Need some advice on my SA tank.

[Jglenn213]

I have a community tank with a 6" red severum, 4-5" eb acara, a festivum, chocolate cichlid and rio tapajos severum(all about 2.5"). I also have an albino bristlenose and a zebra pleco. They all get along well with the exception of my small festivum and rio tapajos bickering from time to time. I noticed this morning that my tank temp was was 89 degrees and saw that the heater on light indicator was on. The temp setting hasnt been moved. Its an intermittent heater so Im guessing it stayed on all night instead of actually working like its supposed to. Going to have to replace that today. However, I also noticed that my chocolate cichlid has a wound on his head. Not very large or deep, looks more like cuts. He has been very shy this morning. I can not get a good picture of it and I can't really tell if it's self inflicted or not. Have you guys ever seen aggressive from temperature spike? My question is, whats the best method for treating him? Melafix? salt? I do not have a quarantine tank at the moment. Mine started leaking. So I'll have to expose all my fish to what ever I decide. My other big question is will either hurt my zebra pleco? Payed way too much to take a chance on hurting it. I will post the best couple of pics of him that I could get.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Kittiee Katt]

Ouch.. Best advice I can give you is to do large (70-90%) daily water changes to keep the water pristine.

Hopefully someone else can chime in with better advice.

 

[cichlidfish]

I fully agree w/ water changes. Aquarium salt will help too.
I personally don't see aggression issues w/ temp spikes. My tanks are all CA cichlds, that are fairly peaceful with just a little chasing here and there. I have never seen any change in behavior in temp spikes IME. But some people do say it happens.

 

[tlindsey]

Most cichlids will get nicked up sometime due to nips, or from items in the aquarium like stated keeping water clean at all times with routine wc"s will make small wounds heal, and keep fish healthy. Never had a heater register that high in temperature and still stay on. Replace heater asap.

 

[kingflowerhorn]

Agree with cichlidfish
water changes with aquarium salt helps in recovering

 

[Jglenn213]

Thanks for the replies. I usually do 60 - 70 percent about every three days but ill up it to everyday for a a while so he will have the best chance to heal. How much salt per gallon should I use in this case? Not as much as an ich treatment? Also, will salt hurt my zebra pleco?

 

[cichlidfish]

Thanks for the replies. I usually do 60 - 70 percent about every three days but ill up it to everyday for a a while so he will have the best chance to heal. How much salt per gallon should I use in this case? Not as much as an ich treatment? Also, will salt hurt my zebra pleco?

The standard amount listed on the box.

I am not sure about the zebra pleco, maybe someone else knows?

 

[ehh]

If your water is clean he'll heal up fine. The salt isn't needed.

 

[Covetous]

I've also had great luck with Malefix. It helps them heal significantly faster. Although it clouds the water and makes bubbles. It's basically just Tea Tree oil diluted down. You can use it to speed up the recovery time if you want. But as stated above. As long as your water stays clean he will heal just fine.

 

[ragin_cajun]

I've also had great luck with Malefix.

That's exactly what it was, too -- luck. If you're gonna medicate fish, ya gotta use real meds. Nitro, Metro, Kanamycin.