Jurupari sick

[charles-n-charge]

About 5 weeks about my 4.5'' jurupari started sitting ontop of a fake rock decoration in my cichlid tank and was gaurding this little hole. I figured it had laid eggs and was protecting them, even though there was no male in the tank to fertilize them.
A week later she would not leave the hole, not even to eat.
The week after that she left the hole and would not leave the bottom of the tank. She just laid in the sand with this depressed expression. She was also breathing very heavily at all times.
The next week the cichlids started messing with her so i put her in a 7.5g all to herself. She still sits on the bottom and does not do anything. She wont eat and she just breathes very very heavily at all times.
I have seen her get off the bottom of the tank for weeks now.

Anyone know what could be wrong with her?

 

[charles-n-charge]

bump

 

[JK47]

About 5 weeks about my 4.5'' jurupari started sitting ontop of a fake rock decoration in my cichlid tank and was gaurding this little hole. I figured it had laid eggs and was protecting them, even though there was no male in the tank to fertilize them.
A week later she would not leave the hole, not even to eat.
The week after that she left the hole and would not leave the bottom of the tank. She just laid in the sand with this depressed expression. She was also breathing very heavily at all times.
The next week the cichlids started messing with her so i put her in a 7.5g all to herself. She still sits on the bottom and does not do anything. She wont eat and she just breathes very very heavily at all times.
I have seen her get off the bottom of the tank for weeks now.

Anyone know what could be wrong with her?

The Satanoperca genus are an easily stressed group of fish fish if kept with the wrong tank mates or water perameters. Lets get some info regarding the tank to sort things out:
-What is your pH, ammonia, nitrite and natrate readings of the original as well as new tank.
-What size tank what it in and what are the tankmates?
-What do you feed and how often.

The answers to these questions will help get you and accurate answer.

 

[charles-n-charge]

The Satanoperca genus are an easily stressed group of fish fish if kept with the wrong tank mates or water perameters. Lets get some info regarding the tank to sort things out:
-What is your pH, ammonia, nitrite and natrate readings of the original as well as new tank.
-What size tank what it in and what are the tankmates?
-What do you feed and how often.

The answers to these questions will help get you and accurate answer.

Standard 55g.
2 Lab Yellow ac, about 3"
2 peacocks, also about 3"
2 lab orange, 3''
2 red finned tinfoil barbs, 4"
ID shark, 6"
red tail shark, 3"
bala shark, 4"
common pleco, 6"

ph is about 7.4ish (for a mostly cichlid tank)
i feed TetraCichlid Floating Cichlid Pellets, all the fish eat them. also the occasional cube of frozen bloodworms. i feed once a day in the late evening

and the tank is extremely over filtered with perfect water quality and i do water changes on it twice a month normally

 

[charles-n-charge]

whoops. left out the 2.5" firemouth cichlid. between him, the red tail shark, and the dominate peacock; that trio pretty much rules the tank and keeps everything in balance

 

[JK47]

Well here is some info for you reagrding the species in question. First they are a true south amercian cichlid and need a low pH (soft, acidic water). Your is on the hard side for them but they should be able to handle it OK. They are a social cichlid and need to be kept in groups 4+. I would not recommend you adding any more since the tank is too small as it is for this species. Satanoperca are part of the Geophaginae subfamily, roughly translated earth eater meaning they sift through the substrate (which should be sand, not gravel, gravel can get stuck in their mouth and also cause them not to eat) on a consitant basis searching for food. The should not be eating from the surface, they were built to search for food from the substrate only and need s good stable diet of a sinkle pellet preferably. I used NLS (new life spectrum) with a of my Satanoperca species.

Regarding the heavy breathing there are numerous reasons that ould cause this. A lack of disolved oxygen in the water column (to correct you need to add an air pump with an air stone or a filter that breaks the waters surface with a sufficient amount of surface aggitation) the second reason could be the presence of ammonia or nitrite making it hard for the fish's gills to pull in oxygen from the water column. I didn't see you post your test results so I would assume the second mentioned reason to be the most likely cause. Do you have a test kit to test for water quality? A 7.5 gallon quarentine tank would need to have a water change roughly every other day to keep it safe for a single Satanoperca. To correct you need to boost your filtration and water change schedule for the main tank. What is your current filtration? With your stock list and a 55 gallon tank you should be doing a water change of at least 25% once per week.