Sick/Injured Jack Dempsey

[Lupin]

edit... i'm thinking along the lines of ick with having the white growth, but with how he is acting it might not only be that. i'd get some sort of multi-parasite killing medication and treat for a few weeks, dont forget to take out the carbon, a power head with a sponge intake works good here. and just a thought get him a nice 55g.

Ich is distinctive by their appearance as salt being sprinkled on a fish. This is not ich. It could have been costia, chilodonella, trichodina or any bacterial infection but you'd have to use a microscope to determine the specific although from the sound of his first post, this is just one of the many bacterial infection cases.

I've had him for at least 3 years, never had any problems until now. Parasites? eek, I'll have to get him something then. I have a powerhead now, no carbon. He'd have a 55 gallon if I had the room, but there's no way...

Per your post #3, you replaced the old filter floss with a new one. Why? Did it become so worn out already? It just needs cleaning before putting it back to the filter and is best replaced only when totally worn out. What are your water parameters right now? What brand is this test kit?

Just did a test and once again the ph is very acidic, way too low...anyone know what's causing this? There's excellent filtration, plenty of oxygen, nothing dead in the tank, no food floating around, nothing.

You are focusing too much on pH which is hardly relevant. What are your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and KH?

50% once a week? Damn, that's alot...do they really poop that much?

This is subjective. It is not a lot compared to most of us. Discus breeders even do daily water changes by as much as 80%. Post your water parameters first and we will figure out a more appropriate water change schedule.

 

[JackDemp13]

I need a new nitrate test kit before I can find that info...damn. I did a 40-50% water change and it looks alot better in there. Hopefully he'll start acting like himself again soon. I think his lip is healing.

 

[JackDemp13]

He's still freaking out once in awhile, and every time I test the ph, (every other day at this point) it's as acidic as it gets. I keep adding stuff to correct the ph, and the next day it's back to yellow on the test. My tap water is basic, way at the other end of the ph spectrum, I have no idea what could be causing this...

 

[Lupin]

What are you adding to increase the pH? Try adding sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to adjust your KH. What is your KH?

 

[JackDemp13]

What are you adding to increase the pH? Try adding sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to adjust your KH. What is your KH?

I'm using API ph up and I'm about to run out of it at this point...I don't even know what KH is...this morning he was sideways on the bottom of the tank, his coloring was all off, (light pinkish), and he was spitting out mouthfuls of gravel..he'll be dead before I know what's wrong at this rate.

Unless one of the rocks or decorations could be causing this, I'm out of ideas..

 

[Lupin]

Get API test kit for KH and pH. Did you get your test kits for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate already? KH is carbonate hardness.

 

[JackDemp13]

I've had fish for about 10 years, and all I've ever needed was a ph kit...test kits or not I need to find out what's causing this and correct it...and I don't think it's something that will show up on a test, at this point I'm starting to think that the tap water isn't safe here...I wasn't having any problems until I moved.

 

[Natural_Born_Killer]

That is precisely why people keep telling you to get the test kits. In order to find out what is wrong with your JD, the water, etc.