Skinny fish

[Benji]

I have an overcrouded 4 footer with peacocks, mbuna and e.blues and bristlenose.  Over the last few months I've lost 1 e.blue and am about to lose 1 e.yellow and 1 yellow tail acei.  The fish lose weight and look very skinny but they seem to be eating as usual.  The rest of the fish look healthy and 3 e.blues have mouthfulls so I'm guessing the water quality is good.  Temp is around 31c (I need fans), I do 10-15% water changes every week and add salt (tablesp/20L).

Can anyone tell me what's happening?

Also can anyone tell me the symptoms of a fish that dies from heat? I've had 2 die in the last 2 days for no apparent reason.  From reading other posts, I thought the b/ns would die from heat first but they seem fine and I had no deaths last summer.

[cichlidwoman]

I had something that sounds similar to this and I self diagnosed it from the net as ICK. I found little white salt looking grains on the fish (although it was only on one or two of my 40+ display tank fish). In brief it's a parasite that burrows into the fish's slime coat, uses them as a host and multiples as the spore drop off the fish and diverge into hundreds. Google it and find out the rest about the lifecycle. Normally this won't kill the fish however secondary infection does because it lowers their immunity to fight off anything else that may be in the tank. Treat with ICKAWAY, pretty much malachite green for 3 consecutive wks. I had 5 fish die from the symptoms you described, I too had the water tested and nothing was out of the ordinary so it ruled out water quality. Hope this helps

Cheers,

Alana

[red]

hi benji

i have an overcrouded 4 footer too with african's and i change 15% the water every two day due to the amount of crap they do and food waste build's up that's when thing's go wrong if i was you bud i would change your water a bit more often.

ps: go here it my help you out
http://www.aquariumpharm.com/home.html


cheer's: red

[climber05]

. if your tank is overcrowded and your only doing 10-15% weekly water changes i would say its high ammonia levels. do you have a test kit.
if no ammonia is present try increasing oxygen levels. its not the heat that really affects the fish its the ability of water to disolve oxygen at higher temperatures.
hope this helps.
cheers

[Ulysses048]

Interesting article red - but what about African cichlids?
I am setting up a new African tank at the moment - and understand that the fish need to be added at the same time to establish territories and avoid aggression.
When setting up a new tank, do other fish enthusiasts do a fishless cycle? - or do you maybe sacrifice one or more fish that are surplus.....??
Just curious .........

[hareysfish]

it could be worms ,like all your pets fish need worming as well .or the skinny fish isnt geting enough food as the healthy fish are getting most of it.

[Needajapcar]

I agree with red, you need to change more water or reduce the bioload.

[Benji]

thanks for the advice guys, but with high amonia the fish should be scratching right?  there's no scratching.    also they wouldn't still be breeding if the water wasn't good right?  3 e.blue females just got mouthfulls a week and a half ago.  I don't think it's ick/whitespot as there's no spots or markings on the fish.

[Neptunes Nursery]

I havent heard of fish scratching with ammonia and some fish will still spawn in bad water.
If they are getting skinny it is more likly to be worms.
I'd suggest increasing your water change also like the others said to like 25%.
Good luck its horrile loosing fish.....

[ashhhh]

[quote:d1534b8c14="Ulysses048"]Interesting article red - but what about African cichlids?
I am setting up a new African tank at the moment - and understand that the fish need to be added at the same time to establish territories and avoid aggression.
.........[/quote:d1534b8c14]

easy, just change the layout of your rocks, move pots/caves and fill in any dugout substrate pits......the idea is the fish who have established certain areas as there territory, well, it wont be there anymore and gives the new fish a chance to settle in :wink: HTH