Blind Flag Cichlid?

[koinukun]

Hi everyone. I was wondering if anyone had experienced anything like this before...
I've a Dwarf Flag cichlid for about 4 months easily now which has suddenly become very inactive for most of the time. It sits on top of a large plant and the only thing moving is its breathing. I think it may be blind because it is completely oblivious to any of the other fish, even if they go right up to it shoo him away. Come feeding time it knows there's food as all the other fish frenzy above it but it swims around trying to snap things up but never where the food is, like blindly grabbing but always missing. I'm just worried as it definitely doesn't get enough food every day.

It's eyes are perfectly clear but the iris is really pale yellow color. I have another curviceps in the tank who is such a dark blue with really bright face markings and his eyes are quite dark coloured too...when i bought the 'blind' one it was quite small and paler in comparison with the others in the tank. Already having a male I was really hoping for a female but I think it may have been just a runt...

All my water stats are at 0ppm, nitrates are quite low too, never getting over 10 - 20 as I change regularly.
I have heaps of plant cover so there's never any territory fights or bullying. Tankmates and size of the tank are in my sig

If anyone has any ideas of what it could be or what could have caused it that'd be really great!
Thank you

 

[glolite]

The cichlid could be sickly but it sounds like stress to me. Possibly it's getting bullied by one of the other fish during the night when the lights are out.

You could try separating him if you have another small tank available and see if his condition improves. Otherwise just observe him for any other symptoms.

 

[koinukun]

The cichlid could be sickly but it sounds like stress to me. Possibly it's getting bullied by one of the other fish during the night when the lights are out.

You could try separating him if you have another small tank available and see if his condition improves. Otherwise just observe him for any other symptoms.

Yeah I might do that. I do have a smaller quarantine tank that I can put him in. At least that way he wont need to compete with the others for food. I'll leave him in there for a week or two to see if there's any improvement then take it from there.

Thanks for that!