HELP!! My Cichlid is sick and I don't know what to do!

[Sara_Noelle]

HELP, I have a male Golden Dwarf Ram Cichlid called Mango and he is very sick. He is usually a golden/orange colour but he has become very pale (almost white). His mouth also suddenly turned red and he is acting and swimming weird (at weird angles and hardly moving). He is not eating and swimming with his nose pointing in the air a bit sometimes.

I checked my tank parameters today and everything was normal but I have a bit of ammonia.

My tank is 36L and I set the tank up about a month ago. It is cycles and everything...

Mango has a few tank mates: a female Golden Dwarf Ram called Sunny and 10 neon tetra buddies. I got Mango (the sick Cichlid) and Sunny (the healthy one) around 4 days ago... They were fine t the pet shop and on the first few days, but since yesterday, Mango got very sick. However, Sunny is fine so I don't get what happened...

I did a water change today (the pet shop people recommended it) and the last one was 3 days ago... I removed around 20-30% of the water and added appropriated chemicals to it.

I haven't added anything new to the tank since I got my Cichlids and they have not changed their diet with me.

PLEASE HELP! I love Mango so much and I would hate for anything to happen to him! Any advice helps!

 

[Aiken Drum]

Hi sara

Can you post your water parameters rather than just say they are good. And what did you use to test your parameters?

What did your parameters look like a few days ago? Something like ammonia or nitrite poisoning takes a while to start showing as ill health, so it might not be the parameters that you have now that is causing issues but what they were in previously.

Did you cycle with all those neons in there? Thats a heavily stocked tank, even for a cycled tank. With that many fish while it was cycling i imagine water parameters got quite bad unless you was doing a lot of daily water changes.

Did the water change help? I would have done a bigger change. Perhaps do another 25% water change.

 

[Sara_Noelle]

I cycled my tank for 2 weeks adding bacteria and stuff. I then added five neon tetras, waited 2 weeks, added five more neon tetras, waited a week, and then added my two Cichlids. My water quality was really good with almost zero ammonia up until a few days ago.

I took my water to the pet shop to be tested (because I only have a pH tester at home) and they tested my water parameters with the Aqua One test kits. I got a 0.5ppm for ammonia and a 7.2 for pH.

I'm going to do another water change tomorrow and the day after that.

By the way, do you think my fish might have swim bladder disease or ammonia poisoning? Are there any other diseases/illnesses that you can think of that fit these symptoms?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Aiken Drum]

Its unlikely you cycled a tank in 2 weeks. A couple of months is more typical.

Adding stuff and waiting a couple of weeks isnt how you cycle a tank despite what it might say on the bottle of stuff and what the pet store might have said.

What water changes where you doing during these periods of adding fish? Did you get the pet store to do any tests during these periods? If so do you know what the results where?

If you are seeing any ammonia, you arent cycled.

You need test results for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. pH will also give an indication of how toxic your ammonia is. I would recommend getting your own test kit and doing your own tests. Daily water changes until you are able to do this.

I think ammonia is the most likely cause of the problems, but its a new fish and it could have been ill before you got it. The only treatment i know for ammonia issues is clean water and time.

 

[Sara_Noelle]

While I was adding fish I changed 40% of my water every week. During this time, I got the pet store to do test and they were all 0ppm ammonia and my pH was around 7.2. A few days ago, they tested my water again and it was 0.5ppm.

Thanks for the advice. nest time I go to the pet shop I will buy my own test kit. I'll also do the daily water changes you recommended.

No, the fish wasn't ill when I got it. It was swimming normally and had normal behaviour and colouring. After two days in my tank, it turned pale, got a red mouth, started swimming weirdly and lost its appetite. However, the other cichlid I got is completely fine.

 

[Aiken Drum]

40% weekly water changes isnt really enough while you are cycling, and im sorry but i dont believe all your water parameters are 0 during this time. Its impossible. If they are telling you this, either they dont know what they are doing or arent testing what you need or they are lying and telling you what you want hear to convince you to buy fish.

If you have fish there must be fish waste. This should be showing as either ammonia, nitrite or nitrate depending on how far along your cycle is. If you was doing big daily water changes to remove waste, that might explain things, but you wasnt.

If you are getting a test kit, i would recommend API freshwater master test kit. Covers the basics of what you need, reasonably easy to use, and is accurate enough for what you are using it for.

 

[Sara_Noelle]

Thank you for all your help.

I wish it was enough to save Mango.

I hope he's in a better place now.

 

[Autumnsky]

Also Sara, your tank is too small for the Rams and the Neons. You might need to double check everything / information from this pet store.

https://aquaticarts.com/products/german-gold-ram-dwarf-cichlid

As mentioned here, this fish is an expert only type care
https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/2763/?pcatid=2763

Information regarding cycling your tank and general fish keeping is in the article in the link of my signature below. This has a couple other links for more articles for information to help you learn more.

 

[Autumnsky]

https://www.aquariumadvice.com/german-blue-ram-mikrogeoghagus-ramirezi/