Thanksgiving night ending on a sour note

[Fish on Fire]

I came home from my Grandparents' house to find my Orino, dovii, and mota half dead. The culprit, ironically enough, was the mainly vegetarian fish, the vieja. The Orino was limping around, really stressed, I could see blood on one side near the caudal fin/gill, I was able to isolate it with a breeder net as it is the more fragile of the other two, but it didn't take any effort at all to corral it, which is a really bad sign. I made sure to keep it directly in the flow of the stronger power filter so that it would be well aerated. The vieja is now in the feeder tank, thinking about what it's done. (It's lucky my dad stopped me from throwing it to the large mouth bass in the pond outside. Yeah, I know, it's my fault for keeping such volatile fish together. But I'm still mad as hell at the fish.)

Question is, are pbass more sensitive than most other fish to medications? Should I just use the tradition salt and warmer water method? Should I apply some Stress Coat?

I guess if one positive thing can come out of this, I'm going to be more dedicated to the great predator, the peacock bass, and will be replacing its current tankmates with more suitible ones, if it makes it, cause if I don't the same thing is likely going to happen over and over again as the other fish mature. (Strangely enough, the red terrors are the most docile fish in the tank, the only one that they bother is the vieja.).

I don't feel comfortable setting up a hospital tank for these three as the dovii and mota are likely to pick on the bass a lot in a smaller tank.

Current temp is 86 degrees, should I try to raise it higher?

Any tips would be appreciated from vets who have dealt with this kind of stuff.

Upon closer inspection, the Orino's right eye is also damaged, part of it is white and bent at an odd angle, can it recover?

 

[channarox]

damn...sucks to hear.
keep the temp up,maybe a little higher than that,say 89.
add salt.
im not sure about meds cause i never use them.
hope they all pull through.
and dont worry,i wouldve tossed the vieja into the LMB pond as well.

 

[silverdragon]

sorry to hear bro
how big is the orino by the way?
If it were me I'd bump the temp and add salt and sone stress coat to begin with.
You got any pics of the damage done to the orino?

 

[Fish on Fire]

sorry to hear bro
how big is the orino by the way?
If it were me I'd bump the temp and add salt and sone stress coat to begin with.
You got any pics of the damage done to the orino?

He's only about 4-4.5". No pics right now, I was too busy trying to rescue him. Also can't see the damage really well through the breeder's net. His stress coat was bad though, you could see a lot of bubbles clinging to his body, fins all ragged, etc. He looks a little better now, but not by much. Hopefully he pulls through in the morning. Thanks for the tips both.

 

[High City Rida]

Ok I am glad that he is pulling through for you, but I read two names of cichlids that SHOULD NOT be in the tank with a 4.5'' cichla. Both cichlids you named FIGHT and fight hard and the Dovi will kill the Pecock Bass if given the chance. I just had a brood of Dovii fry that turned on each other so fast the Jaguar fry the prdeitated on weren't even a challange.

It's your choice but I would never put my Cichla with any of the other Cichlids until after the cichla hit 15'' and the other Cichlids catch up to that size. Cichla are sensitive and DONT FIGHT like other Cichlids so anything other then a Peacock Bass and they can't defened themselves. Your lucky your Orino wasn't killed. I just recently moved my Cobra Pike away from my Cichla gor this very reason.

And of course you know now Vieja are aggressive and will take over the entire tank. What kind of Vieja is it? ANd yes you can help the Cichla with a Temp of 87 deg. and Salt other then that he should be fine. If not stressed.

 

[cichlid savage]

Any updates? The advise you have been given is good so far. If the slime coat on the fish is as bad as you say I would definitely add a bit of stress coat. Other than that no other med unless you get a secondary infection. Keep the temp up do water changes and add the salt.

 

[thefishguy7]

Get him away from the strong current, add an airstone instead. Keep the lights off, basically, try not to let anything disturb him.
Seeing how he was attacked, I wouldn't medicate unless the wounds become infected as Savage said.
Good luck Coty!

 

[Fish on Fire]

Damn, looks like he isn't going to make it, his right gill is damaged too bad. He's now upside down, eyes are glazing, still breathing. I think Imma put him down. Thanks for the advice peeps. Guess I'll get back in the game some other time.

Reason for raising them together was in hopes that they would be able to coexist peacefully as adults. I've always had more success growing juvi fish out together than trying to throw together a bunch of adult fish. It was working fine for a while. The dovi and mota used to pick on the pbass but became used to it and they were doing fine. The red terrors used to keep the vieja in check, the larger one is 9" and the smaller one is only 5". But damn, he was doing well too. Had nice colors, green sheen was showing nicely, blue on the fins, everything you look for in an Orino.

Again, thanks for the help guys. I won't repeat the same mistake again.

 

[High City Rida]

Damn, looks like he isn't going to make it, his right gill is damaged too bad. He's now upside down, eyes are glazing, still breathing. I think Imma put him down. Thanks for the advice peeps. Guess I'll get back in the game some other time.

Reason for raising them together was in hopes that they would be able to coexist peacefully as adults. I've always had more success growing juvi fish out together than trying to throw together a bunch of adult fish. It was working fine for a while. The dovi and mota used to pick on the pbass but became used to it and they were doing fine. The red terrors used to keep the vieja in check, the larger one is 9" and the smaller one is only 5". But damn, he was doing well too. Had nice colors, green sheen was showing nicely, blue on the fins, everything you look for in an Orino.

Again, thanks for the help guys. I won't repeat the same mistake again.

I was not trying to knock your dreams of a multiple sp tank. I too am going for the same look. I lost some fish to not matching or picking tank mates correctly and 2 out of 6 were in your list. I think it is possiable to do what we want, it just takes multiple LARGE tanks. I have raised 24 out 28 cichlids. But I do have all the cichlids I want in my dream tank (SAME SIZE AS YOURS) LOL but GL and don't give up. I would try to get a cichla bigger then the rest of your collection and let him be the pit boss because they slow down at 15'' but in reallitythe cichla will out grow the rest of them he will just have to do it seperatly.

 

[thefishguy7]

Damn, looks like he isn't going to make it, his right gill is damaged too bad. He's now upside down, eyes are glazing, still breathing. I think Imma put him down. Thanks for the advice peeps. Guess I'll get back in the game some other time.

Reason for raising them together was in hopes that they would be able to coexist peacefully as adults. I've always had more success growing juvi fish out together than trying to throw together a bunch of adult fish. It was working fine for a while. The dovi and mota used to pick on the pbass but became used to it and they were doing fine. The red terrors used to keep the vieja in check, the larger one is 9" and the smaller one is only 5". But damn, he was doing well too. Had nice colors, green sheen was showing nicely, blue on the fins, everything you look for in an Orino.

Again, thanks for the help guys. I won't repeat the same mistake again.

Sorry to hear Coty.