Sick Fish :(

[Gir]

Hi all
I have a sick goldhead compressicep on my hands.
She has been laying on the bottom of the tank lately and I talked to my lfs and they suggested some medicine called paragon 2.
They said it sounds like a parasite or something.

Does this sound right ?
Anybody had success treating a compressicep with these type of symptoms ?

[Boilermaker]

Hi Gir Welcome! Sorry about your fish, its hard to say whats wrong without more info. Is the fish eating? is there any visible sores? did you test your water? etc... Wich lfs did you ask Marks Ark, Pets and Such, etc...
Check out this threadwww.cichlidforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=80

[Gir]

Hey, sorry for the lack of info

she hasnt eaten in a while, tested the water and 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 7.6 ph
no visible sores. I think the male in my tank might be sick too, hes been real pale lately when he eventually comes out of his cave.
If this treatment doesnt help (im on day 4 of 5) is there something else I can try or am I out of luck ?
Also he recommended medicating my whole 75 gal tank, it has 1 electric yellow, one pleco, and 4 goldheads (3 females and 1 male). Is this going to be ok, or should I make some room in my sick tank and treat her separatly ?

I talked to matt at marks ark, I guess I trusted his opinion since they have the best selection of cichlids Ive seen so far. If there are better cichlid fish stores around lemme know :)
Ive talked to fish 4 u and they are good, but kinda small, and the aquarium guys are typically jerks.

[Boilermaker]

Gir, Matt knows cichlids better than I do I would trust his opinion,I believe thats what he uses for Malawi Bloat (paragon 2).
After the five days of treatment I would do a partial waterchange add carbon to your filters to pull out the leftover med. Give your fish a two day break if there not better after that, I would isolate the sick fish or fishes in your hospital tank and do a four day treatment.
If its malawi bloat it may be too late.
Also your Ph is low wich could be due to high nitrates? And this might sound stupid but the male and female aren't guarding a nest are they?
Are they hanging in the same cave? Do you have good filtration? And check out PetsandSuch on 3500 S and Bird World in Bountiful and For Pets Sake in Sandy for cichlids.

Good Luck ! let me know how it goes :wink:

[Gir]

Well after looking at my ph test again it maxes out at 7.6 so it might be higher. After I run this treatment I was going to clear the meds out and do a water change and then have my water tested at a pet store. I talked to fish 4u and it seemed they think that the fish are just over stressed. I am running an ugf with 4 power heads and nothing else. I do gravel vacs every other week. as soon as I mentioned that f4u wanted to start selling me stuff, so Im not sure I trust them as much.
They arent guarding a cave cause the female isnt in a cave, shes chilling on the bottom of the tank still.
I guess I will find out what happens :(

[Boilermaker]

It could just be stress, and remember the Comps and Calvus can be really shy and slower at feeding time. When you said the female wasn't eating at all made me think Malawi Bloat.
If you want I can come over and look at them, send me a pm that is if you trust me :twisted: Matt knows me pretty well since all my fry go to him and most of my purchases are at his store.


Later,Scott

[Gir]

yeha I havent seen the male or sick female eat in a long time
they might scavange after I leave, but I doubt the sick female does at all

Your welcome to come over if you dont mind the trek to american fork :)
I think I need more extensive tests but I dont think I should test till the medicine is out

What type of filter should I buy for mechanical and chemical filtration ? Ill need one to get the meds out faster

[Gir]

Well I did the final dose of meds and no visible improvement.
I think I need to buy a chemical/mechanical filter to help out my UGF I have running with 4 powerheads. Get some charcoal running in there to get the meds out, then Ill take my "clean" water to matt and have him do a water test and see if the ph or nitrates are out of whack

any filter recommendations ?
If its a back hanging one it has to clear 4.5" cause thats all I got between the wall and tank

[Boilermaker]

Sorry to hear there not doing any better :( Yea I don't think I'll make the trip to American Fork unless I plan a flyfishing trip.
Most everyone on this site thinks the aquaclears are the best, I would go with the 500 or if your on a tight budget at least the 300. I don't know the width on them.Check out this thread,
www.cichlidforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=33&highlight=aqua+clear

Happy Thanksgiving and good luck on the fish,let me know what Matt says.

[Gir]

I picked up a penguin 330 last night and got it goin so we will have the meds out soon. Ill keep ya posted.

On a lighter note my guppy finally popped last night and we have 9 babies

[Boilermaker]

Hey Gir how are your fish?
congrats on the guppies did you feed them to your cichlids :twisted:

[Gir]

hehe, actually I have been feeding the baby guppies to the cichlids :)
they just wont stop producing them.

but my big male and my wild female died from the disease or whatever it is. The other 2 females and the electric yellow are fine.
I gave the yellow to a buddy and traded matt in the 2 females for some baby f1 goldheads. so I am going to start fresh with some baby goldheads and yellows

[jnorris]

It sounds like your Comps could have had the Malawi Bloat. For future reference you may consider changing their diet to less protein (i.e lay off the guppies). I recommend using a good Cichlid Flake food and twice a week pellets. You can feed them brine shrimp, krill, or daphnia 1-2 times a week (any of the above). Remeber feed your fish 1-2 times a day and only as much as they can consume in a few minutes. I have found several small meals are better than one large meal.

For some reason Africans (both Malawi and Tanganyikans) are suseptable to getting what is commonly known as "Malawi bloat". People believe it is due to their long and narrow digestive tracts and possibly a parasite that takes advantage of this. There really isn't a catch all cure for this and the only thing I have found is it needs to be caught early to be remedied.

Protein takes much longer for fish (and any animal for that matter) to digest. Some species are much more tolerant than others (problalby due to natural selection).

I recommend using an everyday flake and pellet food that contains a high content of Spirulina (it is a type of algea).

I have also been experimenting with sushi wrapper paper (they do sell it at pet stores) and it seems good when soaked in water.

As far as water quality it seems you have a good grip on what is required. I highly recommend that you go out and get a 30 dollar fresh water test kit (test tubes and solutions). Make sure the kit has the high PH test in it (7.6 - 9.0 PH)

You won't have to rely on a LFS to tell you about your water.

Also you may consider adding salt that is specially designed for fish tanks and or cichlids (and I might add look closely at the directions as far as how much to add when).

Have fun!

Jonathan

[Gir]

thanks for the reply
After much research I agree with you that its malawai bloat.

I have laid off the guppies, but Ive been doing "flake frenzy" and "graze" which is a vegi flake. and Ive been doing shrimp every night. They are babies still so Ive been feeding 4-5 times a day in small incriments. Both the flake foods have 40+% protein. Does this setup sound good ?

[jnorris]

Brine Shrimp? I would only recommend you feed brine shrimp twice a week at the most. I hear people feed fry brine shrimp more frequently. Depends on the species.

I noticed the flake food I use has that amount ot crude protein. If you can find it OSI Spirulina is good at least that have been what I have been using without any issues). Spirulina is second on the list.

How big are your fish?

[Boilermaker]

Hi Gir glad to see things are working out. J.Norris is right about the guppies I shouldn't have mentioned that :oops: , and ditto on the brine shrimp.

I don't feed Brine but once a month,unless I have newborn fry then the baby brine, also remember brine shrimp will foul the tank much quicker.

On the flake I'd stick with HBH thats the same formula I use. And its made here in Utah so it's a little cheaper (retail). Check it out on the internet it's a lot cheaper. In fact you can probaly buy it dirt cheap from a supplier back east even though they make the stuff almost right next door to you :? Go figure.

Take care,Boilermaker