Well as you can see from the pix, she looks terrible. I have only ever brought a handful of Cichla back from such a serious bacterial infection. Unfortunately the ONLY reason that I spent the money on such a big female was because I was planning on breeding her. That is probably not going to happen now, even if she lives. Why, you may wonder?
Because the medications, yes that's plural, that I am using have been known to destroy the reproductive organs of the fish that are exposed to them. I figure it's better, at this point, to try and actually save this fish than to even think about breeding it. To make matters worse, it's a female.
For those that are wondering what is wrong, notice the severe blistering of the superficial skin layer and thickening of the slime coat. That is typical of an aggressive Aeromonas infection, possibly along with some form of Vibrio as well. In a nutshell, this is what happens when you transport highly sensitive fish is piss-poor water. In hindsight, which is always 20/20, I should have completely changed ALL of the water when I took possession of her. Another lesson to be learned in the Cichla game!
