POSSIBLE DISEASE?

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Loshmitchell101

Loshmitchell101

Gambusia
MFK Member
Nov 19, 2009
904
7
18
Las Vegas, Nevada
Hello,
So I have 6 what I believe are mixed mbuna/mbusa
African cichlids. I have electric yellow (4) and
electric blue (2).

Over the course of 8 days I have noticed
3 of my africans have began to become
very skinny. All of them eat fine and swarm
the top of the tank everytime I feed.

I am currently feeding:
Green staple flake everyday
Small african cichlid sinking pellet everyday
Freeze Dried Omega One KRILL (i crush up with my hands)

I have never noticed any signs of even moderate aggression.
All 6 are currently in a 30 Gallon Tall with a pictus cat and
Rubber Lip Pleco

I used crushed coral for my substrate, I have had this
tank completely running without change for 4 months now.
And I keep the tank at a constant 79 Degrees.
I use a Aqua Tech 20-40
I use a 200 Watt Heater
I use a 30 Gallon Power Head,

I am thinking it is somekind of internal parasite?
I have not noticed anything externally other then
They are seriously suken in enough I think they could
die from this.

Thank You
 
I would think parasite as well. Try Clout or Prazi-pro. Both have gotten me results in the past.

Be careful with the Clout though. Follow the directions and watch for labored breathing. Make sure to remove it when treatment is done. It has taken out my bacteria before and I've lost fish that way. Pretty hard core.
 
Your not using carbon in your filter are you??

Furthermore, With that stocklist, I suggest a higher GPD filter. Such as an aquaclear 70.

mbuna can be messy.

I am very sorry for your loss!. Give us more details, to help find the reasoning / problems and so you can have corrective action in the future.

DONT GIVE UP!
 
no carbon at all, simply the foam screen.
This in total took around a week and half,
First symptons were just looking skinny,
around three days later they were severly
showing weight loss,
Characteristics were the same,
There were no differences in feeding responses
what so ever.
All died within a 24 hour period.
Locally everyone was saying internal of some sort,
Feces showed no difference,
Para-clear did nothing for improvement,
What ever this was wiped my entire tank of africans,
without effecting anyone else, furthermore
we have since ran a test on this tank, we have put
6 managuense babies (small portion of our batch)
all under .5'' and have showed nothing at all,
in fact are still growing to date,
Whatever this was only effected my africans
 
Was it a cycled tank? Meaning was the tank running for 2-3 weeks before adding fish?

You are only running the sponge in the filter? That is not enough for bacteria. The spong will filter through larger items and help colonize some bacteria. But you will also need some Media to support bacteria colonization.

Furthermore, What are your water params? PH, GH, KH and what temp. were you running?

I do see you are running crushed coral. This will help buffer the PH and keep it stable. It will also increase your PH slightly. Say PH of source 7.0 - 7.4 - You will be buffered up to about 7.8. (depending on source PH) - Someone can chime in on this for me.
 
You posted again before I got mine in..

I still think its something to do with your water parms / filter. What kind of water changes were you doing?

Also, If you squeezed out the sponge in clean water - or replaced it (say after 2-3 months) you would of killed off the colonized bacteria (good stuff). And this could cause another mini cycle.
 
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