Cichlids Flashing and Twitching!!

[whalen]

I have a 55 gallon cichlid tank. I have 2 Jack Dempseys, 1 blue zebra, 2 blood parrots, 1 jewel, 1 venustus in the tank. I got the tank in February and it was used and came with most of the fish that are there now. After the tank was cycled, I bought the venustus. I noticed a couple spots on him about a week after I got him. I then treated for ich. Ever since then (about 2.5 months now) I have been seeing them scratching and twitching a lot. I checked the ammonia and it is good. I checked the ph and it was a bit low so I brought it up slowly. Now all the factors seem fine and they are still flashing and twitching. The Blue Zebra seems to flash and twitch the most. The jewel is hanging around at the top lately. The 2 Jacks are hiding at the bottom in rock caves and I see them twitch once and a while. The venustus twitches and flashes too, but not as much as the blue zebra. The oldest blood parrot twitches too but hardly at all compared to the rest. I haven't noticed the younger blood parrot flash or twitch at all yet. I don't see anything on them. I do see a little bit of powder-like stuff on the jewel between his mouth and top fin. But I don't see it on any of the other fish. I have tried coppersafe, salt and heat, Maricide and super ich cure on them already. The guy at the pet store is telling me that they probably don't have anything, that it would have been gone with all the meds. They are still flashing though. The blue zebra has flashed so much that he has cuts on him. So, I don't know if they still have something or are these actions normal for these fish?? I have spent a fortune on meds and I don't know if I need to keep medicating or just let them be. Any advice you can give me would be great. Thanks!

 

[HUKIT]

Wow first off that's a absolute ton of fish in a 55g, so that will need to be addressed at some point. As far as the flashing fish do that when something is irritating their skin, this could be meds, rapid PH swings, parasites, or poor water conditions like high nitrates. How are you testing your water and what are your current conditions? Details like ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

By the sound of it there's kinds of things at work here, first stop messing with the PH, it's overrated and the most important thing with PH is it's stability. If you do try to alter it use something natural like peat, limestone, or crushed coral depending on which way your headed.

If it's ick then the heat/salt method works best with daily water changes and substrate cleaning. Keep that up for at least two weeks after the last spot is gone, there are some nasty strains of ick out there that are very difficult to treat, so make sure the full cycle is gone through. I would stop throwing all those meds at this fish as well, especially if you don't know what your treating for. There are medications that will kill your beneficial bacteria causing a mini-cycle and with that many fish there will be some water issues.

In the future your always better off quarantining new fish for 4 weeks prior to adding them to your main tank, this gives you time to treat new fish for disease prior to infecting your whole tank.

 

[whalen]

You think that 7 fish in my tank is a lot? I did have more than that but I sold 2 convicts out of it. They were controlling the tank. the reason why I got the ph level to go up is because it went down to 6.5 and I know that the blue zebra likes it about 8 - 8.4. I made sure not to raise it up too fast as I know this can really stress them out.
I tried the salt and heat method for about 3 weeks and it still didn't get rid of it. I don't like using the meds either, but I am just getting really frustrated with it and I just want whatever parasite is in there to get out. I have been dealing with this for about 3 months now and I spent a lot of money on meds.
I don't have a nitrate test. Guy at the pet store told me that I really only need to test the ammonia and the ph levels.
I am pretty sure it's velvet. I did a lot of research online and the symptoms seem to be the same. The jewel cichlid has pop-eye I am pretty sure and he is at the top more often than before.
A couple of weeks ago, I stopped all meds and waited to see if I could see anything on them. After a 2 weeks of no meds, they were scratching like crazy and getting clamp fin, and not eating so well. That was no meds at all.
Just about a week and a half ago they all looked great. Swimming around like normal and being very social with me, then all of a sudden the scratching came back and they all started hiding and not coming up to see me like they were before. I assumed that there were eggs in the gravel that had hatched and I got the parasite back again.
If you think I should have a nitrate test then I will go get one. I really don't want to lose my fish and I do want to give them the best care that I can, so I will pretty much do anything at this point to get them better. Thanks!!

 

[HUKIT]

First off mixing cichlids from different continents is not a good idea, they have much drasticly different aggression levels and dietary needs. The next problem your going to have is further aggression due limited tank space, Jack Dempsey's reach up to 12", Blood Parrots up to 10", Jewels and Zebras up to 6", and the venustus up to 10". Almost everyone of the fish you have chosen needs a 55g minimum each, and certainly not all of them. These fish simply are not compaitable together long term, you bound for further health and water quality issues. I would start looking for tank upgrade or rehome most of the fish.

Back the PH, stop messing with it and monitor to make sure it's steady. And your LFS is wrong about water testing, all levels should be checked weekly prior and after water changes, ammonia, nitrite, PH, and especially nitrate which could make the flash. Purchase a API master test kit as this will give you all the info you need on water chemistry. Without proper testing a diagnosis is harder.

Diagnosing for velvet is very easy by shining a flashlight on the fish showing
gold to copper dots almost like ick. So be sure prior to throwing more medication at them, the cloudy eye is a result of a secondary bactiera infection from the fish's immune system being low, clean water can heal this.

I would start by getting a test kit, perform daily water changes of around 30%, and monitor the fish behavior for a week. Let's make sure the water is pristine so we can rule water chemistry off the list.

 

[whalen]

I bought the nitrate and nitrite tests and they are both normal. ph is at 6.5 and ammonia is 0.1. I tried the flash light trick and my venustus glowed a gold color and my jewel seemed to have a bit of gold color on him as well. Is that enough evidence to say that they have velvet??