[FAMILYOFFISHLOVERS]

hello all!

i have a red jewel that was fine about 2 weeks ago. about a week ago he/she started to just hang out in the plants and rest on the bottom all day. he/she still comes out to eat at every feeding time.
this morning i noticed some unusual spots on the top fin and the tail & slightly tattered. the spots appear to be fuzzy and white. not dots though almost elongated in shape where the fin seems torn.

i bought a new test kit ( never used before so i hope i got it right) but:

ph= 6.8
nitrate = 30
nitrite = .15
ammonia = .15
temp. 78

it is a 55g tank with about 17 fish in it.
i clean tank every Friday or Saturday, i drain out 10-15g
sucking the rocks as well, i only use sodium free bottled water as my tap water is very bad.
i used to feed 3 times a day until i found it was too much , so now only 1-2 times a day instead. nls sinking and floating and an occasional ( once a month) feeder guppies.
i really do not know what the above readings should be for a cichlid tank but i know ammonia should be 0. so i am gonna do another 5-10g. again tomorrow and retest.

here are 2 pics of the red jewel:

this one before the problem began:

and this one i took today:

basically i need to know if i should add meds and what kind.
what the tank #'s should read.
and if i need to add or do anything else to the tank.
thanks,
renee

 

[cichlidaholic]

Ammonia and nitrite both should be zero, in any tank. Nitrates will be best around 20.

Your water changes are minimal, I would increase them to 40% weekly with that fish load. You may even need better filtration.

The damage is likely from poor water quality, but if I remember correctly, there is a questionable stock list in this tank, so you can't rule out aggression. What is the stock list on this tank again?

You're going to need to get your water cleaned up before you add any meds, and it's going to be important that you clean it up soon. I would start doing partial water changes of 25-30%, several a day until you get the levels where they need to be.

You may be dealing with Columnaris, which is deadly, so you should drop the temp to 76 in an effort to slow down the spread of the disease.

It may be that you need antibiotics, but the water needs to be cleaned up first. Adding meds now could be a really bad thing with the poor water quality.

I hope these ammonia and nitrite levels haven't been this way long...It can do long term damage to the internal organs of your fish.

Post back once you get the water cleaned up, and we'll try to determine a course of action.

Kim

 

[FAMILYOFFISHLOVERS]

What is the stock list on this tank again?

i did change things up a bit:
here is my current list.

2 sunburst peacock hybrids,
2 borleyi 1m,1f
1 m. interruptus, male
1 german red peacock, male
2 ob peacock,
1 brichardi
1 astatotilapia latifasciata ( zebra obliquidens)
1 black calvis
1 frontosa
1 red jewel
1 dolphin (moori)
1 fryeri ( female?)
1 milomo
1 parotfish

thats all 17, all are between 1-3 inches long. with 1 being 4in. as far as i know most are males.
i have not seen any major aggression from anyone except a little chasing. unless it is meal time the m. interruptus chases everyone away from the food and his cave. i have 1 filter a biowheel 400.

not sure if you remember but i had that dojo die recently as well, from hemorrhaging or something. i was having water tested by petsmart prior and they said fine. luckily yall talked me into getting my own, cause apparently it aint fine!
the tank has been set up for about 6 months.

so i shall do larger water changes from now on.
and do i need to test the hardness cause the kit did not come with that?
i will come back tomorrow with the new water test after cleaning again.

 

[cichlidaholic]

Renee, you may need to do more than one water change this evening. I would do at least two, check the levels first thing in the a.m., and be prepared to do another.

If you're going to attempt to keep this tank as it is with your stocklist, I would remove the known females. As they mature, the aggression will increase, and at the size they are now, many are coming into sexual maturity.

Any chance you have a tank to isolate the jewel in? If so, you need to do it. If it's Columnaris, the whole tank has been exposed already, but the jewel may become weakened and get picked on.

Kim

 

[FAMILYOFFISHLOVERS]

yes i do, it is a 10g tank. but i will have to pick up a heater and filter then, cause the ones that were in it were transfered to another tank we got. i will go get that in the morn. thanks i will report back with the stats in the morn.

 

[FAMILYOFFISHLOVERS]

one more question, could i put the females in with one eyed jack? ( my ebjd) since he is alone? in a 40g tank.

 

[cichlidaholic]

No, I wouldn't do that, Renee...You're pushing it having a JD in a tank that small. And he's already made it his...He won't take well to any intruders.

Plus, you don't want to stress him out, and it's easily done.

Kim

 

[FAMILYOFFISHLOVERS]

o.k. i wont do that then i will just find them new homes instead.

well i had alot of problems last night and all day. there was a police chase in town and they hit com ed electric pole , we were out of power for 2 1/2 hours. so i did not get to drain tank last night. this morn i was going to do it after hubbies physical therapy, but when i got back again no power!! transformer blew we were out of power all day up until now. so no filters running, no heat running all day, i hope it did not do to much damage.!!

i am gonna go to the water change now, i will report back later with results. thanks kim!! yer so smart and wonderful for your advice!!

 

[cichlidaholic]

Sounds like my day! Good luck, and post back with any problems.

I can't imagine it being too cool there right now with it being so warm here in Ontario, so the heater being out hopefully didn't hurt anything. The filter being out may add to your water problems, so you may want to check the parameters after this water change and might even need to do another one tonight.

Kim

 

[FAMILYOFFISHLOVERS]

yeah i checked the tank temp and it stayed right around 75-76 degrees. wich i wanted 76 anyway.

i just finished draining 17 gallons, siphoning gravel again ( guessed i missed a spot or two)
added stress coat. rinsed out the filters.

how long should i wait till i check the params again? after a water change

i want to do things right! i hope you do not think i am too much of a pain in the rear. but i would rather ask and look stupid and know how to do it right rather than not ask look stupid and kill all the fish!

 

[FAMILYOFFISHLOVERS]

o.k. i did what i stated above. i just now got done retesting. here are the results:

nitrate: 20
nitrite: 0
ammonia: 0
ph :7.6

just to make sure i did it right i tested again 5 min. later i got:

everything the same except
ph: 7.8

now what do i do.

the red jewel is eating well still, she is not laying around and hiding as much but is still doing it.

what would the next step be.

 

[cichlidaholic]

I would monitor the water closely over the next week, and be prepared to do water changes if that ammonia level starts to creep up at all. Keep it at zero!

You can also add some Melafix to the tank to aid in healing the tattered fins, but keep a very close eye out for aggression in the tank...These fish are all starting to mature, and still inappropriately stocked, so things can blow up on you in the blink of an eye. The older they get, the worse the aggression will become.

Kim

 

[FAMILYOFFISHLOVERS]

update:
perams have been staying at a steady:

nitrate: 20
nitrite: 0
ammonia: 0
ph :7.6

been changin water 30% every other day.
red jewel has been picking up a bit, still eating great and swimming much more, fins still look the same though. still have not found anyone wanting the females in my tank though. also getting rid of m. interuptous to cause he is causing way to much havoc! he is picking on everyone!!!

everyone i know dont keep fish. so
how do i get to the sale section of this forum? to list them there.

 

[cichlidaholic]

It's the link at the top of the page called "trading post".

Kim

 

[FAMILYOFFISHLOVERS]

awesome, thanks!