Acei stone-fish

[sheamurai]

Hi
I have an odd thing happening here. I tried to search the forums, but its hard to find the proper key word to search with.
I have an Acei that looks fine, and can swim ok, but when he stops, he sinks like a stone. He'll sit wherever - on the bottom, on a rock shelf, and just lay there. If he aligns himself right - which he tries to do, kinda cute, really - he doesn't even move his side fins.
When I feed, out he comes and stuffs himself, but the second the food is gone, down he goes. He sits there like the sphinx until someone needs chasing or the next feeding time.
Any ideas on what this is? Should I quarantine him?

[Dixie]

I would quarantine him. It sounds like something is surley wrong.
How long did you have him before he started doing this?
What is your pH & ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings?
Have you noticed any aggression towards him or nipped fins?
Any white stringy feces coming from him?

[sheamurai]

all my water parameters are normal. I've only had the acei's for a month, but the other two are not showing any symptoms, nor is anyone else in that same tank. No aggression evident - if anything, its the acei's that do the pestering in that tank.
Haven't seen any feces, stringy or otherwise...but he's only been doing this for 2 days...

[domjd05]

acei's are usually the least aggressive of mbuna... I never experienced what your are talking about with any of my acei's, I would QT it

... what are you feeding it?

[sheamurai]

flake, pellets, frozen mysis, frozen brine, spirulina flakes, frozen daphnia, frozen krill. The aceis don't seem to much like the krill or mysis. I even threw in some soft zucchini once, but they didn't care for it. Ended up removing it the next day...

[domjd05]

aceis are pretty much just herbavores.. the occasional meaty treat is ok.. but I would stick to a vegetarian diet for day to day feeding.

[sheamurai]

Yes, the meaty treats were not meant for the acei's, but its pretty hard to spot feed...

[domjd05]

all mbuna in general are herbavores.. I wouldn't really bother feeding any of them with meaty foods..

[rangur1]

i have 4 tanks full of mbuna cichlids including acei. this action is very unnatural for them. the few fish i ever saw act like that died within a week. is the belly swollen? what are companion fish? ph? temp?

[sheamurai]

No, its belly is not swollen, pH is 8.0 (out of the tap) and I have a variety of mbunas in there.
The acei actually seems to be better today - its swimming more than sitting, but when swimming you can see its body sink a bit in between fin flaps. As it swims it dips along the way. I think its much better than hardly swimming tho.
I'm starting to think something is going thru my tank - 1st my compressiceps was not eating for a week, then my acei doing its weird thing (still ate well tho), and now that both of them are doing a bit better now my juvie hap 44 is not eating. The hap is the youngest fish in the tank tho, I hope its strong enough to get thru whatever is going on...

[sheamurai]

Acei is defintely better today - not just wishful thinking on my part! Lol.
Now, I just have to worry about my little hap 44. Not eating and his stripes have faded...I will be SO relieved when that tank finally levels out!

[sheamurai]

Well, I finally was at the fs today, and as no one had any suggestions for parasite meds, I bought the good old Jungle Tank Buddies Parasite Clear.
I hate to treat the whole tank, but hopefully this will clear everything up.

[Dixie]

I would rather remove sick fish and treat seperatly from the main tank.
If you would switch to New Life Spectrum food for african cichlids, it would meet the needs of all your fish and you wouldn't have to worry about the wrong ones getting food not intended for them. The shrimp etc. could be alot of the problem. With the acei, it's also possible you got a "defective" one. I think I would feel more comfortable treating with epsome salt before using a strong medication. Just my opinion. Whatever you try, I hope it helps. Please let us know.

[sheamurai]

I have fed NLS pellets since day one. Only started trying other stuff to try and tempt the Comp to eat SOMEthing...hap 44 is looking better today, he has stripes again and is eating...acei is also better, comp still is NOT eating tho, stubborn fellow...I am NEVER buying wild caught fish again!

I would rather remove the fish for treatment as well, but I would have had to remove all the rocks to have a chance of getting him out...to me the stress of all that would have been equal to the stress of treating the whole tank. What do other folks do when they have to net a slippery cichlid? perhaps I am just a noob netter?

[Dixie]

The Comp could be stressed by the acei & hap 44 (they do better in a Lake Tang. tank). What other fish are in your tank?

Subjecting healthy fish to medication isn't the same as the stress on a tank from trying to catch a fish. I think it's more to do with the fish becoming ammuine to the meds & them not working well when needed.

I either use 2 nets or a net and my other hand to corral fish into the net. Nothing wrong with getting your arms wet haha. It can still be hard though.

[sheamurai]

hmm, never thought of getting a second net..too bad there isn't a herd dog fish around to help corral fish for netting!
along with the acei's and hap 44 I have a couple of lemons and a yellow lab...

[Dixie]

:hmm3grin2orange: A herder fish would be nice. Glad to hear they're doing some better.
What are the lemon fish?

[sheamurai]

lamp lelupi=lemon cichlid (so I've read, anyway)