Red Devil with a black fungus ..???

[Marn]

not sure if it is a fungus or just a coloration on him/her.. i have a 5 inch red devil that is all orange .. but in the last few days we have noticed that there is a black streak growing on his top fin at about the point near the back .. and also a lil bit on the tail fin .. would anyone know what this is ???. if they can all of a sudden just grow a back streak or is it a fungus/parasite/or what.. thanks in advance for any help with this .. jsut want to know if to treat it or leave it and what treatment should we use ???

Marn

 

[ashdavid]

A pic would be helpful. Red devils can have black markings on them, Imo he is just going through a color morph.

 

[Marn]

hi there sorry .. i hadnt had a good pic to show the black streak .. but hubby just took one ..it is kinda blurry but it shows what im talking about .. the clearer pics i had didnt show it ..
here it is ..

Marn

 

[ashdavid]

Its hard to tell but Imo it looks like it is getting some black color in its fins

 

[Marn]

thanks Ash .. i kinda thought mayb it was .. just wanted to make sure .. he is a cool fish and the most expensive we bought .. next to the YoYo loach .. this black part doesnt look buldged or deformed or anything .. it just looks black .. i didnt know that they went thru color morphs .. that is kool to know .. he seems happy and eating and bugging the mollies ..lol.. ya i know they shouldnt b in there ..they were the babies from the dalmation molly and we are trying to get rid of them soon b 4 he kills them all ..just dont have room to put them in the other tanks ..
but thanks for all your help Ash .

Marn

 

[khombre]

hi there..

i have had the same thing with one of my cichlids that looks like a red devil (its a hybrid so i cant really name it)

the only difference is that with my cichlid, the black coloring was just on the tips of the top and lower fins. based on observation, the black coloring disappears and reappears in between weeks and months. we assumed that it was just the fin growing and the original color then catches up or sumthing like that. plus the fact that the parts of the fins with black marking really looked bigger and longer, particularly the back part of the top fin.

the hind part of the top fin drastically changed shape and became longer than the cichlid's tail..

i can't assure u if its really fin growth or not, but if ur fish is behaving real fine then maybe there is nothing to worry about. or maybe its doing a color morph as ashdavid says.

just keep on observing it
try to see if the black part is growing bigger or is disappearing, and also check if there are signs of tear or sumthing.

well gud luk

 

[ashdavid]

Here is a color morph of a wild red devil,

This is from Jeff raps and here is his web page Tangled up in cichlids, check out the other wild amphilophus labiatus

http://www.tangledupincichlids.com/photo.html

 

[Marn]

thanks for the link and help ...
wow that is some lips on that puppy ... :dance: lol..
well i hope mine dont change to much on color ... he is so pretty with just being straight orange .. but i guess a lil black here and there aint to bad ..
thanks again for all the help with this

Marn

 

[tlaug]

could be stress marks a lot of new world cichlids get them when they reach sexual maturity or are getting ready to breed.

 

[Marn]

im begining to believe that he is just goin thru a color morph .. he is getting more black stripes on his fins .. and he is alone in the tank now .. with just a YoYo Loach .. all the mollies are gone .. and he seems happy ..not cause of the mollies being gone... anytime we go up to the tank he comes swimming right up to the front .. .. he is so cool ..

Marn