[kvbriggs]

Hi all, I am new to the group. You'll probably see me on here regularly from now on as I have found the Facebook groups on cichlids to be less than helpful whenever I actually need pointers on something. Anyway, perhaps you can help me with this recent problem. While I have been keeping fish for many years, I first took the dive into cichlids less than a year ago and overall it has gone smoothly. Recently I noticed two problems in my male peacock/hap tank.

While the pictures do not do the problem justice, three of the fish in my male peacock/hap tank have developed a redness at the base of one of their pectoral fins. One also has a little redness at the base of the pelvic and anal fins. First it was just two fish, but I noticed a third with the redness tonight that did not have it a few days ago. The third and fourth pics are just to show the redness is not visible on both sides. Any idea what is going on here? Aggression in the tank seems minimal, but I do see some frayed fins on occasion and I am gradually increasing the stocking (125 gallons with 23 fish at the moment), but the fish in question are not colored up and are presumably toward the bottom of the pecking order. No flashing behavior in any of the fish, and poops look normal. A few fish have always been on the skinny side and I started the tank on NLF hex shield two days ago in the belief that the problem was bacterial rather than parasitic or due to underfeeding, but I first noticed the redness over a week before I started the tank on hex shield so the medication is not to blame.

125 gallon/500 liter, pH 8.2, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate closer to 5 than to 10 (tested with a brand new API master test kit). Temperature is 782F/25.6C. SunSun 702b and 302 plus wavemaker. Weekly water changes >50%.

I am leaning towards some sort of septicemia, but honestly am at a loss as what I am seeing is not like the pictures I have seen on the condition online. There are a couple similar images on old forum posts, but the cause was never identified. I ordered 15g of Seachem Kanaplex and should have that within a few days, but am not actually help as I do not know exactly what the problem is.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[DJRansome]

Welcome to Cichlid-forum!

I agree it has the appearance of septicemia but that is a symptom rather than a disease in it's own right. So you should still be looking for symptoms to diagnose so you will choose the right medication.

Water conditions are usually the first suspect with septicemia but yours seem pristine. Has the water been under 10ppm of nitrates for the entire year you have had the Africans?

I would not add fish as 18 is enough to manage aggression with an all-male hap and peacock tank.

 

[kvbriggs]

Welcome to Cichlid-forum!
Water conditions are usually the first suspect with septicemia but yours seem pristine. Has the water been under 10ppm of nitrates for the entire year you have had the Africans?

Thank you for your reply. Nitrates may have risen closer to 20ppm at a couple points during the past year when I was late to do a water change, but my weekly maintenance schedule keeps it below 10 and any rise above that would be brief and not much higher. The numbers I reported in the original post were from the morning before a water change, so that's as high as the nitrates are going to get unless I am late.

I neglected to mention that until a few months ago I was not quarantining new fish. Perhaps that was too little too late and something came in with the last non-quarantined addition. One of the affected fish is from that group, but the other two are from much earlier in the year.

So, knowing the water parameters are good (though I have not tested hardness), the tank is fully cycled, and that I was not quarantining fish until recently is what led me to think it is a transmissible form of septicemia. Not wanting to wait for an answer I ordered the Kanaplex this weekend and figured if the help I get on here or the Facebook groups suggests it is not the correct treatment that I simply won't use it rather than risk additional delays by waiting to place the order.

 

[kvbriggs]

I should have also added that my water source is a spring with very stable water parameters - no nitrates or chlorine and pH out of the tap is 7.8. I add 1/2 teaspoon Seachem Malawi buffer for every 5 gallons during water changes. Water is added to the tank using a python hose with the temperatures closely monitored.

And a correction to my original post - the larger canister filter is a SunSun HW 704b, NOT 702b (a difference of ~300 GPH). I would have added this info to the original post, but do not see an edit button. Perhaps that is not a feature on this forum or I have not been around long enough to access it.

Edit: I can edit this reply though! Maybe there is just a time limit.

 

[marten]

I've had similar troubles with my africans at times. And I also keep keep up on my tank maintenance. In my case, my best explanation is that it resulted from an infected injury.