Jack Dempsey Cichlid - Don't want him to die!!!

[ocgirlmelanie]

Okay - please please somebody tell me what to do!!! There is nothing under the sun I have not done for my Jack Dempsey! He is in a 60 gallon tank by himself. I am so frustrated and upset because the cloudy water will not go - I can't even see him!!!

As I posted before, this was fish was a gift from my ex - never wanted a fish because of the work, but I am now emotionally attached to Augustus and will do whatever I can for him. He is about 2 years old - he was doing fine, but went through a rapid growth spurt and and his waste has suddenly become HUGE!!! I just did a 75% water change which made me nervous, and for two whole days the water was clear. I took the water to Petsmart - they said I was over feeding him and the area I live in is prone to hard water. I should feed him once a day, Augustus is not about to accept that, he constantly comes to the feeding corner looking like he is starving to death. I tried reducing the amount of food, I got him a double sponge filter to add to his Aqua Tech 40 to 60 gallon filter, I use Prime for his water changes, I got him the water testing kit, I used the Tetra Aquarium Algae Control after his water change - again great for 2 days, now people are asking me if there is even a fish in there! I just now feed him some Cichlid Pellets and Freeze Dried Blood Worms. I removed the Freeze Dried Crickets and Cichilid flakes from his diet. I got moss balls and a live plant - still CLOUDY!

My friend gave me a filter good for a 5 - 15 gallon tank - should I add that or will there be too much noise and bubbles going on - HELP PLEASE!!!

 

[Rivers2k]

1. Many cichlids always act hungry. many come up to the front of the tank to greet you and people take that as needing to feed them, resist the urge. If he is 2 years old you should feed him no more than once a day and he could actually benefit from skipping a day or two a week.

2. What are the readings from your water tests and have you ever tested the tap water?

3. Is it white cloudy or green cloudy? If it is green take a cup of tank water and see if the water is green in the cup. If so you have an algae bloom.

 

[ocgirlmelanie]

Saving Augustus

Hi, thanks so much for replying. It is green cloudy in the tank. When I took a glass of water as you advised, then it turned white cloudy. I will have to resist the urge to feed him, just drives me nuts thinking he might be hungry. I don't know how much these fish care about attention other then feeding from humans, but he is like the Mona Lisa, watches me wherever I am in the room! I think that is cool he is actually coming up to greet me and I just want to do what is best for him.

So I will be strong and reduce the feeding amount. Should I add that other back up 15 gallon filter? Is he going to be bored and miserable? What about lettuce or kale once a week and a Picasso who is much bigger than him? Would the Picasso be safe, I don't want to see anything get hurt or attacked?

 

[MICEY]

a adult cichlid like a jd only needs to be fed a few times a week , try using whole shrimp from the supermarket , stay away from flakes for large fish they waste to much
you can add the second filter jd's come from rivers so the current is ok
stop adding chemicals to the tank most of the time they cover the problem and don't fix it
test your tap water for nitrates and keep doing water changes , the water needs to be changed (30%) at least once a week every week , do not feed gold fish from the lfs most are sick , my jd likes meal worms and earthworms , squid is good after you fix your water problem , but feed half of what you think you should be feeding them , fish are all ways hungry and jd's like to beg
small fish need to be fed a few times a day large fish a few times a week unless your breeding them

 

[Rivers2k]

What do you mean by Picasso? only fish I know of called picasso is a picasso trigger and that is a salt water fish. Since he is in a 60 you may be able to add a pair of smaller cichlids like a Convict or Firemouth but be careful he may see that entire tank as his territory so you will have to move things around before introducing the new fish. JD are hit or miss with other fish in the tank but your tank seems like it would be large enough.

JD's are not herbivors so no need for kale or lettuce. I would go get a high quality floating cichlid pellet and feed those once a day what he doesn't consume in 2 minutes remove from the tank. That will give you an idea of how much he needs. Since the water doesn't stay green in the cup I think your issue is due to over feeding.

Again he may act hungry but that is your interpretation of him greeting you wondering what you are going to do since you are near the tank. CA/SA cichlids are very intelligent he is more curious than hungry.

No need for the small filter. Keep up on water changes and reduce feeding.

 

[ocgirlmelanie]

Sorry, I meant Plecostomus. He already destroyed one that my ex put in my tank without my consent. That was very upsetting to me. So stressed out here, thus I was trying to get the information across fast and apparently confused the bottom feeder fish with a famous artist. I give him Tetra Cichlid Sticks, can he live on just those? I see he is curious and definitely witness his intelligence. He won't even accept food from anybody else but me. So this probably sounds like the weirdest question in the world, but I'm a cat person, I have 3 of them, that is what I know. I can pat them and talk to them, I don't know how to make this poor fish feel included - since he is in there alone and it seems like an unfair and unhappy life. Before, I have the courage to add another fish again to the tank - is there a way to make him feel not lonely - does anybody know how to show some kind of interaction with this kind of fish?

 

[Rivers2k]

Sorry, I meant Plecostomus. He already destroyed one that my ex put in my tank without my consent. That was very upsetting to me. So stressed out here, thus I was trying to get the information across fast and apparently confused the bottom feeder fish with a famous artist. I give him Tetra Cichlid Sticks, can he live on just those? I see he is curious and definitely witness his intelligence. He won't even accept food from anybody else but me. So this probably sounds like the weirdest question in the world, but I'm a cat person, I have 3 of them, that is what I know. I can pat them and talk to them, I don't know how to make this poor fish feel included - since he is in there alone and it seems like an unfair and unhappy life. Before, I have the courage to add another fish again to the tank - is there a way to make him feel not lonely - does anybody know how to show some kind of interaction with this kind of fish?

LOL - Its good your so attached to your fish but no need to over think it. They are fine doing what fish do. If he was in the wild he would hanging out under a log some place watching things go by and snacking on one every so often. He is good watching you do your thing and spending time infront of the tank watching him.

The Tetra Cichlid stick are fine until they are used up. After that I would switch to some pellets. Just once a day and only what he will consume in 2 minutes max. I skip feeding on my tanks once or twice a week.

If he already killed a pleco I would not add another. I would stick to a convict or a fire mouth. a pair of either would be fine to. Rearrange your tank decorations before adding a new fish so your fish thinks he is in new territory. If aggression lasts more than a day then return the other fish. You may have a guy that likes a tank to hims self. JD's are hit and miss like that.

Don't forget stay on top of those water changes until things clear up.

 

[Mogurako]

I would stick to a convict or a fire mouth. a pair of either would be fine to. Rearrange your tank decorations before adding a new fish so your fish thinks he is in new territory. If aggression lasts more than a day then return the other fish. You may have a guy that likes a tank to hims self. JD's are hit and miss like that.

If the OP is having water quality issues the last thing they need to do is add more fish.

If your water is green turn off the lights for a few days, then when you start to turn them back on only have them on for 6-8 hours a day.

Do 30-40% water changes including a gravel vac every third day until the water clarity returns then switch back to 35-50% weekly. Don't add anything to the water except for the prime.

You'll need to upgrade your filtration to canister filter such as a fluval 405 or Rena XP 3/4 eventually. The HOB filters are just not adequate for your needs.

Toss the cichlid sticks and feed a high quality pellet like New life spectrum thera-A 2-3mm.



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[Rivers2k]

If the OP is having water quality issues the last thing they need to do is add more fish.

If your water is green turn off the lights for a few days, then when you start to turn them back on only have them on for 6-8 hours a day.

Do 30-40% water changes including a gravel vac every third day until the water clarity returns then switch back to 35-50% weekly. Don't add anything to the water except for the prime.

You'll need to upgrade your filtration to canister filter such as a fluval 405 or Rena XP 3/4 eventually. The HOB filters are just not adequate for your needs.

Toss the cichlid sticks and feed a high quality pellet like New life spectrum thera-A 2-3mm.



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Really no kidding!??? That was in response to another question. I already addressed the water quality issue.

There is no reason to toss perfectly good food. It is wasteful. Just switch to the better quality stuff when you are done with the current food.

 

[Mogurako]

There is no reason to toss perfectly good food. It is wasteful. Just switch to the better quality stuff when you are done with the current food.

Jacks like most CAs are prone to HLLE, the two contributing factors are poor water quality and poor nutrition. So yes it's perfectly acceptable to toss a terrible food that's full of chemicals/fillers for a high quality food that takes care of the fishes dietary needs.



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[machotaco]

The fact that it was white sounds like a bacterial bloom to me, and the fact the the fish is growing large and rapidly produce plenty of ammonia and you having water quality issues would make sense that it's a bacterial bloom to me as well. Not 100% sure but just my 2 cents.


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[Mebbid]

Algae blooms in the water can easily look white like a bacterial bloom then progress to green.

It was asked previously, but what are your parameters? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph?

If your ammonia and nitrite are at 0ppm then it's even more likely that the problem is algae. In that case you really have 2 options. The first is to buy a uv sterilizer and run that in your tank. Second is to do a tank blackout. Tape garbage bags over the sides of your tank and turn the lights off. Make sure absolutely no light is getting into the tank and do this for 3 days straight. It should kill off the algae.

I know how it is to have a fish act like it's starving.. I have an Oscar that would happily eat until his stomach explodes. Theres nothing wrong with feeding daily, or even twice daily. However, you need to do water changes to make up for the extra food you're putting into the tank. Personally, I don't even bother with a water change less than 50% and doing that weekly is usually enough to keep your tank healthy. You might need to increase that to twice weekly if you want to keep feeding more than once a day.

 

[trennamw]

You said the 75% water change made you nervous ... How much do you usually change and how often?




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[MBcichlids]

I just had a similar issue with my flower horns 20G tank. It was continually becoming filthy in a very short amount of time. I did everything you have already done. As others have posted. Remove any sunlight from the tank. Turn off the lights and change / rinse the filter out. The amount of progress my tank made over night was unbelievable!


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[Brookster123]

I just had a similar issue with my flower horns 20G tank. It was continually becoming filthy in a very short amount of time. I did everything you have already done. As others have posted. Remove any sunlight from the tank. Turn off the lights and change / rinse the filter out. The amount of progress my tank made over night was unbelievable!


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Thats kind of ridiculous to keep flower horns in a 20.. was it a fry grow out tank?

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[ppo8820]

Fish always act like they are starving, but their stomachs are the size of their eyes. I know, its hard not to feed them when they want it so bad, I struggle with the same thing.

With the water, what is the water test showing? Did you cycle the tank or change anything recently? I suspect high ammonia perhaps or maybe its the algae stuff you add at water changes. I would do a simple water change using only the prime. Rinse out the filter media in old tank water during the change (not tap water).

Is the tank located next to a sunny window? algae thrives in tanks exposed to a lot of sun. If so, that could also make it cloudy. I would move it if possible.

 

[mikem691]

I just had a similar issue with my flower horns 20G tank. It was continually becoming filthy in a very short amount of time. I did everything you have already done. As others have posted. Remove any sunlight from the tank. Turn off the lights and change / rinse the filter out. The amount of progress my tank made over night was unbelievable!


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In another thread you mention that he is 6" you need to move him to at least a 75 now or you will stunt his growth and shorten his life. He's too big for the 20 now.

 

[MBcichlids]

I have a 110 for him to go into ASAP


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[ocgirlmelanie]

You said the 75% water change made you nervous ... How much do you usually change and how often?




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I was doing about 30 to 35% once a week in water changes. I thought that was all you were supposed to do. As well as giving the gravel a good vacuum.

 

[ocgirlmelanie]

The fact that it was white sounds like a bacterial bloom to me, and the fact the the fish is growing large and rapidly produce plenty of ammonia and you having water quality issues would make sense that it's a bacterial bloom to me as well. Not 100% sure but just my 2 cents.


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OMG this stuff is all so new to me, I got him a test kit, I will go test the water and post the results. I don't want to, but I wonder if I should get him a new home - which will make me kind of sad but with somebody who knows Cichlids and might do a better job.