I have had a 30 gal. aquarium for about 1 year now. I had 2 cichlids and an oscar in it. My oscar wound up with hole in the head and i couldnt save him. I cleaned the tank a few times since then, it seems to get brown algae really quickly. About a month ago, i noticed my tank heater had a crack in it and was filled with grey water, i am assuming my healthy fish were getting shocked. Since then they quit eating and hid all the time. This last weekend one just went belly up and died, now my other has been upside down for 3 days with labored breathing, and not much movement. Could they have gotten poisoned from something in the faulty heater?? they dont have any spots, bulges, etc. or any other unusual things. Im so bummed!!!
sick cichlids
- Thread starter blondieblue5
- Start date
Hmmm there is a whole mess of things wrong here....
Firstly I can assume that they were shocked by the cracked heater. However I'm suprised they are living for a month after the fact, and so it could possibly be something else. Do you leave the heater on during water changes? What do you do when you 'clean the tank'? Brown algae can come from several things, such as too much lighting or an unstable aquarium environment, but is essentially not harmful to the fish.
Hole in the head disease stems from improper water conditions, which is likely due to the fact that YOU HAD AN OSCAR IN A 30 GALLON TANK!!!!!!! I am suprised it lived past 6 months. They need at the very least a 55 gallon tank until adulthood, after which they should be upgraded to at least a 75 gallon due to thier enormous size. No amount of water changes could allow you to keep such a large fish in such a small tank.
What are your other cichlids? Can you give us a run-down of your water conditions?
-Diana
Firstly I can assume that they were shocked by the cracked heater. However I'm suprised they are living for a month after the fact, and so it could possibly be something else. Do you leave the heater on during water changes? What do you do when you 'clean the tank'? Brown algae can come from several things, such as too much lighting or an unstable aquarium environment, but is essentially not harmful to the fish.
Hole in the head disease stems from improper water conditions, which is likely due to the fact that YOU HAD AN OSCAR IN A 30 GALLON TANK!!!!!!! I am suprised it lived past 6 months. They need at the very least a 55 gallon tank until adulthood, after which they should be upgraded to at least a 75 gallon due to thier enormous size. No amount of water changes could allow you to keep such a large fish in such a small tank.
What are your other cichlids? Can you give us a run-down of your water conditions?
-Diana
thanks for the quick reply!! When i clean the tank i usually use a tank scraper and clean that off, and change filter cartridges- also i do take the larger aquarium decor out and scrub it with a aquarium scrubber. I did change the water completely after the heater broke, and at one point my tank turned like pea soup, so i completely emptied it again and refilled it. We have well water, so it isnt chlorinated, and i dont use anything other than clean water to clean everything with. I remove the heater and keep it turned off while cleaning too. the poor fish is still on the bottom upside down, alive yet. She is still her bright yellow self, no spots or anything like that. 
oscar was just a little guy- I still would need a larger tank for something that small???
oscar was just a little guy- I still would need a larger tank for something that small???There is a probability of heavy metals in your well water. You might take a sample somewhere for a test. Sometimes well water is also highly concentrated with minerals. There are some devices to pre-filter your water that you might be interested in. They contain micron filters and charcoal to remove harmful levels of some toxics. The micron filters will help to screen out heavy metals, and the charcoal will help to attract dissolved pollutants.
This may not speak to your current problem, but it is a possibility. You should also test for the normal problems such as high ammonia, nitrites or nitrates. You said you change the filter cartridges. Do you put brand new ones in each cleaning? You also said you scrub the tank and ornaments. You only use tank water for this, right? When cleaning the filter, you should change one element of filtration per cleaning. Not all at once. You should'nt clean the tank or ornaments with soap or other cleaners, and you should just scrub & rinse in used tank water. If you over clean the elements of the tank, you risk interrupting the beneficial bacteria in the biological portion of the filter as well as all the beneficial bacteria residing on the tank ornaments, gravel, plants and even the glass.
Don't be overly concerned with algae as this is usually an indicator of a healthy tank. You can only just keep ahead of it by wiping the glass with magnets or scrubbers. You can rinse the ornaments and artificial plants in tank water. You can also kill it temporarily by eliminating all light from the tank for several days. The darkness won't hurt the fish, but the algae can't live without it. Also, algae is a beneficial dietary supplement to many fish.
This may not speak to your current problem, but it is a possibility. You should also test for the normal problems such as high ammonia, nitrites or nitrates. You said you change the filter cartridges. Do you put brand new ones in each cleaning? You also said you scrub the tank and ornaments. You only use tank water for this, right? When cleaning the filter, you should change one element of filtration per cleaning. Not all at once. You should'nt clean the tank or ornaments with soap or other cleaners, and you should just scrub & rinse in used tank water. If you over clean the elements of the tank, you risk interrupting the beneficial bacteria in the biological portion of the filter as well as all the beneficial bacteria residing on the tank ornaments, gravel, plants and even the glass.
Don't be overly concerned with algae as this is usually an indicator of a healthy tank. You can only just keep ahead of it by wiping the glass with magnets or scrubbers. You can rinse the ornaments and artificial plants in tank water. You can also kill it temporarily by eliminating all light from the tank for several days. The darkness won't hurt the fish, but the algae can't live without it. Also, algae is a beneficial dietary supplement to many fish.
sick cichlid
thanks, i will pick up a test kit today and check it out! my fish is still alive, is there anything i can try to save her???
thanks, i will pick up a test kit today and check it out! my fish is still alive, is there anything i can try to save her???
It doesn't sound like it. If she cant even swim properly then its probebly past the point of no return...
Do you know what kind of cichlid it is? You say its yellow....
Oscars grow fast. Within 2-3 months after purchase they should be OUT of a 30 gallon tank and into at least a 55.
I think you are also killing off your bacteria when you clean the filters... you have no need to change the filter cartridges so often. Maybe once a year. The rest of the time just rinse them out in old tank water to get the gunk off....
-Diana
Do you know what kind of cichlid it is? You say its yellow....
Oscars grow fast. Within 2-3 months after purchase they should be OUT of a 30 gallon tank and into at least a 55.
I think you are also killing off your bacteria when you clean the filters... you have no need to change the filter cartridges so often. Maybe once a year. The rest of the time just rinse them out in old tank water to get the gunk off....
-Diana
Cichlids have black spots
I also think I may have sick cichlids.
This is my first tank. Please don't flame me about Hybrids. I had a beta for 6yrs and had become very attached to the little fella. He died and then went in search of a new beta. When I saw "blood parrots". Thought they were beautiful and decided to set my first tank up and buy them. Ok, so now I've had the fish (2) of them for 3 wks now. Looked all over for books on these type of fish and have found nothing. So I started looking online and discovered this site and OMGsh, I never knew such things. Like the dying of fish and how people felt about them (being hybrids).
I am a pet lover! If I have a pet, I'm going to do everything a good owner should do. (Thus why looking up info, to know all about the fish I have)
Since reading the info about the BP - I didn't know that there mouths are deformed. Didn't know about there swim bladders etc....
Now that I have these fish, I'm angry to know all this info that I didn't know before. In searching for info., I also saw the fish that were dyed the colors of a flag. Also heard about "hot pink" ones being sold for Valentines Day. How terrible for them. Seems people will do anything to make a buck. :mad2:
Ok enough of my ranting :help: - My fish have black spots on there sides and on the tips of there fins.
I went back to the pet store, where I purchased the BP's. I was told to do a 50% water change add 3T. ebsome salt and turn my heater up to 85 - currently have it set at 78.
Thanked him for his advice and thought ok, now I'll go back to work get on my computer and ask someone from this site to be sure. Everyone seems to really care about their fish here.
Then on my way out, I had said to him - hey I wish you would of let me know that these fish are Hybrid and about there defects of breeding. He said that if he did that, he wouldn't be making money. :mad2: I said this shouldn't be about making money, it should be about loving the hobby and doing right by the fish. He didn't have much to say after that.
Thanks in advance for any help, I really appreciate it.
Gina
I also think I may have sick cichlids.
This is my first tank. Please don't flame me about Hybrids. I had a beta for 6yrs and had become very attached to the little fella. He died and then went in search of a new beta. When I saw "blood parrots". Thought they were beautiful and decided to set my first tank up and buy them. Ok, so now I've had the fish (2) of them for 3 wks now. Looked all over for books on these type of fish and have found nothing. So I started looking online and discovered this site and OMGsh, I never knew such things. Like the dying of fish and how people felt about them (being hybrids).
I am a pet lover! If I have a pet, I'm going to do everything a good owner should do. (Thus why looking up info, to know all about the fish I have)
Since reading the info about the BP - I didn't know that there mouths are deformed. Didn't know about there swim bladders etc....
Now that I have these fish, I'm angry to know all this info that I didn't know before. In searching for info., I also saw the fish that were dyed the colors of a flag. Also heard about "hot pink" ones being sold for Valentines Day. How terrible for them. Seems people will do anything to make a buck. :mad2:
Ok enough of my ranting :help: - My fish have black spots on there sides and on the tips of there fins.
I went back to the pet store, where I purchased the BP's. I was told to do a 50% water change add 3T. ebsome salt and turn my heater up to 85 - currently have it set at 78.
Thanked him for his advice and thought ok, now I'll go back to work get on my computer and ask someone from this site to be sure. Everyone seems to really care about their fish here.
Then on my way out, I had said to him - hey I wish you would of let me know that these fish are Hybrid and about there defects of breeding. He said that if he did that, he wouldn't be making money. :mad2: I said this shouldn't be about making money, it should be about loving the hobby and doing right by the fish. He didn't have much to say after that.
Thanks in advance for any help, I really appreciate it.
Gina
hey guys,I jus wanted to jump in hear real quick and say that I have about 35 or so convicts and most of them have black spots on their anal fin and some of the fish have it on their tail fins,they dont seem to be acting odd in any way but I jus inherieted all these fish and was reading about the above post and thought ,hmm maybe I need to start asking more questions here !I guess just as a little more information i have a 55g with 14 adults,a 30g with 16 3 inchers and a 10g with 4 2-3 inchers,yes i know the 30g is to small for that number of fish but didnt have choice since i inherieted all of this,actually,truth be known,i just bought the 10g and 30g tring to afford all that is needed to correct the fish per gallon,I basically got handed a 55g with 35 or so convicts or what I believe to be convicts which I was first told were aferican and later when I was tring to id i found that they more closely resembled the american,ok i have taked to much you guys have a great day 