Dang Wyite. I uh, hose off any rocks the kids find. Maybe.

LOL, maybe I take it to extremes...

WYite

Lol that is what I thought too....I rinse mine in very hot water, brush off and call it good.....but to the newbie....

lol...I totally missed the "rock"umentary...

I hose them off, scrub off any dirt with a brush and then boil them for 10min or so to sanitize them. Let them cool overnight and then place them in the tank.

Im thinking we could be wrong about the entire wounded thing. The other 2 Acei are acting the same way now. After i got the nitirites under control the other day i have not even see circling in the tank anymore. Everyone else is happy and what not....

I am getting conflicting info about ACEI from different sites. One says they are just plant eaters / others say they are plant and meat eaters could that be the issue? im feeding pellets atm and just the ACEi are sick or whatever.

Also it seems as if their tails are not working. Instead of having a flared tail fin to swim with its contracted..... 2 of the 3 are now dragging ass around the tank with the 3rd not being active..

Can you get a pic? The Acei are by far the least aggressive and may get picked on. The acei are omnivores but do not need a lot of protein in their diet. Are they eating?

Ok I just got home all 3 aceis are listless and their tails are flattened. Now one of the red zebras is straight up and down head down and another zebra has a white blob on his top fin..... Ive noticed just about every fish in the tank randomly jerking there entire body as if they are shaking something off... or iching maybe.... This sucks to say the least

I know the pics suck its an old camera


http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/3185/picture010ssa.jpg
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/6245/picture011cmm.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/5438/picture012xrq.jpg
http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/9105/picture013vhh.jpg

Ive only been doing 10 gallon water changes the past 2 days to keep the nitrites in check..... help.

should i just put these fish down to stop the spread of these white spots on the red zebras.... the last thing I want to happen is this to spread to the yellow labs... blah this sucksssssssssssss

It's really hard to tell from those pictures but what you are describing sounds like Ich. In the second picture I'm thinking I can see some white spots on the fish.

White blobs on the fins, do not sound like Ich to me. That sounds more like a fungus.

If the camera won't cut it can you describe *exactly* what you're seeing on the fish. Ich looks like grains of salt stuck to them. Does it look stringy, cottony or like mold you'd see on fruit? Are there any red streaks, or any other distinguishing characteristics that you notice.

Once we get a better idea of what it is, hopefully we can get you something to treat it.

If you can at all move out the sick ones you should do it. Even for temporary on the cheap you can get a concrete tub at a hardware store (the lowes by me has 55g ones for around 12 bucks) sometimes the bigger walmarts have a complete 20g tank kit for $35 as well.

lol dont make fun but here is a paint version ... lol they have little black spots and the white crap is almost like a cotton / mold look. Ich doesnt explain the fked up tail fins from what ive read anyways.

Also I do appreciate all the help everyone.

Damn, I really wish I could be of more help....I am bad with desease ID and treatment. I know the discussion has been ongoing but there is a peroxide discussion in the health section...Maybe you can try it out. I have never tried it but sounds like it may be worth a try if you don't have anything else on hand. The author of the thread is cichlidsrool maybe PM or email him. Hopefully someone else chimes in.

Heres the link

http://www.freshwatermadness.com/fish-health-and-medications-f13/how-you-use-peroxide-to-help-with-fish-sicknesses-t1255.htm

I wouldn't recommend that just yet. The whole peroxide thing is fairly untested, my interpretation of dosage isn't tested at all for that matter.

Without pictures, I'm suspecting that it may be Columnaris, also called cotton mouth or cotton wool or a couple of other things I think.

There may be more but these are the common symptoms off the top of my head:
There's white spots on the mouth, edges of scales, and the fins.
Cottony scuzzy that grows on and rots out the mouth.
The fins disintegrate edges in.
Sometimes there's a big lesion by the dorsal fin.

The bitch of it is, is that if it gets bad enough that a fungal secondary infection will set in.

Big disclaimer here I rarely ever see or treat Africans all my info here is based on SA Cichlids or Koi/Goldfish. Anyone with more African experience if I'm suggesting something that won't work speak up.

First off, lower the temp on the tank to about 74. If it's Columnaris it will slow it down and give you some time to work.

A common one at fish stores (around here anyhow) is called Maracyn and Maracyn 2. Get them both, pull the carbon and any other chemical filtration and treat them for 10 days.

If you can't find Maracyn, antibiotics that take care of Columnaris are: Erythromycin, nitrofurazone, nifurpirinol, acriflavine, chloramphenicol or tetracycline.

You're also going to want to disinfect your nets that you used on the fish. A rubbing alcohol bath is sufficient, unless for some reason you have chlorhexidine sitting around.