# New to African Cichlid world and need help asap :)



## farzadkavari (Dec 11, 2018)

Greetings all!

I am an experienced fish keeper but new to African cichlid world! I have a 90 gallon tank with 20 baby Mbunas 2-3" max. The 90 gallon tank is well established and all are doing well, eating, swimming except for 1 electric ahili  He has not eat food for few days and just stays behind drift woods. No signs of bloat. I've attached a pic of it. My water parameters are good 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 30ppm Nitrate. The 1 not eating has not really been getting bullied from what I've seen but hard to tell as I dont stare at the tank all day.. I've done couple of water changes and he is still same, not eating... Not necessarily hiding either. Just floats in middle of tank and stays there most of the day. Please advise if I need medication? If so what kind?

Thanks in advance


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## morrismorris (Mar 21, 2017)

Any chance you can isolate the fish in another smaller tank?

If not, at least consider this for the future if something like this happens again. This way you can remove the sick fish from the others and attempt to remedy the issue.


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## farzadkavari (Dec 11, 2018)

Yes I can... BUT I would like to know what your solution is?


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## farzadkavari (Dec 11, 2018)

I would appreciate it if a useful comment or advised is made here. Pointing out the obvious like moving fish to smaller tank without a solution is pretty useless. I need to know what med to try it any? I heard Clout is good but dam why is it so expensive, almost $100?!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

morrismorris IS trying to help you, his comment is in fact a very useful comment. You do not want to just go dumping meds into a tank without knowing what you are supposed to be treating, or if there even is something to treat. The reason he's asking about moving to a smaller tank is so you can isolate him for a couple days and see if you can get him to start eating without the other fish around to grab the food or harass him. One of the worse things you can do to a fish is to start putting meds in the tank without knowing exactly what you are medicating for, or if it is even needed. Get a smaller tank and move him into it. Look him over closely in the smaller tank and see if there are any signs of any disease such as ich, cloudy eyes or anything visually noticeable. If there's no signs of any problem you can see then it may just be that the mbuna are out competing him for food. If he's isolated by himself then he should start eating again. After he does then let him eat for a week or so and try moving him back into the main tank.


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## farzadkavari (Dec 11, 2018)

Ok I will try that. Not sure what is going on as I have not seen anyone messing with him in the tank. He just looks uninterested in food and I forgot to mention this but he is BREATHING RAPIDLY. He is the only on breathing as such rate. Does this mean anything?


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## farzadkavari (Dec 11, 2018)

farzadkavari said:


> Greetings all!
> 
> I am an experienced fish keeper but new to African cichlid world! I have a 90 gallon tank with 20 baby Mbunas 2-3" max. The 90 gallon tank is well established and all are doing well, eating, swimming except for 1 electric ahili  He has not eat food for few days and just stays behind drift woods. No signs of bloat. I've attached a pic of it. My water parameters are good 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 30ppm Nitrate. The 1 not eating has not really been getting bullied from what I've seen but hard to tell as I dont stare at the tank all day.. I've done couple of water changes and he is still same, not eating... Not necessarily hiding either. ALSO THE FISH BREATHS HEAVILY AND RAPIDLY. Just floats in middle of tank and stays there most of the day. Please advise if I need medication? If so what kind?
> 
> Thanks in advance


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

farzadkavari said:


> Ok I will try that. Not sure what is going on as I have not seen anyone messing with him in the tank. He just looks uninterested in food and I forgot to mention this but he is BREATHING RAPIDLY. He is the only on breathing as such rate. Does this mean anything?


It's hard to say without seeing them in person. Rapid breathing is normally a sign of either an issue in water quality, a parasite in the gills, or stress from other fish. Since your parameters are 0,0,30 then that shouldn't be the issue. Once you get him in a isolation tank then you'll know pretty quickly which of the two remaining issues it is. If its harassment from the other fish then he'll calm down and breath/eat normal pretty quickly. If he's still breathing hard and not eating after about half a day in the isolation tank then it's most likely some sort of parasite that you will have to treat.


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## owolelmi (Dec 4, 2018)

So the tank is 1 electric ahili and 20 Mbuna?


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## farzadkavari (Dec 11, 2018)

NO there is another one also but he is doing fine. I wonder if he is bullying this one... BTW I thought Ahilis are type of Mbuna but I just read that it is a Haps.. but I have few other haps in there also, They all doing well but this guy...


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Yep they are haps, some people call them Ahli's but also known as Fryeri. They are a nice fish I have had a number of them myself. Usually more on the peaceful side and even though they "can" get to 8" range I have personally never had one get over 6"-6.5" myself. If you have two males you might be getting a bit of aggression from the other one. If so I don't think it's real bad because his fins still look good from what I can see in the pics. How big is the other one, same size or bigger?


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## farzadkavari (Dec 11, 2018)

Steve C said:


> Yep they are haps, some people call them Ahli's but also known as Fryeri. They are a nice fish I have had a number of them myself. Usually more on the peaceful side and even though they "can" get to 8" range I have personally never had one get over 6"-6.5" myself. If you have two males you might be getting a bit of aggression from the other one. If so I don't think it's real bad because his fins still look good from what I can see in the pics. How big is the other one, same size or bigger?


The other one is about same size, right about 2 inches just a lil thicker. Yes he has messed with him a lil bit in the past. I would not be suprised if both are males and one is bullying the other one. Like I said my other fish are doing really great so active and eating a lot but this guy. I was told at pet store that Ahili's tend to be a bit more shy than others but how many days would he live without food?? He is getting skinny a bit..


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## owolelmi (Dec 4, 2018)

When you get some time, I'd love to hear a full list and # of each fish you have. Balancing Mbuna aggression is a delicate science. Although you have an immediate problem with this guy not eating, I'm more concerned with the possible problems down the line. I hope he eats tonight or tomorrow though.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

> The other one is about same size, right about 2 inches just a lil thicker. Yes he has messed with him a lil bit in the past. I would not be suprised if both are males and one is bullying the other one. Like I said my other fish are doing really great so active and eating a lot but this guy. I was told at pet store that Ahili's tend to be a bit more shy than others but how many days would he live without food?? He is getting skinny a bit..


If he's messed with him in the past then it sounds like you may just be having a bit of dominance from the other one. Pull this one out and into Qt soon as you can see most likely he will start eating shortly. Then if so you can try rearranging the the tank decor a bit before you put this one back and see if that helps at all. Fish can go a good while without eating. Females hold for a few weeks and never eat while holding.

As mentioned above you may end up having to do something down the road with the two haps, but getting him eating is the first step to take care of before that.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I agree with the others that having the hap (fryeri) in a mbuna tank can be expected to be a problem...I would remove them. Two rarely work...even if the tank was all haps and peacocks. One or many would be more workable for fryeri in a hap and peacock tank.


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## farzadkavari (Dec 11, 2018)

Ok guys, here is an update. I've moved the cichlid not eating into hospital tank. It's been half a day and he is still not showing interest in food. Should I wait more or should I get started with the meds? On hand I have PraziPro and KanaPlex also Methylene blue. Please advise.

Thanks


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

What do the feces look like?

Is his belly concave?


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## farzadkavari (Dec 11, 2018)

I've not seen the feces of him yet.. He has not eaten in almost a week, getting thin.. Other fish in tank seem fine, swimming around and eating well with brown feces. My gut feeling says something like parasite is bothering him. He is not necessarily hiding often just floats in middle of tank behind drift wood but not interested in food at all..


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## farzadkavari (Dec 11, 2018)

DJRansome said:


> What do the feces look like?
> 
> Is his belly concave?


I missed 2nd part of your question. No his belly looks normal not full but not concave either.. Physically he looks fine other than being thin a bit.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I would wait a month and offer food sparingly during that time...maybe even every other day.

With clean water (nitrates < 20ppm) and and some time to enjoy his newfound peace he is likely to start eating again on his own.

It does not seem you have a symptom yet to tell you if he is even sick or if he is, which parasite or disease he has.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Agree with DJ. If there's no actual for sure sign of a parasite yet then no need to treat with anything. I know you are probably concerned he's gonna starve, but trust me he will not starve for a very long time. Cichlids can go a lot longer than you would think without food so just give him a little time to settle down and get use to the new tank you just put him in and see what he does in a few days with food.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Any luck getting him to eat yet?


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## farzadkavari (Dec 11, 2018)

Steve C said:


> Any luck getting him to eat yet?


Update: After few days in the hospital tank. He was still not eating. Then I noticed few white spots on his tail. I'm pretty sure it was ICK so I went a head and treated it with Malachite Green. I woke up in morning and fish was on its back. I did a emergency 90% water change but it was too late. He died few hours later.. :-? Other fish in the tank are doing great. Not sure what happened to this guy. Thoughts?


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

That's too bad sorry to hear that. Keep a close eye on the main tank, if it was in fact ich then you want to make sure the others aren't showing any signs of it. Hard to say exactly what killed him but Malachite Green can be pretty stressful on fish. I know lots of people use it for ich but I personally prefer heat & salt as I feel it is less stressful on the fish, but that's just my preference.


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