Sickly Cichlid-confused human

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WendiDell

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Jan 1, 2011
Messages
1,713
Location
McMinnville, Oregon
I've been having problems with this same Cichlid off and on for months now. She's never been healthy for more than a couple of weeks at a time.
She was in the first group of Cichlids I brought home 8 months ago. She and two others were really small. I lost the other two, one to tail walking and the other got caught behind a rock and couldn't move. I got her loose but the damage was done, she died a few hours later.
I've managed to keep the third one alive, but now she's got something new going on.
She looks like her stomach is caving in. Cichlids tummies are usually tapered down between their front fins and their anal fins. But when I went in for Sat. morning feeding she came out but didn't eat.
After she swam out she floated towards the top and slowly swam sideways. It was then I saw that it looked like her tummy was caving in. By the way, everyone else is healthy.
I transferred her to the Hosp. tank and gave her some crushed Cichlid crisps, she didn't touch. She stopped swimming sideways at the top of the tank. So, other than her sunken stomach and hiding behind a rock she seemed fine.
Then Sat. night I fed everyone their usual Sat. night snack of Bloodworms. I thought I'd give it a try so I gave her some and she chowed down just like the others..
I'm at a loss as to why her stomach is so concave, she looks awful. I'd take a pic. but, she won't stay out long enough.
I'm open to any ideas at all as to what is going on with her. She looks malnourished, but the other fish in the tank are doing great. And she had no problem sucking down the bloodworm. She just won't eat regular food.
Water parameters: PH 8.4, Ammonia less than .25not quite 0, Nitrites also under .25, Nitrates 30ppm, temp. 78o.
A 55g tank running for 7 years but, it became a Cichlid tank 8 months ago.
I have 2 Magnum H.O.T. canister filters, 250 gph I think.
12 fish in the tank, 2-4"XL Gouramis, 2-2" Kenyi Cichlids, 1-4" Red Zebra, 1-almost 3" Red Zebra (the sickly one), 1-4" Blue Cobalt, 2-31/2" Blue Cobalt, 1-4" Red Top Cobalt, 1-3" Red Top Cobalt and 1-5" Bushynose Pleco.
My Tank started cycling about a month ago, so I do a PWC everyday with a complete gravel vacuum 2x a week, to keep the ammonia and Nitrites below .25ppm. It's a lot of extra work but I don't want the water to ever be toxic to my fish.
Nothing new has been added since I added the 2 Kenyi Cichlids & the 3" Red Top Cobalt 2 months ago.
There's been no food changes, they all get a 1/2-1/2 mix of Tetra Cichlid Crisps and Tetra Vegetable Crisps and the Sat. night Bloodworm snack.
I think that covers all the usual questions. If you need more info. let me know.
Sorry it's so long but I wanted to cut down on the back and forth before we could get to the answers that help.
 
First thing I would do is stop feeding blood worms to african cichlids due to the fact it has to much protein which can cause bloat. Africans feed on algae in the wild and require lower amounts of protein( their intestine is 4 times their body length). Sunken belly is generally bloat which is caused by stress, water conditions( your cycle ) and to much protein(bloodworms).

So I would start using a quality pellet like new life spectrum cichlid or Omega One cichlid isn't to bad either. Feed this as a staple as these fish don't require treats unless it's some veggies once a week. I also fast my fish one day a week to help keep their tracts clean.

Now I would treat the whole tank for Bloat using Jungles parasite clear or API Clout. Clout is strong and will kill the beneficial bacteria but parasite clear will not.

Do some research on Bloat to make sure the diagnosis fits but what your desribing fits.
 
First thing I would do is stop feeding blood worms to african cichlids due to the fact it has to much protein which can cause bloat. Africans feed on algae in the wild and require lower amounts of protein( their intestine is 4 times their body length). Sunken belly is generally bloat which is caused by stress, water conditions( your cycle ) and to much protein(bloodworms).

So I would start using a quality pellet like new life spectrum cichlid or Omega One cichlid isn't to bad either. Feed this as a staple as these fish don't require treats unless it's some veggies once a week. I also fast my fish one day a week to help keep their tracts clean.

Now I would treat the whole tank for Bloat using Jungles parasite clear or API Clout. Clout is strong and will kill the beneficial bacteria but parasite clear will not.

Do some research on Bloat to make sure the diagnosis fits but what your desribing fits.
What do you do if the fish refuse to eat any kind of pellet food?
I tried spectrum before and they all spit it back out. So all it did is make a dirty tank. By the 5Th day of refusing to eat the pellet food. I got worried and went back feeding Cichlid and vegetable crisps.
I will research bloat though and I'll let you know.
 
For feeding, you can also try making your own food. I've already started all our other fish on a recipe close to this one, the only difference is I added beef heart and a little bit of garlic juice. When we finally get our Africans, I plan to use the recipe as is because of the Malawi bloat issues.

DIY Frozen Fish Food (DIY FISH FOOD PROJECTS)
I already tried soaking pellet food in Garlic Xtreme to try and get my Cichlids to eat the pellet food. No such luck, they were attracted to the garlic, but as soon as it was in their mouth every one of them spit it out.
They acted like a kid that hates the way okra feels in their mouth.
Homemade fish food , is a nice idea,but not likely to happen. I'm partially disabled and I'm raising my grandson Casey. He's 10 and has a condition called Aspergers Syndrome. Not a big deal but, it does make him high maintenance at times.
Any way, I'm going to do research on bloat and try to find what I can do short of homemade fish food. There are so many brands of food. They can't all be bad, can they?
 
Spiting is a symptom of Bloat. From the time you idenify the disease it will kill a fish within 7 days. Have you seen any of the fish poop? White and stringy?

I would personally start the treatment with Jungle's Parasite Clear as it's a very mild medication that will not harm the fish or bactiera count.

If this is Bloat it can transfer from each fish rather quickly and can decimate a tank in no time.

Malawi Bloat
 
Spiting is a symptom of Bloat. From the time you identify the disease it will kill a fish within 7 days. Have you seen any of the fish poop? White and stringy?

I would personally start the treatment with Jungle's Parasite Clear as it's a very mild medication that will not harm the fish or bacteria count.

If this is Bloat it can transfer from each fish rather quickly and can decimate a tank in no time.

Malawi Bloat
I removed her from the tank several days ago and I've been observing the others very closely. None of them are showing any signs of bloat.
I also did many hours of research on Bloat, since it was suggested that she may have it, and it's conclusive, she does.
Thank you for the input.
I also was able to figure out what caused her to get Bloat and it's not likely the other will catch it, this time.
During my search I found out that when one fish is singled out and harassed, they become very stressed.
Out of all the reasons they gave for contracting Bloat, that was the only one that fit.
As I said in my first post, she's always been sickly. The others seemed to know it and would chase her mercilessly. Not just the male Cichlid but the females also.
She has spent the majority of her life in the Hospital tank and has only lasted in the regular tank for a few days at a time.
Based on my research I've taken steps to make her more comfortable. But given her chronic bad health and the fact that the others won't allow her in the tank. I think I'm going to stick with relieving the symptoms. If she's strong enough to fight it on her own, great. if not, it may be for the best.
From all that I read and from the pictures of the different stages of bloat she's in the relatively early stages. I'm the the process of relieving the intestinal blockage, and the tiny amount of swelling has decreased since yesterday.
She is swimming more, not hanging around the top of the tank or hiding. Which I think is both because there's no one else is in the tank to pick on her and the swelling is going away.
If anything changes I will post an update.
 
I removed her from the tank several days ago and I've been observing the others very closely. None of them are showing any signs of bloat.
I also did many hours of research on Bloat, since it was suggested that she may have it, and it's conclusive, she does.
Thank you for the input.
I also was able to figure out what caused her to get Bloat and it's not likely the other will catch it, this time.
During my search I found out that when one fish is singled out and harassed, they become very stressed.
Out of all the reasons they gave for contracting Bloat, that was the only one that fit.
As I said in my first post, she's always been sickly. The others seemed to know it and would chase her mercilessly. Not just the male Cichlid but the females also.
She has spent the majority of her life in the Hospital tank and has only lasted in the regular tank for a few days at a time.
Based on my research I've taken steps to make her more comfortable. But given her chronic bad health and the fact that the others won't allow her in the tank. I think I'm going to stick with relieving the symptoms. If she's strong enough to fight it on her own, great. if not, it may be for the best.
From all that I read and from the pictures of the different stages of bloat she's in the relatively early stages. I'm the the process of relieving the intestinal blockage, and the tiny amount of swelling has decreased since yesterday.
She is swimming more, not hanging around the top of the tank or hiding. Which I think is both because there's no one else is in the tank to pick on her and the swelling is going away.
If anything changes I will post an update.
Well, I think we were all wrong. Since Being placed in the hosp. tank
Simonne has been doing great. She's active and eating.
From what I can tell is she was playing at dying due to extreme harassment and bullying from the other Cichlids.
The other Cichlids are doing great their colors are vibrant and they are all high energy. None of them are showing any signs of being ill, let alone something as deadly as Malawi Bloat.
I was able to get a few pictures of Simonne today, along with a picture of one of her tank mates. So you can see how good they look. And the last picture is also of Simonne from early January to compare with what she looks like now.
Pic. 1 & 2 are Simonne now, pic. 3 is Simonne on Jan. 7, 2011. And the 4Th pic. is of her tank mate Berry, so you can see how healthy and vibrant they are.
The pics. are a little fuzzy but, you can still see that there is no Bloat on this Little girl.
 
I was able to show Simonne to a fish expert and it turns out that because she was being bullied, she is grossly underweight. Which why she's been doing so well in the hospital tank. There she doesn't have to share food and no one stops her from eating all she wants.
And even more good news for Simonne.
I was talking to a friend about wish I could find her a good home where she would be safe and happy. And my friend Tammy said she'd love to have her.
Tammy used to have at least 1 Aquarium her entire adult life.
Then 9 years ago, on July 4, some kids playing with fire crackers set her house on fire. She and her family lost everything. But what affected her the most was how her fish died in the fire. I won't give details, it's to awful. Anyway, she hasn't been able to bring herself to start all over again.
But since this is kind of a fish rescue, she feels really good about it.
Simonne will have a great home with no one to beat her up ant more.
So problem solved, Ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And we will be able to visit Simonne any time we want.
 
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