Cuban cichlid has become very skittish

[anzo1993]

have been treating with metro soaked pellets for a few days now and he’s getting better , he’s actually eating infront of me without jumping into the top of the aquarium lol he’s still hiding but I ordered a light that has a dimming option to help Gourami Swami , I’m just happy the skittish jumping has stopped tbh

 

[anzo1993]

I don’t think skittish behavior has anything to do with parasitic infection. Shyness and skittish are not the same. When a fish suddenly turns shy, hiding behind objects or backing at a corner, it can be a sign of internal parasitic infection, specially if it doesn’t eat or excretes stingy poop. Skittish behavior is not a disease, but a personality or environmental issue . A skittish fish will hide, sneak out to feed with jerky motion, and often jump up with a splash if startled.

I have to disagree with you, while it’s not always a sign of a parasite being skittish (could just be a shy scared fish) I’ve found many of the fish that I’ve had especially Flowerhorns get extremely skittish even as full sized adults when they start developing a parasite

 

[tiger15]

FH are highly vulnerable to bacterial and parasitic infection. I kept a few of them but none last long. My experience is the opposite. Despite infection by parasite, my sick FH never backed down and continued to fight its reflection until it self starved to death. If it were bacterial infection, my sick FW would develop swollen eyes or lips and expired quickly.