Turkana jewel cichlids

[Warden2021]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone's has turkana jewel cichlids? I purchased 8 of them. And after a few weeks I've noticed a few of them twitching and rubbing on things...they twitching is while they are floating still in the water, they start to twitch kinda like shake a bit....but they haven't stopped.
Has anyone experience this with the turkana jewel???..my water parameters are all good....0 ammom.....o nitrites......05 nitrates...75 ph....
I've already dosed Metroplex for 2 weeks
Prazi pro for 2 cycles
And fin and body 1 cycle.
So I don't understand why they are twitching like that
....its only like 3 of them 8 doing that...can someone help?

 

[tlindsey]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone's has turkana jewel cichlids? I purchased 8 of them. And after a few weeks I've noticed a few of them twitching and rubbing on things...they twitching is while they are floating still in the water, they start to twitch kinda like shake a bit....but they haven't stopped.
Has anyone experience this with the turkanahttps://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/lake-turkana-jewel-cichlid.724808/#post-8178276 jewel???..my water parameters are all good....0 ammom.....o nitrites......05 nitrates...75 ph....
I've already dosed Metroplex for 2 weeks
Prazi pro for 2 cycles
And fin and body 1 cycle.
So I don't understand why they are twitching like that
....its only like 3 of them 8 doing that...can someone help?

Welcome aboard

There is a member that has them.

 

[Deadeye]

Anything on them, spots or fuzzy patches?
Could be breeding/territorial related.

 

[Warden2021]

No, they all look ok. No signs of any illness. Iont understand. Its not a breeding sign....its only happening to 2 of the 8 jewels I have.
They are like shaking a little as they are free floating in the water... Its almost like a twitch every 2 specs..as I said, I recently medicated the while tank so, ion know what they could possibly have or what's wrong. The water its clean...regular changes.

 

[Warden2021]

No, they all look ok. No signs of any illness. Iont understand. Its not a breeding sign....its only happening to 2 of the 8 jewels I have.
They are like shaking a little as they are free floating in the water... Its almost like a twitch every 2 specs..as I said, I recently medicated the while tank so, ion know what they could possibly have or what's wrong. The water its clean...regular changes.

Do you know the members name that had them....maybe he could tell me something In know?

 

[Stephen St.Clair]

Sounds like Gill Flukes to me. Probably not a good idea to blindly medicate.
It's not unusual for even healthy fish to carry a very small population of Flukes. That might explain an occasional random flash or shimmy.
A fish's healthy immune system & clean environment go a long way to suppress, but not totally eliminate, the pesky parasite.
Since the Prazi isn't effective you might try Formalin, but I would advise against it.
IMO, it's best to concentrate on an exceptionally clean environment & quality nutrition. I feed NLS Thera +A as a parasite preventative. It's heavily laced with garlic.
If the twitching Jewels are eating and otherwise acting normally, likely no long term worries.

 

[Warden2021]

They are eating....but I never had a problem eradicating gill flutes with Prazi pro and Metroplex ....fin and body rot etc... All of which I tried over a 1 month span.. As I said only like 2 or 3 are twitching a bit and flashing now...I keep my water pristine...water changes once a week, 70%. Sometimes. A and water changes at 30% is done...I knew Turkana jewels are new and not much is our there...but I'm hoping some people in this site may have them and experienced the same issues I'm having g with the shaking/rubbing etc

 

[Stephen St.Clair]

I've only kept the standard Jewels & have just read about the Turkana.
You might just be dealing with territorial displays or breeding behaviors, especially if the noted Jewels are male.
I've successfully used Formalin in the past to eliminate gill Flukes from Discus. It's nasty stuff. The fumes made my eyes water. I didn't notice any long term adverse effects to the Discus, but only use formalin as a last resort.
If I observe fish suddenly begin flashing behavior w/ no other symptoms, especially new arrivals, bumping the temperature up to 86 - 87 degrees for ten days often fixes the problem.
The noted Jewels might simply be suffering from a touch of early stage Ich.

 

[Warden2021]

Yea, its not territorial displays or mating rituals....ima try to get a video up soon...I'm new to this site and they say I need 6 post before I can post videos?

 

[duanes]

Sounds like territorial and breeding behavior to me.
When courting many cichlids twitch at each other, and rub the substrate in an area they claim as a breeding spot.
If they are glancing, where it looks like they are trying to dislodge a parasite that is a totally different action.
To be sure, if you could take a video and post it, that could go a long way to getting the right answer to the question.
And until you do......stop medicating....unless you really need medication, you could be doing more harm than good.
The only thing I would add would be salt (up to 2.5 lbs per 100 gallons (and if you do add it gradually).
Lake Turkana is a saline lake (2.4% saline) , so a bit of salt added to the point of being almost brackish, would be similar to their natural habitat.
The lake also has a pH above 9, and water temps are in the low to mid 80s F.
The video below from Oliver Lucanus show a little of the presapwning behavior.
HEMICHROMIS EXSUL ! - a unique jewel cichlid from Lake Turkana, Profile 1