Help! Emergency! My fishy is acting strange.

[revil]

One of my Labeotropheus Trewavasae (malawi cichlid) is acting really strange. it's just hanging out at the top of the tank in the corner. at first i thought it was dead, but after i went at it with the net, it swam away. but after a few minutes, it went right back to where it was!

Here's what's going on with the tank. I hadn't been paying attn to the temprature in the tank lately, even though the room temprature has been rising with the spring season. well, apparently my heater was set too high. Now i just noticed this, so i turned it lower so the water can cool down. the temp of the tank was nearing 90 degrees. during winter it was usually anywhere from 80-85 degrees.

I'm thinking he may be staying in that position because he's trying to cool down or something.

also, i read this page: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/l_trewavasae.php

One of the most interesting things about the genus Labeotropheus is their characteristic curved-over, upper lip. This is an adaptation that helps them to scrape algae off of rocks. Many of the Labeotropheus live at the mouths of rivers, where the current is very strong. Their curved lip allows them to scrape the algae from a more horizontal angle. They have thus adapted to this habitat, whereas other fish who have to approach the rocks from a vertical position are unable to battle the current while in this position. Trewavasae have also adapted themselves to this oxygen-rich habitat. They require water with a high saturation of O2. In fact, I have noticed that when my tnaks are overcrowded, the trewavasae are always the first to linger at the top, gasping for air.

so maybe my air mixture isn't good?

any ideas?

edit: also note that he doesn't like to stay vertical, (s)he has been turning his body to an angle,

[sbp]

Paging DarkFury, Paging DarkFury.

[revil]

I just made a temperary sick tank using my buckets and an extra power filter i had. just put the sick fish in it. at least i think he's sick

[OC]

I hope he gets better rev

[Markel]

I seriously hope that you are not using a "plastic" bucket - most of them will kill fish.

[ufcrusher]

I second DF's notion of rearranging the caves or lava rock around to kind of shake up the tank so that the fish can have a space of its own. The other thing to do is actually remove the dominant male, there will be a squabble to regain dominance, but at the same time if most of the other fish are the same size and strength, it might buy you some time.

As for the buckets, I always used the large paint buckets that had never been used. Used to mix the salts and to cure live rock in. Then again, I always had extra tanks laying around for infirmary use.

[revil]

ok, that sounds about right. it was being picked on. So tommorrow, i'll goi to the fish store and get some more things for the fishies to hid in. any sugestions?

edit: oh, and what do you mean by outgrow my tank? could it just be that they out grew their hiding areas and i need to create more?

[Joshua]

Die Fishy Die! Unless it's a parahna.. Parahnas are cool..

huh.. huh.. huh...

[ufcrusher]

Originally posted by SnotRocket
Die Fishy Die! Unless it's a parahna.. Parahnas are cool..

huh.. huh.. huh...

A what? A what? Are you trying to say Piranha...because if so, you FAILED. FAILED, I say. :D

[revil]

crap. So i bought a lot more rock to put in the tank creating lots of caves and such. Now my most mature male fish thinks the entire tank is his. he's patrolling the tanks and scaring every fish out of every nook and cranny. And he's doing something i never saw him do before. he's shaking his whole body while now going aywhere. like he's trying to scare fish away.

now the origional fish that i had thought was dead is doing the same thing now. and he IS getting picked on by many of the other fish. more aggressivly now. (probably because they're fighting for teritory now), but now this fish has visable injuries to his fins. :(

do you think adding a little salt will help calm the fish down? Sadly, I can't get any limestone anytime soon. i have to travel a bit to the nearest rock quarry.

[Kevster]

Revil -

Go to a hardware store and get a mirror cut to the dimensions of one side of your tank. Put this up (with tape) on the side so that the alpha fish will think there is another fish the exact same size as him in the tank. He will make a bee-line for the side and will attack his mirror-image for a while (quite entertaining watching fish attack a wall).

This works for a little while - it will buy time for your picked-on fish to heal up.

Another alternative is to put a few more fish in the tank so that it is crowded enough that fish won't have the opportunity to stake out claims on parts of the tank. I have done this in the past and it has worked out pretty well.

[revil]

Originally posted by Kevster
Go to a hardware store and get a mirror cut to the dimensions of one side of your tank. Put this up (with tape) on the side so that the alpha fish will think there is another fish the exact same size as him in the tank. He will make a bee-line for the side and will attack his mirror-image for a while (quite entertaining watching fish attack a wall).

Oh man, that's working quite well! and quite entertaining.

[Jenny]

don't you mean, 3 to 1 female to male ratio? 3 females to 1 male? Or am I thinking wrong...

[revil]

oddly enough, even the females are picking on her. i think it may be because she's already injured.

[x1337xD335C1P13x]

Originally posted by DarkFury

Doc Fury to the rescue... STAT!


Revil... I don't think your fish is sick. It sounds more to me like he is a "sub domininate" male or a weaker female and is gettin' picked on by a more agressive fish (perhaps the Alpha male in the tank).

All I can suggest for this is that you re-arrange your caves in your tank and possibly put some plastic plants in there to give him/her more cover to hide in.

This might be a sign that your fish are beginning to outgrow your tank.

tehheee^^

[revil]

Originally posted by x1337xD335C1P13x
tehheee^^
dude, you on crack or something?

[revil]

Originally posted by DarkFury

Might be... Movin' in for the KILL :mad3:
True, true. I cam back from classes today to find out they still be picking on her pretty hard even though i got the mirror installed, lowered the temp, etc. Her tail and other fins are pretty banged up and she doesn't seem to be eating much. So I decided to go buy a smaller tank to use as a sick tank. then at the store i saw the price of even the smaller tanks and i decided my bucked with a a couple of plastic plants is good enough.

But I think I'll keep her in that bucket until she shows good signs of improvment and starts eating like she usually did.

just couldn't stand watching the other fish pick at her to death. :(

Are there any consequences I should know about for seperating her like that?

[revil]

Originally posted by DarkFury
Well... filtration might be an issue.
Well, I have a filter on the bucket. I'm probably going to get some cycle or whatever it's called to help get the bacteria levels up.

But what I meant is when I re-introduce her to the tank.

[ufcrusher]

You should have a hospital tank laying around for emergencies such as this, a 10 gallon tank with a Whisper filter, no gravel or anything. This way you can medicate and monitor the fish to make sure its ok. Since its a rift cichlid, you can put in a small rock or two, so long as you boiled them first to make sure they were cured.