chester82006
02-17-2010, 02:41 AM
I've had my 75 gallon african tank going for a few months now and things have gone smoothly until this past week. I started out with 5-6 fish... yellow labs, a pair of acei, and a blue cobolt. I added 2 more at a time every week after that and now have about 15 cichlids in there including zebra and more yellow labs. The aggression seems to have been balancing out well.
Now this is where my scary problem begins: Within the last week I had put 2 zebras in there that my LFS had gotten at a "good price", whatever that means. They looked healthy so I took them. A few days later one of the zebras looked paralyzed and like it may have gotten attacked? It was swimming up with it's head straining like it was bobbing for air and the rest of it's body motionless. It had some weird looking marks on his body too. I right away put it in a fry sanctuary within the tank (since I have no hospital tanks) and tried to help it out. By the next morning he was dead. Now my acei pair are looking SO rough, red open wounds, fins diminishing fast, scales missing, white stuff around their mouth. Their skin kind of looks like what a pleco's skin would end up like if there was too much salt in the tank. They're not going to last long, and I'm at a loss to figuring out what can make this situation better. My blue cobalt also just lays at the bottom hiding with his left fin looking immobilized, around the bottom of his mouth I see discolored looking things. He was recently just spunky, and so healthy. I also have one yellow lab who is a phenomenal runt who has fit in with the gang. He never grew, and is still just about an inch who swam happily and ate with one eye until yesterday. I now see red sores on his right side.
The rest of the inhabitants are doing alright for now, I'm just worried whatever this is will spread rapidly. I definitely need some advice. Thanks so much :help: :22:
:o Sorry forgot to add:
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrates: between 20 and 40 which is higher than usual :\
Nitrite: 0 ppm
pH: 8.2
Now this is where my scary problem begins: Within the last week I had put 2 zebras in there that my LFS had gotten at a "good price", whatever that means. They looked healthy so I took them. A few days later one of the zebras looked paralyzed and like it may have gotten attacked? It was swimming up with it's head straining like it was bobbing for air and the rest of it's body motionless. It had some weird looking marks on his body too. I right away put it in a fry sanctuary within the tank (since I have no hospital tanks) and tried to help it out. By the next morning he was dead. Now my acei pair are looking SO rough, red open wounds, fins diminishing fast, scales missing, white stuff around their mouth. Their skin kind of looks like what a pleco's skin would end up like if there was too much salt in the tank. They're not going to last long, and I'm at a loss to figuring out what can make this situation better. My blue cobalt also just lays at the bottom hiding with his left fin looking immobilized, around the bottom of his mouth I see discolored looking things. He was recently just spunky, and so healthy. I also have one yellow lab who is a phenomenal runt who has fit in with the gang. He never grew, and is still just about an inch who swam happily and ate with one eye until yesterday. I now see red sores on his right side.
The rest of the inhabitants are doing alright for now, I'm just worried whatever this is will spread rapidly. I definitely need some advice. Thanks so much :help: :22:
:o Sorry forgot to add:
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrates: between 20 and 40 which is higher than usual :\
Nitrite: 0 ppm
pH: 8.2