sick chiclid?

[djmodifyd]

I have a mixed malwi tank....with one of my guys acting weird

its been about 2 days...he just sits at the bottom of the tank...and won't eat.
his fins look fine..and i odn't see any bloating. It looks to me like his lips have turned white.
water is fine
ph: 8
ammonia: 0
nitrate: 5
nitrite: 0

all of my other fish are just normal...swimming around...eating...looks just fine and healthy.

here is a picture of him...the best i could get since he wont really move out of there. he is the one to the immediate left of the colorful pot thing.

thanks for any help!

 

[mostlycichlids]

what is your stock anhd what size tank? He may be stressed or getting beat up.

 

[djmodifyd]

what is your stock anhd what size tank? He may be stressed or getting beat up.

i have 11 cichlids....all around the same size
its just a mixed mbuna tank

i thought it might be stress.
what is a good way to reduce stress?
i turned the light off...its been off for 2 days now...but i don't know what else to do.

thanks again

 

[liv2padl]

what size tank are these 11 fish in?

african Mbuna should be maintained in tanks with a LOT of rockwork which provides a cave for each female at a minimum and other caves for male territory. insufficient territorial boundaries result in stress. people will say that Mbuna exist in compact groups of hundreds of fish crowded onto a rocky area in the wild. true ... but the very important differences are that in that compact space exists thousands of caves to support the number of fish present. those that cannot be supported can leave to begin a new colony elsewhere. in the confines of your glass box, the fish cannot leave. result ... stress.

if your tank is too small, the required rock displaces so much water that you may have insufficient volume to support 11 fish. having low/no nitrogen compound readings is not necessarily indicative of this problem. dissolved organic and inorganic compounds which are not tested for can accumulate, resulting in ... stress.

next, Mbuna are polygamous. sexual ratios should be one male together with at least three females (of the same species). fewer females per male results in severe harrassment of the females with resulting ... stress.

diet. these are nearly obligate vegetarians. a diet too high in protein leads to intestinal bloat, the early stages noted by ... you guessed it, stress.

 

[djmodifyd]

what size tank are these 11 fish in?

african Mbuna should be maintained in tanks with a LOT of rockwork which provides a cave for each female at a minimum and other caves for male territory. insufficient territorial boundaries result in stress. people will say that Mbuna exist in compact groups of hundreds of fish crowded onto a rocky area in the wild. true ... but the very important differences are that in that compact space exists thousands of caves to support the number of fish present. those that cannot be supported can leave to begin a new colony elsewhere. in the confines of your glass box, the fish cannot leave. result ... stress.

if your tank is too small, the required rock displaces so much water that you may have insufficient volume to support 11 fish. having low/no nitrogen compound readings is not necessarily indicative of this problem. dissolved organic and inorganic compounds which are not tested for can accumulate, resulting in ... stress.

next, Mbuna are polygamous. sexual ratios should be one male together with at least three females (of the same species). fewer females per male results in severe harrassment of the females with resulting ... stress.

diet. these are nearly obligate vegetarians. a diet too high in protein leads to intestinal bloat, the early stages noted by ... you guessed it, stress.

thanks for the help
they are in a 55
i have quite a bit of rock work in there...maybe not enough?
that is the only one of that species in there...would that still have to do with the stress resulting from the sex of it?

and diet....i have hikari chiclid excell and chiclid complete...which is made for herbevoris chichlids...so thats not the problem.

 

[liv2padl]

i have quite a bit of rock work in there...maybe not enough?

in this case, a picture is not worth a thousand words ... i can't tell whether you've got enough rocks or not.

that is the only one of that species in there...would that still have to do with the stress resulting from the sex of it?

if you've got too many males relative to the number of females, this 'could' be your problem. i don't know the sex ratio of your fish ...only you can know the sex of your fish.

hikari chiclid excell and chiclid complete

good stuff.

in some cases, a fish just get sick and even die and all the other fish may be fine. you'll never know why and if after a reasonable amount of detective work, you still can't figure it out, it may be time to just go with it.

 

[djmodifyd]

in this case, a picture is not worth a thousand words ... i can't tell whether you've got enough rocks or not.

if you've got too many males relative to the number of females, this 'could' be your problem. i don't know the sex ratio of your fish ...only you can know the sex of your fish.

good stuff.

in some cases, a fish just get sick and even die and all the other fish may be fine. you'll never know why and if after a reasonable amount of detective work, you still can't figure it out, it may be time to just go with it.

ok
i will get another picture of the tank so you can see it and let me know what you think.

thanks again for your help