Hi everyone, my name is Mandy and my husband and I have had our aquarium for the past 7 years with (65 gallon half hexagon shape) 4 convicts, a jack dempsey, an oscar (purchased a month ago) and a blood parrot. My largest and oldest convict (it's probably 6 1/2 yrs old) has been laying on its side in a cave for the past few days. It is able to get up and swim short distances, but when it does I noticed that it is really having to work to get oxygen on one side of its body. I just did the gravel cleaning and took out 40% of the water. The tank is still very dirty, but I didn't want to upset the fish overly much. I have recently had to take over the complete upkeep of the tank because our son has shown a HUGE interest in the tank and he wanted to do something with these fish. Generally, our fish are very healthy and happy and require no work. I did start buying live food (feeder fish and live shrimp) for them to eat. I bought the food at chain pet stores. I guess what my question is, is how long do convicts live? This fish is approx. 8 inches long. How often should I feed the fish (my husband says 2x a week, 3x max but my son wants to feed them 2x a day) and finally should I just take all the fish out of the tank and do a thorough clean out or just keep doing the gravel cleaner each week?
Oh, I did check the ammonia level today for the first time ever and it did register as between .25 and .50. I also added some of the stress coat and the med. for injured fish. I only put in enough for a 55 gallon tank...again, this is the first time we have had a sick fish (we started with cichlids 8 years ago) and i didn't want to upset the whole tank for one unwell fish. I got rid of my smaller tank and so I can't quarantine this poor fishy.
Mandy
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Sick Convict???
Replies (4)
Hi Mandy. Welcome to the boards. 
I'm so jealous you have a jack dempsey. I just love them! Sadly, I have no room. Anyways, it sounds like your convict may have a slight case of swim bladder disorder. How often have you been feeding them? I think convicts can live for around 10 years (like jack dempseys), but I'm not completely sure. I will try to ask my cichlid expert. Perhaps the convict has always had to pump harder on one side or the other. You can try giving him frozen peas (the kind you would eat), maybe just like 3. Your ammonia is high though, so it could be a combination of things working against him. Cichlids are quite hardy fish in general, but you may want to do another 10% change perhaps one today and one in like 4 days. The feeder fish do add to the ammonia levels while they are still living, as well as any left over pieces (if there are any) contribute as well.
Fish should be fed once a day maximum. If you feed them more than that they can develop swim bladder disorder which is a fancy way of saying they're constipated. Basically food backs up in their digestive system (more specificially their intestine) which is jam packed next to their swim bladder.
Try the peas and keep me posted.
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Phishie
Site Coordinator
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
I have heard of swim bladder...how is this treated? I took over complete care of the tank at easter time (on behalf of my 6 yr old son who has suddenly shown marked intrest in the fish**I told him it was now his**). Until early april the fish were only fed 2x to 3x a week--med. sized cichlid pellets and live fish 1x every 3 months or so (this was my husbands baby, but he's been working out of state and so I have taken over and completely changed how often and what the fish now eat). I have peas out of my garden that I will put in. I would like to pull him out of the tank, but I'm afraid that will only stress him out more than he already is...and he is fairly old, 7 yrs now.
Mandy
The peas should clear up the constipation (swim bladder problems). If another fish should happen to eat a few, no big deal. It won't hurt them. 2-3 times a week is just fine to be feeding, I don't know how he may be constipated from that, but it could be that he didn't "chew" enough. It could be the change of diet (from pellets all the time, and now it's getting live food). Try the peas, and see how that works. Give it about 3-4 days. Keep an eye on him. Let me know if anything changes. You can feed him up to about 5 peas a day during that time. Make sure he is not eating anything else (which may be hard in the main tank), but I don't think you should put him in a quarantine tank. It's not contagious, so I wouldn't put him through the stress. The other fish can also last without eating during the time you are feeding him peas. I'm sorry I didn't tell you this part before, but I was running late to work. No need to stress him out though. Things should clear up in a few days.
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Phishie
Site Coordinator
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
I'm not sure where you live geographically,especially in a situation like this and with all the medication you have mentioned you should not be treating healthy fish, get a hospital tank and treat the ill fish separately, and no they do not live forever in fact everything and every one gets old and our health does go down. Also change all your filter media so that the toxins from the medication is filtered out.
