Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i feel im running out of time. ive had my parrot cichlid for about a week. when i got it it was solid orange.. a beautiful fish.... now look at it... ive posted in the cichlid forum but no ones helping me....maybe its septecemia? its still eating fine... i just dont want to kill the poor thing... dont clutter up this forum more someone please email me some help.... fcwegnm0@hotmail.com

thanks a lot.. again sorry to post this on this forum... dave

-SFgeckos

Damn, hybrid cichlids. Oh, sorry, I'm biased against hybrids.
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Justyn
Intense Herpetoculture

Cichlids are very sensitive to stress. It could also be that tou have to much food in the tank then the fish could eat.
What other fishes do you have in the tank, for instense, do not have many cichlids in the same tank if you don`t have a big tank with many hides. They are also very perticuler on the temperature. Have you checked det PH?
What other fishes do you have, and what do you use for oxygen/pump? What temp do you keep, and does it variate?

havnt checked pH... its the only fish in the tank... its a 5 gallon tank.. yea its little but its just to start out. im fully prepared for a larger tank when the fish is bigger. temp stays pretty much around 75.. for a filter/air pump i had this little crappy thing but now thats gone and im using this thing looks like a big triangle of foam...

i took that picture to the pet store and had 4 or 5 people who know what theyre talking about tell me its septicemia... so i took the carbon filter out and im treating it with Maracyn Two...

i had a plastic plant in there from the start and it still developed this.

i feed it when i get up (around 7:30) and when i go to bed (midnight or so) and if theres any food left i dont add any more.

again sorry to post here... i really appreciate the help... dave

Go back to the cichlid forum, your question has been answered. Whatever you do don't medicate as this is NOT septicemia.

The symptons are blood-red streaks on the fins close to the body, without any signs of skin damage.
Then you use any kind of antibioticks because of the bacteries. But this is not nessesary.

See for your self:
http://www.2cah.com/pandora/septicemia_qianhu.jpg
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/septicemia.gif
http://www.elacuarista.com/secciones/images/eritrode.jpg

However, this is the problem:
It`s a parasite that only Blood Parrots contract. It is called Black Spot Disease. There isn't much know about this infliction, it's not even known for sure to be a parasite. It is however, very common among Parrot Cichlid's, and often mistaken for natural black coloration on the fish. One of our's, named Princess, had a very cute black dot on her head when we got her. We thought this was so unique and loved her for it. When I Transferred our 6 PB to a new 65 gallon home, about a week later she started getting this grey looking stuff around her mouth and down her belly. I soon noticed it starting to streak her fins with black. Then it moved to her hump. Upon closer inspection of the other fish, I noticed all but 3 of them had this strange grey coloration. They do not show any signs of sickness other than the blochy black-grey spots. They eat and act fine.
It looks just like yours. If you don`t belive me I`ll show you a picture

The black streaks are common with parrots. Several things can cause it. First of all, check your ammonia & nitrite levels. I have found the parrots are a first indicator of water parameters being off. If the ammonia/nitrite is raised do a water change immediately and siphon off any debris.

If its not the water, then you can watch the parrot a few days & see if the spots disappear or treat with medicine. I spoke with a guy at the Tetra company who said it is called black spot disease & is thought to be a parasite. Only parrots get it and he recommended using Maracide. I have used Maracide which cleared it up but takes over a week. I have also used Malachite Green to cure it & also done nothing & it went away. I've also heard Jungle's Parasite Guard works on it. I usually don't treat it unless it starts covering a lot of their body.

Someone here also told me the streaks will show up if the parrots is in the mood to mate. I have found that is true. Both my male & female parrots get streaks on the pelvic fins when they are preparing to nest. But since your parrot has a spot on its nose then it sounds more like the parasite. With my parrots, the black spots show on fins first, then the nose & face, then on their hump.

I hope this helps and is not too confusing. It's just no one quite understands the black spots, but it is a problem for parrots & shows up for diff reasons.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/library/weekly/aa041701.htm