HELP!! Something is Wrong! Species Systematically Dying! Need info for Meds!

[fibreheart]

Hi all,

I have a 90 gal rectangle Marineland tank that I have set up for African Malawi Cichlids. I also have(had) some Albino Red eye Haps and 2 Electric Blue haps as well.

My tank is about a month old. I just moved everything from my 6 year old 55 gal to the new 90 so it went through a mini cycle and everything is fine.

I have a Rena XP3 filter with old filter media and new that is fine.
I have a Fluval 300 digital heater set at 80 degrees

I have tons of air bubblers and a power head at the surface. It was in the middle level of the water but I thought it was too much current down by the rocks. For rocks I have Honeycomb, Holey, river rock from my old aquarium, fine crushed coral sand and aragonite sand. I also have a large sponge filter.

My habitants include:
5 Red mbuna
8 Yellow Lab Mbuna
6 Yellow Tail Acei
6 Red top Kimpuma
4 Kenyi
1 common pleco
1 bristlenose pleco
2 Albino CAE
1 Dojo Loach
2 African Hybrids
2 Electric Blue Haps
I did have:
5 Albino Red Eye Haps
2 Demasoni

Everything was fine, supposedly, except the Albino Haps always stayed very still at the top half of the tank. They weren't gasping for air. But they weren't eating either. I use a mix of Protien based pellets and Veggie pellets. I did notice a couple of times that when one hap went to eat he would run if another cichlid came up for food. But they didn't look starving so I thought they were eating. Then last weekend my smallest Hap died. I figured it was just a weak fish. Then 2 more died the next day. These fish were not sick at all unless they actually were not eating. They next 2 days 2 more dropped down to die. The last on Friday. So I figured it was because they were meat eaters and they couldn't get the nutrients they needed. I tried to feed them feeder fry from my convict tank, but they didn't take them at all. So I thought, after that, eveything was fine. Then this past weekend, my 2 demasoni were hanging at the top of the tank. Not eating at all. They were a little bloated nothing to suggest bloat and then Sat 1 died and today my second one died. I did however notice stringy white poop from him. And now one of my Red Zebras are hanging out at the surface, not eating and has white stringy poop. He seems loopy and lethargic. What is going on? All my parameters are good. I do need to do my weekly water change still but I don't want to stress the already sick fish.

What kind of disease systematically kills species off? What do I need to buy. I had dosed with a shot of Melafix hoping to slow down what is happening until I can get some meds tomorrow. I don't have a hospital tank at the moment and I believe that whatever has my fish will need to be treated in the main tank anyway.

Any help at all will be appreciated!

 

[HUKIT]

The stringy white poop, hiding, and not eating sounds like Bloat. I would treat with Metrozoidale which is sold in Metro+ by Hikari or preferably and cheaper is Parasite Clear by Jungle. I've treated bloat with Parasite Clear a couple of times with no causualties. There is also anti-parasitic food for everyone else who's eating. Lastly Epsom salt can be added slowly at 1cup per 100gal.(do this part in stages to reduce swings in water conditions.

Once treated you must discover the source whether it's stress, improper diet, or poor water conditions. I went through this feeding higher protein foods, then after switching to New Life Spectrum Cichlid and Thera+ not a single incident since the switch.

Here's a great write up on Bloat
Malawi Bloat

 

[neilanh]

Do you regularly check your water parameters? everything is holding at 0 ammonia and 0 nitrIte?

 

[fibreheart]

Thank you for the replies guys

I suspect bloat as well. From looking at photos of bloat, I recall that some had swollen bums, some were bloated and yes, the hiding and not eating were there.

All my parameters are 0. My nitrates are a tad high due to it is water change day. But everything else hasn't changed. I use rift lake salt, rock and sand to buffer the ph so that never changes and the hardness it always steady.

I believe the culprit is that I have a mix of Predators and Herbivores. I mixed 1 container of NLS Cichlid pellets(High end regular ones) with 1 container of NLS Veggie Cichlid pellets. I think what was happening was my Albino Red Eye Haps were too timid to compete with the Mbuna and therefore starved But the Mbuna now have been eating the regular protein based pellets along with the veggie pellets and now they have bloat I still have Electric Blue Haps in there. They are fine and eating and swimming strong. Now I have 3 Red zebras all dozy and not fairing well, so I will have the treat the whole tank. I get paid tomorrow morning so my first stop will be LFS for the Metrozoidale. I was about to do my water change but then I thought that I should wait until I medicate. Should I?

 

[Rokuzachi]

API General Cure also has Metronidazole, along with Praziquantel and will treat the problem if it is being caused by a parasite.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I would definitely start feeding a good food. NLS cichlid formula has all the nutrients that all of those fish need. Enough protein for those that need it, not too much for those that don't. I'm not going to echo everything Hukit has said, so I'll just say I agree

As far as the water change, just go ahead. Clean water certainly won't do any harm.

 

[fibreheart]

That was the one thing, along with other info, that stuck with me from this site

I have been using NLS Cichlid + NLS Cichlid Veggie from Day 1 I have been very impressed so far as colors and the fact that I'm not even finished the containers and it looks like I need to go to Medium pellets already!
I also feed them Seaweed sheets every other day and of course they get a few bites of my Plecos algae tabs before she gets to them.

My tank has yet to have an algae bloom so my rocks have no algae on them for them to scrape. I'm hoping it will be soon so they will have a steady supply of greens. Some times they take bites out of my moss ball. One broke apart so it was a free for all on that one. But I still have one kicking around. I hopefully will be able to get some more.

Funny they don't even touch my Amazon Sword or my Spiralis

 

[fibreheart]

API General Cure also has Metronidazole, along with Praziquantel and will treat the problem if it is being caused by a parasite.

Is this the one that stains your tank? The blue one? That's how it was descibed to me anyway. I don't really mind. I'm sure the blue will fade over time.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Sorry... missed that part. Cichlid formula won't cause bloat. I don't think that's the issue then. Hmmm.

 

[Rokuzachi]

Is this the one that stains your tank? The blue one? That's how it was descibed to me anyway. I don't really mind. I'm sure the blue will fade over time.

I treated a case of skin flukes with it in my quarantine tank recently and there was no discoloration. It's a white powder in packets that you add directly to the tank and to my knowledge, doesn't contain anything like methylene blue or malachite green that would stain.

As for the outbreak of flukes, or whatever it was, the first treatment saw the removal of all visible ones from the three infected fish within twelve hours. This isn't a testament to API General Cure as much as it is to the effectiveness of Metro and/or Prazi, and unlike the previous medication I tried before that contained malachite green and glutaraldehyde <sp>, didn't stress the fish out.

 

[fibreheart]

Sorry... missed that part. Cichlid formula won't cause bloat. I don't think that's the issue then. Hmmm.

I don't know if it would help any but the last fish to die was a Demasoni who was bloated but was not eating and always either hiding behind the rocks or hiding by the filter intake or the heater. His breathing was very fast and he looked like he couldn't swim.

He wasn't a pinecone so scale pop was not present.

Do you think it could be Dropsy? Would General Cure fix that.

Update....I just finished a 30% water change and added rift lake salt to get a "Salinity" of 10. I also dosed with Prime. Everyone seems ok except one of my Red Zebras has now moved from his head stuck behind the filter intake to floating around the top with his nose pointed up? :S He's not gasping just floating there. I also noticed a few fish flashing up to 5 times in a row on rocks and sand. I wonder if it's a gill problem. I have never noticed any parasites on the fish or floating in the water. There is no ich present which I believe would have shown up by now since it has been about a week since this problem started.

 

[Rokuzachi]

I don't think General Cure will do anything for dropsy. It lists; Flukes, HITH, "Wasting disease" (excess mucus and white stringy poop) and swollen abdomen caused by tapeworms. Dropsy is caused by a bacterial infection as far as I know but I've never had any experience dealing with it.

If your fish keep the flashing up but you don't see any visible parasites or irritations, then it could possibly be some kind of skin fluke. The ones commonly found on fish are invisible to the naked eye because of their size. I hope that they were maybe just irritated by the sudden addition of salt and that they stop once they're used to it, because I think the biggest danger of flashing is the open wounds it can cause and the subsequent infections it makes the fish susceptible to.

 

[WendiDell]

I don't think General Cure will do anything for dropsy. It lists; Flukes, HITH, "Wasting disease" (excess mucus and white stringy poop) and swollen abdomen caused by tapeworms. Dropsy is caused by a bacterial infection as far as I know but I've never had any experience dealing with it.

If your fish keep the flashing up but you don't see any visible parasites or irritations, then it could possibly be some kind of skin fluke. The ones commonly found on fish are invisible to the naked eye because of their size. I hope that they were maybe just irritated by the sudden addition of salt and that they stop once they're used to it, because I think the biggest danger of flashing is the open wounds it can cause and the subsequent infections it makes the fish susceptible to.

I wouldn't worry about the flashing, yet. Every time I do a PWC my Mbunas flash. They stop by the next day. And I've seen a couple other people ask that same thing. After a PWC their Mbunas are flashing too. They always stop flashing until the next PWC..
It does sound like bloat. The Epsom's salts is a great laxative. It will help remove the blockage that's causing the swelling. Also don't worry about Epsom's salts increasing your salinity, it's not salt. Epsom's salts is magnesium. It will also help to do PWC everyday and replace with fresh Epsom's Salts. A little stress coat will help with any stress issues caused by the increase in PWC. And stop feeding them for a few days while your getting a handle on this. More food will only make them bloat more.
Sorry your having so much trouble, I'm a big cichlid fan.