Marinero

Hello,

I have an emergency! One of my mbunas african cichlids is in trouble. He appears to have some damage to his tail fin and is swimming vertically in place and even slightly upsidedown! I think the dominate male in the tank has injuried him!

He's looking exhausted. Is there anything I can do for him? Any suggestions?

mlinden84

Do you have another tank you could move him to?
Also, do you have enough hiding places for them?

sgould

If he has been injured, I would remove him to a quarantine tank if you can. Basically get him away from the agressor until he can heal. Add Vita-chem to the water he is in...other members have had good luck with it speeding fin healing. When he goes back in the main tank, evaluate how many hiding places there are...can you add more? Might be a good idea to rearrange the existing decor a bit as well, so that any territory the aggressor has established will be "reset", meaning he will no longer have an established turf to defend.

Isabella

Besides the above responses/questions, how large are your 6 Mbunas and your Pleco? What are your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings?

Marinero

My nitrate is 20, nitrite 0 and amon. is 0. My 5 mbunas (the 6 was from months ago) range from 2.5 to 4 inches and the red barron pleco is about 4 inches so I'd say about 25 to 30 inches of fish total.

I don't have a quarinte tank but now I'm considering one. What's the recovery time more or less for fin damage?

btw...thank you for all the quick responses!!!

Marinero

Oh and yes there are lots of lava rocks and caves but the dominate male has found a mate recently and there is a female holding fry....since the previous dominate male has left the tank...this new dominate male has been a tyrant and hooking up with one of the females (never had the fry problem until just lately).

So it's the fry/mating issue and I wonder if I need to try to get more fish in there so that there are more distractions for bullies? Maybe establish a new dominate male?

Isabella

Well, first off, your tank is not overstocked, so that's good. Altnough, if I had any sick fish in a tank, I'd try to keep my Nitrate as low as possible, 0 at best. Clean water helps healing faster. Clean water also helps prevent any fungus catching the injured spot.

You mean, you suspect that the dominating mbuna male has caused the damage to the fin in the other Mbuna? The sadistic (lol) Mbuna is the father of the eggs, right? If so, it's natural that he's aggressive as he's probably defending the eggs. Cichlids become aggressive during breeding times. So I think you've found the cause for your sick Mbuna's injured fin.

Allie

Melafix is a wonder for africans & their constant wounds. Defiantly put it in a sick tank with some salt raise up the temp a tad higher than what the main tank is. Hopefully your fishy will be ok.

Marinero

Thank you all for the great tips...I'm on my way to clean up the tank and to get some of that suggested "medicine."

And yes, the current dominate male (his name is Assassin Blue) is also a father. I'd like him to not be the dominate male and to stop multiplying. The mother is a demansia (spelling?).

Any suggestions as to a new dominate male I could introduce to the tank? Hopefully this would make the two 'love birds' to break up

Allie

My suggestion is to pick a few species you like have 1 male to at least 2 females...other wise you'll end up with a bunch of hybrid fish. Unfortunately in the african world hybrids are a no no...no one will buy them. Oh if you only have one female she may get murdered during breeding time...an african tank usually has more of the dull females On the other hand all pretty males will pop in all the silver and browns of the most hap females.
With Mbuna both sex are colorful.

Isabella

I don't think increasing the numbers of fish will help you. I think what you need is to break up your tank space well (i.e. a lot of caves and hiding spots) so that the mated pair are not bothered by other fish while breeding. Otherwise, they're bound to be aggressive at breeding times indefinitely.

Whatever the medication you get, remove activated carbon / charcoal from your filter before medicating your tank. Otherwise, the activated carbon / charcoal will remove the medication from your water. Also, like Allie said, increase the temp. of your tank (to around 82F) during the medicating period. If it is safe with Mbunas (and I don't know if it is or is not) you can also add aquarium salt to the tank (1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water). Mix the salt COMPLETELY (until it dissolves) in a cup or two of tank water first, then pour the solution VERY SLOWLY into your tank. DO NOT pour everything into your tank at once! After you're done treating your fish, insert a new activated carbon / charcoal into your filter, so that it helps you remove the medication from the water. Of course, continue doing your regular water changes.

mlinden84

From my understanding they need the salt.
The tanks are often overstocked to reduce agressiveness. If you chose to do this, just make sure you have extra filtration (i have 2 power filters in my 55 gallon tank) and make sure the water parameters are ok. From my experience this has helped a lot with the agression.