# Cichlids turning black



## Brandrcm (Feb 25, 2008)

Is it common for cichlids to turn black when stressed out? I am currently treating for a parasitic infection and a couple of the fish are getting stressed out and I have noticed black, almost dust looking stains on their heads, lips, and body. Is this a sign of stress in cichlids?


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## ibr3ak (Jan 4, 2008)

What type of cichlids do you have?

Yellow labs in particular are known for their bearding/dirty looking face/body when stressed.


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## Brandrcm (Feb 25, 2008)

A yellow lab and a greshakei are showing the dirty look. I used Jungle Labs parasite clear and the overall aggression has gone up in the tank. They all seem a little stressed out, possibly due to the medication in the water. I'll keep a close eye on them and hopefully it'll clear up. I've heard of the dirty look, but never have seen it on any of my fish.


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

what kind of infection are you treating for?


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## Brandrcm (Feb 25, 2008)

They were flashing and scraping, I can't see any visible signs of a parasite at this time.


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

some flashing is normal - especially after a large water change or other circumstance where you change water parameters.

Many medications in really high doses will kill fish too. So yes, medications can cause extra stress. I guess I'm just cautioning you to be fairly sure an illness exists before treating with meds.

Have you changed anything in your tank recently?


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

what are you feeding?....also if u can take a couple pics of the fish that would help.


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## Brandrcm (Feb 25, 2008)

The flashing started just occasionally and progressed to very frequent. One yellow lab looked like he was scraping the color off his cheeks. I raised the temperature and added salt thinking it may be ich or a gill parasite but the flashing continued. 2 weeks prior to this I added some female greshakei and a few other fish to the tank. I bypassed quarantine due to my dominant greshakei killing one and beating up everyone else in the tank. The addition changed the attitude of the greshakei a great deal and the violent aggression is almost non existent.

A day prior to the flashing starting I did a 10% water change. I thought it could be ammonia or nitrite, but they both tested 0.

This morning the black on the greshakei is gone and it has reduced on the lab. I have not used jungle parasite clear before, but I was thinking about doing a water change and putting in new carbon filtration by the end of this week. I didn't see how long it was to stay active in the tank. The flashing has pretty much stopped at this point so I hope everything has cleared up if it was there. I didn't want to wait too much longer in about 2.5 weeks I will be leaving them for 12 days unattended.

I typically feed NLS and spirulina, I did start using medicated food though, which may have stressed them out as well?


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## Brandrcm (Feb 25, 2008)

I was home for lunch and noticed ich on three of the fish, I would have preferred to just salt and heat the tank but I hope this jungle parasite clear works as well. Any success stories?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I have always used the salt and heat for 3 weeks.


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