Please can I get some help on a problem I have with my fish

Hi Guys,

I have been the ignorant but proud owner of a Tropical tank with many Cichlids in it for 15 months without any health issues. I have recently picked up a problem I would really appreciate identifying what it is and how to treat. I will supply info by using the Identifying Disease Questionaire and hopefully get an answer from the learned types on here :embarrest:

I stay in Alberton, Gauteng
I have been keeping tropical fish for 15 months
The tank has been running for this period of 15 months
I have a variety of fish mainly Cichlids total amount circa 60
I have not introduced new fish for 4 months
I feed Sera granured mix of the red and green daily as well as Sera Cichlid sticks every second day. Frozen blood worms twice a week.

The disease manifests itself as a flesh coloured bite mark shaped lesion on the main body of the fish
The fish eat normally
This is the first time I have noticed this problem
No treatment of any sort besides adding salt when doing a water change
No other problems encountered of any sort before

My tank is a store built 1800x720x600 on top of a cabinet
I have no idea how many litres it holds
I run a built in store supplied filter
The filter has volcanic rocks at the base, sheeting above this, carbon above that, and filtering wool at the top
I have no idea what the filter rating is
I clean my tank every week
I have two week cycles. The major clean is remove a third of the water and replace carbon. The minor clean is remove a quarter of the water with no carbon change. I use granulated carbon that is placed in a stocking in the filter.
I use tap water prepared with Tetra Aquasafe to remove the chlorine. I also add Sera bio Nitrivec.
I have a mixture of gravel and pebbles as my substrate, all of these in the tank since inception
I have some treated wood and rocks in the tank as well as some plastic plants, all of these in the tank since inception.

I am sorry, I have no idea on how to answer the water questions as I dont know how the measure the things you ask. The water is generally clear with no smell. On the odd occasion when I have lost a fish, I have immediately done a water change and have never lost more than a single fish at a time.

I have 3 fluorescent lights built into the roof of the canopy, white blue and pink. These are on during the daylight hours.
I have some plastic plants no live ones.

Attached find some photos of affected fish and the tank for clarity. Apologies for the quality I am also not a photographer but you should get an idea of the problem.

I look forward to some assistance please! :cheers:

 

My guess would be the fish are attacking one another.

 

looks way overpopulated but im no expert

 

qor maybe an parasite

 

Hi Dewald I considered this but dont think it is the case as I have never encountered this before, why would this manifest itself now?

 

Hi Marius. My fish are well trained and converge when they see me approach, expecting food . It looks a lot worse than it is. Interestingly, there is a school of thought that adding fish is an option when fighting and bullying occurs. I remain unconvinced that the problem is fighting

 

Looks like a parasite of sorts. There was a treatment for it I think, just can't remember the name, "M" something...

 

@halfway - The part I can answer is your tank is 1800 x 760 x 600 = 777.6l . Maybe your fish are hooking a decoration or something in the tank?

 

looks more and more like parasites to me

 

Ok so heres the question - if it is a parasite, how do I treat? Thanks for your views guys much appreciated.

 

@Firefly. The name you are looking for is Metrodinazole (not sure of spelling), but this is used for flaggelates, (hence the commercial name Flagyl?) This looks more like a bacterial infection to me, (most likely gram negative), so an anti-biotic would probably in order, although M has cured many a mysterious infection.

 

Thanks wickets I will give that a go and report back

 

Do you feed bloodworm and if so how often ??

 

Hi Spider,

Yes I do. Two trays of the frozen variety a week. I feed one tray on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

 

I experience the same problem with the cheaper bloodworm and changed to a better quality bloodworm. maybe the guys can recommend on quality

 

Sorry Spider I'm not following. Are you implying that the parasite ( if it is one ) comes from bloodworms? Do you have a similar problem with your fish?

 

Yes i had this problem once when i fed lots of bw. i read that some suppliers bw is not completely parasite free.
no need to worry as this can be treated by adding salt and just feeding foods that has lots of spirulina and veggie based foods.
the mbuna family are algae crazers in the wild and too much protein is not good.

 

too much bloodworn can also give them bloat. be carefull

 

Ocean nutrition is a good brand.:smile1: