Please help! Baby blood parrot cichlid dying fast

Hi

Got a baby blood parrot from Petsmart. He had ich when I bought him, I've been trying to get rid of it.

Added some AQ Salt to the tank (he was in a ten gallon so I added a couple tsp). Also some parasite remedy. Been changing the water (with conditioner) everyday.

The whites of his eyes appear to be turning red. Clamped fins. (That's been going on for about 3 days and lethargy for about 5 days.) Stopped eating today and starting to turn over. Adding extra bubbles to his water. He has a filter......I don't know what else to include.

Water parameters are good because he's getting new water daily. Please help.

ALSO: He's been bottom sitting with the clamped fins on the sand, but every now and then he seems to just pop up, like he has hiccups. What does that mean?

 

First, try to breath. I’ve been exactly where you are and I know how stressful things like this are.
A great and simple home remedy is to make medicated fish food. It’s easy and ready to use in 10 minutes. In a bowl, I take 3 ounces of any pellet food, (you can use flake but it’s messier and you really gotta make sure it dries right) and add 1/2 tsp fresh grated garlic (for your case, I’d up it to 1 tsp), 1/2 tsp aquarium salt, and a small amount of tank water.
What you’re gonna do is add all the ingredients to a bowl and then wet the food with the tank water. Just enough to make the pellets moist; you don’t want them turning to mush. Give it a really good stir and then allow it to sit for 10 minutes. Letting it sit allows the key chemicals in garlic to activate fully. After ten minutes, it’s ready to be served. After a few hours sitting out, it’ll be totally dry and ready for storage. The garlic will not only fight Ich internally, it’ll stimulate your parrot’s appetite, the aquarium salt will act as a laxative and flush their system. If you don’t have fresh garlic, you can use powdered.

 

Hi

Got a baby blood parrot from Petsmart. He had ich when I bought him, I've been trying to get rid of it.

Added some AQ Salt to the tank (he was in a ten gallon so I added a couple tsp). Also some parasite remedy. Been changing the water (with conditioner) everyday.

The whites of his eyes appear to be turning red. Clamped fins. (That's been going on for about 3 days and lethargy for about 5 days.) Stopped eating today and starting to turn over. Adding extra bubbles to his water. He has a filter......I don't know what else to include.

Water parameters are good because he's getting new water daily. Please help.

ALSO: He's been bottom sitting with the clamped fins on the sand, but every now and then he seems to just pop up, like he has hiccups. What does that mean?

First, try to breath. I’ve been exactly where you are and I know how stressful things like this are.
A great and simple home remedy is to make medicated fish food. It’s easy and ready to use in 10 minutes. In a bowl, I take 3 ounces of any pellet food, (you can use flake but it’s messier and you really gotta make sure it dries right) and add 1/2 tsp fresh grated garlic (for your case, I’d up it to 1 tsp), 1/2 tsp aquarium salt, and a small amount of tank water.
What you’re gonna do is add all the ingredients to a bowl and then wet the food with the tank water. Just enough to make the pellets moist; you don’t want them turning to mush. Give it a really good stir and then allow it to sit for 10 minutes. Letting it sit allows the key chemicals in garlic to activate fully. After ten minutes, it’s ready to be served. After a few hours sitting out, it’ll be totally dry and ready for storage. The garlic will not only fight Ich internally, it’ll stimulate your parrot’s appetite, the aquarium salt will act as a laxative and flush their system. If you don’t have fresh garlic, you can use powdered.

What size tank is he in and how much aquarium salt are you adding after every water change? Since this is a serous case of ich, you’re gonna have to add an aggressive amount. Personally, I add a 1 Tbsp to my 5.5 gallon quarantine tank just as a preventive. If something like this were going on, I’d add 1 tsp every two hours and watch how it affects the fish. Blood Parrots aren’t sensitive salt like other fish are so don’t be afraid of it but don’t just go in blind either. If you’ve got a heater, turn it up to 82 degrees. Upping the temp will speed up the parasite’s life cycle and die faster.

 

I would raise the temperature to 86f and ensure you have good levels of oxygen in the water, via a air pump or increase surface agitation.

 

First, try to breath. I’ve been exactly where you are and I know how stressful things like this are.
A great and simple home remedy is to make medicated fish food. It’s easy and ready to use in 10 minutes. In a bowl, I take 3 ounces of any pellet food, (you can use flake but it’s messier and you really gotta make sure it dries right) and add 1/2 tsp fresh grated garlic (for your case, I’d up it to 1 tsp), 1/2 tsp aquarium salt, and a small amount of tank water.
What you’re gonna do is add all the ingredients to a bowl and then wet the food with the tank water. Just enough to make the pellets moist; you don’t want them turning to mush. Give it a really good stir and then allow it to sit for 10 minutes. Letting it sit allows the key chemicals in garlic to activate fully. After ten minutes, it’s ready to be served. After a few hours sitting out, it’ll be totally dry and ready for storage. The garlic will not only fight Ich internally, it’ll stimulate your parrot’s appetite, the aquarium salt will act as a laxative and flush their system. If you don’t have fresh garlic, you can use powdered.

Thanks you! Thank you! Good to know someone else can relate. Any idea what the hiccup motion could be caused from? He doesn't unclamp his fins when the does it, just kinda pop up off the sand suddenly before plopping back down. He does it once every 15-20 seconds or so.

 

Thanks you! Thank you! Good to know someone else can relate. Any idea what the hiccup motion could be caused from? He doesn't unclamp his fins when the does it, just kinda pop up off the sand suddenly before plopping back down. He does it once every 15-20 seconds or so.

That’s a first for me, but, taking an educated guess? The ich is probably irritating his gills causing his breathing to be irregular and his body is trying to fix it via the hiccups. You said he had red eyes; are they still like that? Reddened eyes are a big red flag but I don’t want to overload you with what if’s and worst case scenarios. Especially if it’s unnecessary. Also, what’s your tank set up? Size, temp, etc. knowing that and your water parameters can help me help you.

 

How’s he doing?

 

Well I was about to make a similar post to this one.. probably still will. I noticed my blood parrot juvenile that I got from pet smart has white spots (100% sure now its ich) in its fins. Cinders not acting sick has appetite and very curious of me. 1st time it came to front of tank and I fed it flakes by hand. That's how I was able to get a good look at the white spots on tail and fin..I noticed specks on fins a few days ago but couldn't get a good look because cinders still plays somewhat shy . I up the heat (not sure if that's a good idea though) and put ich guard tablets in water. . Turn of filter. I cant use salt because of live plants..I'm still tad worried about the medicine killing said plants. I will try that garlic with food later today....wonder if blood worms will soak it up...