cichlids are sick (maybe fin rot and ich)

[dropped]

hey everyone. i have a 65 gal cichlid tank which seems to be infected with something. most of my fish are glancing but there are no visible white spots on any of the fish. they have been glancing for over 2 weeks now. i do regular water changes and i'm sure that the quality is excellent.
also, 2 of my hap's fins are damaged. one of the hap has almost all of the fins damaged and the other has only minor damage. one peco also has fin damage.
everyone still eats like pigs as normal including the damaged fish. the haps continue on challenging others.
i've added aquarium salt and quick cure. i've used quick cure for the past two days and the fish are still rubbing themselves on rocks.
do you think that the fish have ick? should i continue using quick cure? also, should i treat my whole tank with melafix for the haps and pleco? quick cure and melafix at the same time? sorry this is soo long. thanks for any and all advice.

 

[Enki]

I am in a similar position, I have been treating with heat, salt and melafix. About 1 week in so far and I have seen marked improvements. Some pepso food may also be in the future, I have heard good things here about it, and I like the idea of feeding meds as opposed to dosing the whole tank, but that is just me maybe.

 

[Allivymar]

Ich is not the only parasite that can cause flashing and scratching. Do any of the fish look like someone dusted them with gold powder? Melafix won't do a thing btw; its really only effective in mild cases of infection like mild fin rot. I'd discontinue the Melafix, and continue with the QuickCure as its too soon for it to be really effective yet (if it is a parasite prob). Do be careful with the plec; parasite meds like Quickcure can be dangerous for them; without scales they absorb too much of the poisons. See if your bottle is designed for scaleless fish; if not, you'll need to half the dose and treat for longer periods.

 

[dropped]

thanks for the replies. can cichlids handle 86degrees? the reason i wanted to try the melafix is so that their fins will heal. will this occur naturaly or should i use something for their fin recovery after they stop glancing? sorry for all the q's. thanks

 

[Enki]

My cichlids have been at 88 degrees for a little over a week now and seem to be fine, really energetic but fine.

 

[Allivymar]

No apologies necessary dropped; its why we're here

Ahh ok, I misunderstood why you were using the Melafix. If the fin damage isn't too bad it should help.

And most cichlids can handle the high temps easily. I had my angelfish in the tank when I treated my clown loaches (and my plec was in there too); they all handles the 88F temps it took to treat ich (for 2 whole weeks!).

Heh, and Enki brings up a good point; be aware the high temps will kick your fish into high gear. Cold blooded creatures in high temps get REAL active (and hungry).

 

[dropped]

thanks alot. hopefully they'll get better.