My assorted Africans are twitching, help I don't want to lose my fish!?

Question

I have a 29 gallon fish tank with assorted africans and one plecostomus. It has been established for over a year now and I normally have no problems in fact i have had two batches of babies from one pair. The problem started with a head twitch on some of my fish when they were "resting". then i noticed white stringy feces from a few so I used some medicine I got from the store called Parasite clear because it described these symptoms.the next day my fish were acting normal but after a few days and a 25% water change two of my fish were acting funny and that most of them were "twitching" their heads. I noticed on one which is my breeding male. that his eyes were kina cloudy and he had some pale spots on him. So I think I messed up and added some fungus clear because of his eyes, now his eyes are clear but he's still laying around and the other one is laying on his side and is very faded in coloring and holds his fins close to him. Please any ideas?

I see no signs of ick and there is no rust covering its more like their color has washed out but I do observe a few of them scratching on the rocks.

Answer 1

It certainly sounds like parasites to me, but probably a case in which they didn't clear up as quickly as you thought. I would suggest returning to the parasite medication and treating the tank for at least 7 days, 10 would be better, even if the fish seem better after only a few days. With the cloudy eyes and pale spots on the fish I would be inclined to diagnose this as a protozoan infestation which your parasite medication should clear fairly easily. If it doesn't seem to help the problem after 2-3 days, I too would suggest you switch to Clout.

If I can help any further feel free to email me.

MM

Answer 2

The symptoms you were describing for the first problem is what is known as 'malawi bloat' and is usually caused by improper diet, but can also be caused by inferior water conditions or constant agressional stress. Many 'assorted africans' cannot handle too much animal protein and should have a diet largely consisting of spirulina flake and should never be given fatty foods like worms or bloodworms. White stringy feces is a good thing (for this disease), because they're still pooping. Observe the tank carefully - it's when they stop defecating altogether that you know the problem has progressed to the point of near fatality. Once they become listless and clamped finned, it's near the end.

A good, strong medication like Clout is best for this problem. Unfortunately because the med is so strong, it can actually kill a weakened fish before healing it, but it's a chance worth taking since they would die anyway.

Another thing with these fish is that they are very territorial and will get stressed in too small of a tank, and stress will lead to all sorts of health issues. Have you noticed any fish picking on these particular ones?

A 29 gallon tank is considered tiny for these types of fish and I'm afraid it really isn't big enough. Only a few well chosen 'assorted africans' (which means they wouldn't be assorted anymore, but properly identified) can fit in a 3 foot tank, and most should have at least a 4 foot tank. As soon as you fix one problem you are bound to run into another in that setup.

And yes, I know it worked fine for the first year, but that's the funny thing with these fish - the bigger and older they get, the more aggressive they tend to become. I've kept these fish for years and know that for long term success they require research and knowledge, careful species selection and grouping, and a big tank.

Answer 3

If it was a parasite it's possible that the eggs had been lain and hatched after your initial treatment.

Fungal infections sometimes follow other types of infections. The fish are weakened and the fungus can just come in and take hold.

Twitching can be a result of fungal infections. Are they also flashing? Swimming up against the edges or bottom rubbing their sides?

Do you see any signs of ich? Some of these other symptoms often accompany ich. Ich is tough to treat because often by the time you see the tell-tale white dots on the bodies there are already sores inside the fish.

You might be dealing with velvet... Read here for some details and instructions on treatment:
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/velvet.htm

YOu'll want to raise the water temp and treat with salt at any rate- that's important for most fish illnesses.

Answer 4

I would continue doing water changes at leaste 10% a day. I would also add some aquarium salt to help with stress levels while you are medicating. I would look into gill flukes and maybe treat again for internal parasites. Good Luck!

Answer 5

I don't know about the fish but we we Africans are assorted, you see we come in all shades of brown and that's very exciting to me. Keep us in your fish tank and marvell at these wonders.

Answer 6

A good website for all sorts of Cichlid problems and solutions etc is :

www.cichlid-forum.com

I learned a ton of stuff from there and would have been lost without it when I set up my tank! LOL

Good Luck