DSwofford

My alpha male convict cichlid is extremely lethargic, he is leaning up against a rock at the bottom of the aquarium and he has a few whitish sores on his lips (only on his lips) and some of his anal fin is missing. He has been doing this for about a day now. Him and another female were protecting fry so I think that explains the fin damage, but the spots and lack of movement puzzle me. Everyone else in the tank 80 juveniles and 3 adults all seem fine.
125 gallon tank
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
19 nitrate
Temp is 78 F

This is an extremely stable tank and the parameters have been the same for many months.

I have moved the male to a 29 gallon hospital tank and dosed him with quick cure. Any other suggestions or ideas? I do NOT want to lose him.

10gallonmadness

Did the white sore on his neck look more like a grain of salt or a did it have a more cottony texture?

DSwofford

They're not on his neck, they are on his lips and there's two of them and they don't have texture at all and don't look like a grain of salt either. It just looks white, like someone took an eraser and erased the gray. That's the only way I can describe it.

10gallonmadness

Oh sorry. Well I think it could be ICH. It's just a blank texture right? But it's very hard to tell with out a picture...

DSwofford

I can't get him to come to the front of the tank and don't want to stress him out anymore, but if he makes his way to the front of the tank i'll try to get a picture. I have had my bouts with ich before and this doesn't look like ich. Literally half of his lower lip is solid white and a quarter of his top lip is solid white. Also his color has faded a bit. I am really worried about him.

AlyeskaGirl

There is a disease called "Columnaris" also known as mouth fungus But it's really not a fungus, it's a bacterial infection.

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/di...columnaris.htm

Since you or we don't know what is going on yet I would suggest doing daily partial water changes with Stress Coat. Clean water is the best thing to start with if you don't know what is going on.

DSwofford

Here is a pic of his lips Sorry about the quality it's the best I could do.

Shawnie

was he in with any other cons but his fry and his mate? looks like a fighting injury to me....

DSwofford

Shawnie,
In addition to his mate and fry there are two other adults in the tank. One male and one female. The injury theory makes more sense to me than anything else since none of the other cichlids in the tank show illness symptoms.

What would you suggest I do to speed up his recovery?

Shawnie

clean water/vita chem/ stress coat and partial water changes for a couple weeks.... he isnt an alpha or the others would be injured and have allot of marks as well as him ...

DSwofford

He is twice the size of the others and he is the meanest guy in the tank. I think the wounds came from him defending the nesting pit as they built it under a lace rock cave. I have a labyrinth of caves made from lace rock and he was constantly chasing juveniles and adults through them. I am wondering if those sores are from him running into the rock. Seriously, he is the big daddy of the tank. Everyone scatters when he comes around lol.

DSwofford

OMG I think I might know exactly what those sores on his lips are from. I wonder if he got those from digging a pit for the fry.....

Shawnie

I have a few "big daddy's" myself ...my males are about 7 inches and kept with african cichids...but my fems, at 2 or so inches, will take on an 8 inch dempsey..size doesnt matter in the con world...its all about the tude hahah...