My blue texas cichlid is taking deep breathes not hurried but deep, swimming around very slowly and his colors have gone to hell. He's usually a nice bright white/black with nice blue pearls but hes a darker color with more yellowish pearls. He has a sore on him a couple weeks ago so a treated with primafix and melafix and added some salt. He looks beat up but not badly. He's the dominate fish so everyone leaves him alone. I just added more prima and mela and some salt, anyone have any idea what else I should do?
Texas not looking to good
- Thread starter -Sinatra-
- Start date
What was the sore -- did you ever get it diagnosed? You might not be doing anything useful with the salt or tea tree oil, so it's important to figure out what that is. Is it still there, and maybe you can get a photo?
Would you mind answering the following --
What size tank?
Tankmates?
Temperature?
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate levels?
It sounds like you're ruling out him being picked on -- have you ever observed the tank at night or tried videotaping for a while when you're not in the room to make sure he's not being beat up when the fish aren't focused on you, the food-source?
When you say he looks "beat up," do you mean shredded fins or what?
Would you mind answering the following --
What size tank?
Tankmates?
Temperature?
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate levels?
It sounds like you're ruling out him being picked on -- have you ever observed the tank at night or tried videotaping for a while when you're not in the room to make sure he's not being beat up when the fish aren't focused on you, the food-source?
When you say he looks "beat up," do you mean shredded fins or what?
He has a few nips in his tail nothing bad. The sore is gone, he doesnt actually look sick its just his color and his behavior. The tank is a 125g with
Black Ghost Knife
Silver Dollars
Silver Arowana
Black Spotted Eel
Paretropius Menarambo
a couple smaller cichlids a salvini and green terror they are about 2.5"
the temp is 82F
i dont have any testing supplies I havent had any issues for a very long time so i havent restocked on them.
I watch the tank almost every night before i go to bed seeing its in my room i keep a dim light on it. No one gets picked on unless they try to steal arowana sticks which the texas wont eat. I really dont think hes getting picked on i think it was due to the water being fouled so i know i have to change 25% of the water every 1 to 2 days but i need more infor incase this doesnt help.
Photos might be hard but i can try and i will have to use the flash so the color wont be the same as what i see.
Black Ghost Knife
Silver Dollars
Silver Arowana
Black Spotted Eel
Paretropius Menarambo
a couple smaller cichlids a salvini and green terror they are about 2.5"
the temp is 82F
i dont have any testing supplies I havent had any issues for a very long time so i havent restocked on them.
I watch the tank almost every night before i go to bed seeing its in my room i keep a dim light on it. No one gets picked on unless they try to steal arowana sticks which the texas wont eat. I really dont think hes getting picked on i think it was due to the water being fouled so i know i have to change 25% of the water every 1 to 2 days but i need more infor incase this doesnt help.
Photos might be hard but i can try and i will have to use the flash so the color wont be the same as what i see.
If you're right about the water, and you can't be totally sure without testing what you're actually dealing with there, but if the water quality is what is affecting him you're doing the absolute best thing for him with the water changes.
I'm just curious as to why he's the only fish being affected, when you have more sensitive fish than him in the tank. That's why, even if the water is bad, I was thinking the sore might have been some sort of bacterial infection or something and that's why he's not recovering as well as you'd hoped.
These is all just stuff that comes to mind; someone else with more experience with these large Cichlids (I've only got one!) might have some more ideas, too.
Also, that temp is a little warm IMO but I don't think that's what's going on. If it was low dissolved oxygen or something then everyone would be dealing with it, especially the eel.
I'm just curious as to why he's the only fish being affected, when you have more sensitive fish than him in the tank. That's why, even if the water is bad, I was thinking the sore might have been some sort of bacterial infection or something and that's why he's not recovering as well as you'd hoped.
These is all just stuff that comes to mind; someone else with more experience with these large Cichlids (I've only got one!) might have some more ideas, too.
Also, that temp is a little warm IMO but I don't think that's what's going on. If it was low dissolved oxygen or something then everyone would be dealing with it, especially the eel.