So my cichlids fight like all cichlids do and occasionally get a rip and heal up fine.

Well now these little rips in fins have turned red, some white and look like a possible fungal infection. I did a 50% water change on my lunch break and just came home form work and they look worse. Their dorsal fins and anal fins are turning white and falling off in some places. Some even have body sores and white areas on the body.

What the heck do I do? I've put in Pimafix, running to the store to get some melafix now and salt if they have any. The only thing open is wal-mart

Any ideas on how to treat this?

It's a 60 gallon tank with various peacocks and haps.

Certainly sounds like a fungral infection to me too I use either Protozin or Myxazin for that, made by Waterlife, though I have also used Interpet anti-fungus and finrot. Not sure if they are available in the states, but there are three to look for. Protozin is best IMO.

You might want to check that salt is OK to use with your fish first, as I don't know how Malawis will react to it I've never kept them, and IME proprietry medications work better than it...

Fungus will erode the fins, caurse excess slime on the bodies of the fish and can lead to bloodshot fins in some cases... It is usually a secondary infection, so look for possible caurses other than fighting. It might well be the fighting that caursed this, but it is a hard one to rule out...

All the best of luck clearing this up
Rabbut

I'm using salt, melafix, pimafix, and some fungus fizz tabs by jungle. I've already lost my Jake and everyone else looks 100% worse. WHAT DO I DO????

Mixing meds......That may be the issue.

Get onto a 50-75% waterchage NOW, as it looks like those meds are having a bad reaction with one another.

OK, you are using four things that will cure fungus. Salt (dosed to 5ppt, or 1tsp per gallon) will cure it. The Melafix won't cure it but will help with ragged fins. Primafix will cure it, but only in a mild case. IME Primafix isn't very good for advanced issues. The Jungle tabs will also work.

After your waterchange, you want to run carbon in your filters to clear the meds you already have in there, and then leave it for the night After the 12 hours of running carbon you can remove and sling it and start to think about trying again with the meds.

Mixing meds should never be done without intensive research, and/or manufacturer recomendation. This will be what caursed the origional issue, where everything looked 100% worse than before treatment. Melafix and salt are IME safe to mix, but primafix and the jungle med cannot be mixed These meds will have reacted with each other to create a poison, that started to knock off the fish. Neadless to say, you don't want to do that again

I'd mebe combine either primafix and melafix, or melafix and the Jungle tabs, my preferance being the latter. Salt is slow acting, and mixing the Jungle tabs and the primafix in a no-no Don't forget to wait untill the meds have been cleared from the system with carbon before you start to dose again

HTH
Rabbut

This post has been edited by rabbut: Jul 25 2008, 06:52 PM

I didn't use the jungle yet for that reason

I used melafix and pimafix. And salt. In the recommended dosage.

Buuut I came home from lunch and they are all dead. Fish I've had for years... raised from fry. Dead. All my juilie and similis fry.... DEADDDDDD

Ughhh sucky. I did another 50% water change.
Hopefully some will make it. But any that were showing signs of the ragged fins yesterday are gone already. This moved through my tank FAST

I'm sorry to hear that The only other thing that strikes me as a potential issue here, if you haven't added the jungle med, would be the salt. Have you used it to treat these fish before?

Bacteria based infections can move shockingly quickly, wipeing an entire tank in a few hours, and if I remember correctly, fungus is bacteria based (or at least the Culnaris strains)... Being in the states however, you have stronger meds available than me in the UK, so if these meds don't clear it, you can easily obtain some that can

Before going any further, can I ask for water stats for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH at this current moment? Also, what test kit do you use?