Yellow Lab not looking good!

Cichlids4Ever · 12-21-2006, 11:06 AM

Hi,
I have my cichlid tank since around June with no big problems. No fish deaths at all.
This morning, while feeding, I have noticed one of my smaller Yellow Labs is laboring to get to the top to feed. I looked closer and I see red where the fins join the body, but not in the gills. It looks pretty red as if bleeding??
Does it sound like anything to you, or maybe an injury??
I do have 2 Auratus in there so maybe they were picking at the poor guy??

dlee9707 · 12-21-2006, 12:51 PM

as for now you should probably get it into a hospital tank as unstressfully as possible. as for a good medication or diagnosis, that would be up for someone else to say.

Tommy Gun · 12-21-2006, 05:02 PM

Oh, man Cichlids!

This is most likely a good sign of the start of a Septicemia infection, which can be transfered throughout all your other fish. Read this: http://www.fish-disease.net/diseases.htm

I would first look very very closely at all the other fish and make sure you do not see any signs of parasites or other problems. From reading that link above, it appears as if this is a very serious problem, but mostly a secondary effect due to something else. However, this could be something that has come about due to what you point out with a bully auratus creating some open wounds on the fish.

Right now, I am not 100% sure if you should remove the fish from the tank, or just treat the entire tank. For safety, my instincts are telling me to just put it in a q/tank or hospital tank and treat it individually with one of the medicines listed on that link. They are pretty commonly found, and I think that Marycin might have some in it, but I am NOT sure, so I would write them down and go to an LFS and look for yourself.

Lastly, I would keep a hawk's eye on your fish for signs of other infections. I think you may be in luck if you found this early enough!

Cichlids4Ever · 12-21-2006, 07:10 PM

Thanks all...

TG...
I went to town and asked the LFS manager(who happens to be very smart with fish), and she said septicemia too, but she said to do a massive water change and look at the others closey as you said.
Well, none of the othe fish have any signs.

You know what's weird? I got home from town and the redness was gone!
What the heck?? She also said the fact that I took the cichlids away from salt could cause this.
Maybe they should go back on cichlid salt??

I have edited the post:
The redness is back again!!

I wonder if it is the buffers. I use baking soda????

The article says poor water quality, but my tank has picture perfect water chemistry??
I added back the cichlid lake salt, and tomorrow I will go and see about meds..

I read the article and it seems that salt is a good thing...
Maybe some Pima fix too??

Tommy Gun · 12-21-2006, 08:41 PM

I think you are going to find equal amounts of websites and references that will tell you salt is good and salt is bad. I think in your case, by using the cichlid lake salts, you are adding a lot of good things to your water that are not 100% salt related like trace elements. However, I just hope you can go easy on the salts and do not become too dependent on them. The trick here is to not become a 'slave' to this product or that product. These salt treatments and additives are not the 'end-all, be-all' for every situation that you are going to encounter. Really, it is mainly an Ich treatment with some other, less common, problem parasites like Velvet, but other than that, it has a small impact on the overall health of your fish. You can add all of those trace elements in the cichlid lake salts with other products that contain no salt as well. I just dont want to see you become too dependent on the salt as a first step for every thing when you do not really need it. Know what I mean?

If this is septicemia, I would seperate the fish from the rest. That would be the best thing to do for right now both for that fish, and the others. This is all not to mention being better for you because then you can observe things better in both tanks while treating as needed without having to have too much impact on your main tank. If you cannot quaranteen, then you just need to watch really really really close. I would get a 10 gallon tank for use as a hospital/quaranteen tank soon though since bacteria problems like this can be treated with a lot of meds, however all of those meds are going also remove the benificial bacteria within the tank and so you do not want to treat your main tank if you dont have to!

Cichlids4Ever · 12-21-2006, 09:17 PM

Thanks TG...
The cichlid lake salt is used very sparingly...
Just 3/4 tsp per 10 gallons.
It comes in a very large bottle, more than a quart of powder for 20 dollars.
It treats tons of water and it is loaded with other "stuff" besides just salt, so your advice is good as always!

I did move the Lab into a sick tank.
He looks active and is eating, but I do see traces of red now near the tail also.
Poor thing.. I wonder what caused it?
I know it is not poor water quality.
Maybe I took the salt out too rapidly..I should have went slower...
I'll post back again as things move on.

Cichlids4Ever · 12-22-2006, 02:04 PM

TG...
It doesn't look good at all.
Most of the fish have the red streaking now, and I cannot afford Marycin for 75 gallons of treatment.
Over 80 dollars!
I have changed out 90% of my water, re-introduced the cichlid salt, and added Melafix for whatever reason...
They look terrible..