sick fish???

[sicklidfan]

My Kenyi has lost his color and is not eating. There are no other obvious signs of disease, but his behavior seems off as well. Almost hyperactive.

[sicklidfan]

anyone?

[wataugachicken]

can you tell us more about your tank? what size it is, what other fish are in there, the water parameters (temperature, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate). how long has the tank been set up, how long have you had the sick fish, and have you added any new fish to the tank recently (within the past month)?

[sicklidfan]

The tank is a 55 long. There are red zebras, demasonis (little bitty guys), electric yellows and blues, OB peacocks, kadangos, ice blues, a bumble bee, Lemon cichlids, cylindricus, reganis, brichardi, a yoyo loach, 2 plecs, 4 petricolas. The only new additions are electric yellow fry (we've seen 3) and electric blue fry (we've yet to see them). The tank is top to bottom rock in the back, with 2 pieces of (dead) coral, crushed coral substrate, and plastic plants. I feed various cichlid foods, algae wafers, shrimp pellets, live worms (from LFS) and freeze dried shrimp.
The parameters are:
Temp 79 F
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40
The tank has been up and running for 4 months.
We've had the kenyi for 3 months.
His stripes are showing better since this morning, but the background color is still washed out and the stripes are not as vibrant as usual. He does not look emaciated as of yet.

any advice, suggestions, etc. would be appreciated

thank you in advance

[wataugachicken]

nitrates are on the high side. not too bad, but it is good to try and keep them under 20ppm. i would do a water change and see if his behavior gets better. i see you have a lot of fish in there, but do you ever notice any extra aggression toward the kenyi? does he often hide in a certain place to avoid being picked on? it could be signs of stress. do you have anything available as a hospital tank? removing the fish into an isolated tank will help if it is stress from tankmates. it will also allow you to observe the fish better, and treat for possible illness - maybe parasites.

[sicklidfan]

We are over filtering the tank (Emperor 280 and 350) We don't have a QT at this time, and our other tanks are not suitable for him. I have observed no hiding, no aggression and other than the loss of color and the weird behavior, I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. I am at a loss.