt the problem. and i look throught the sand with my hand on the open spots.

would you guys advise me to do a big water change? im thinking like 30-40 gallons or would that be to much.

i know i just keep giving werid theories but i have another one. 
i have this eheim 2224 filter that worked and then didnt work and it hasnt been running for a few months. and yesterday i went to clean it and see if i could get it to work and the inside was so nasty and smelly that i gauged while cleaning it. lol and that got me thinking, maybe some of that water got into the tank?
i dont know it sounds willy but maybe


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

A water change can never hurt...50% is not too much. I don't see anything really wrong with the fish in the video. If the eheim was spitting toxins into the tank, you would be able to measure ammonia or nitrite or nitrate. After you cleaned it...it did not smell any more right?


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

the filter did not smell after i cleaned it. and the guy at petsmart and my own testings did say everything was good. if you rewatch the video i posted and how my german red was acting right in the begining, that is how all my cichlids act. its like hey sit and then something itches them and thats when they spaz out. it has to be something like a paracite that got transfered from the new fish. if you were to recamend something to treat them with what would it be? something that kills all parasites since i am unsure on which one they could have.


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## Derpfish (Jul 26, 2012)

At this point, if you don't have another usable tank to move the fish to then I would start removing things from the suspect tank in order to rule them out as the source. The billiard balls would be a good place to start. 

There looks to be a lot of sand in this tank too. Could be gas pockets in there.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I would not recommend any medication until you are able to diagnose the problem. A wrong medication can cause more harm than good. Keep observing. No white spots? Were they better after you did the water change?


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## alexg1492 (Jan 22, 2013)

No offense to their employees, but be weary of Persmart or Petco's advice on somewhat complicated problems like this. They have very limited training and many times, you'll get someone that sells cat food pulling. They also have very limited supplies when it comes to water testing / medication / chems. If you have a specialty store within close proximity, I would take their advice on these issues.

I've only seen these symptoms in newly cycled tanks and it sounds like it's an established system.


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

Indeed is established aquarium. I think I'm going to go into a local self owned store and see what they think is going on. I did about a 50% water change and i didn't see much of a change. I'm going to have to watch them some more and see if their conditions have improved. They are eating really good. I think things are going up. They still have good color and eat grey like I said, but they still do twitch like they use to. And I only put 2 50 lb bags of handy sand in, it looks like there is so much becaus I just layed it over the gravel I had previously had in there after I vacuumed the gravel


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