Does This Sound Like Costia?

[abe]

I went to my mum's for a week, she had surgery & I went to help out with things. My boyfriend took care of my fish while I was gone, the only thing he could have done was overfeed them, & I don't think that's whats going on. About a week before I left, I did purchase 3 new fish for my cichlid tank, everything seemed fine & dandy when I left.

Last night I returned & one of the three was dead, a few of the others seemed to be acting funny but I figured maybe he had been dead for a while & the nitrates were up. I tested & ammonia, nitrite, & nitrate were all at 0. I awoke this morning to find that a total of 3 more fish had died. Most of the fish are rubbing against the rocks, some swim erratically at times, most have clamped fins, most are shimmying, and I did notice a small whitish or very light gray patch near (but not on) the dorsal fin of both of my bumblebees.

I did a little reading & costia kinda sounds like what might be going on, do any of you have any other ideas as to what this might be? I've been keeping fish for quite awhile, somehow I managed to keep them pretty healthy. I almost forget how to handle these situations... I did a large water change & I'm going to raise the temp. Is salt ok for cichlids? Should I get any meds for them??

Any help is greatly appreciated



EDITED TO ADD SOME PICS:

 

[WILDER]

Are they still flicking now water stats are back to normal as bad water quality can make fish flick and rub.
Greyish white patches can be columnaris to parasite bit with the flicking sounds more like a parasite involved.
Any excess mucas being produced on the body or gills of the fish.

A fish looks like it has cloudy eye.
Cloudy eye is a symtom of a desease not a desease in its own right.
Causes.
Bad water quality.
Stress.
Poor diet.
Irrataton.
Old age.
Parasites.
Bacterial/

 

[Colin_T]

it looks like the fish have been fighting. There are scales missing on the side. They might also have hole in the head because there is some pitting around the gill cover and head. There is some red around the pectoral fin which would be indicative of a bacterial infection. A bacterial infection or fighting could also cause the damage (pitting) around the head.
They might have had a fight and the bacteria got into the wounds. Do a water change and gravel clean and see how they look. If no better in a day then put some Waterlife Protozin in the tank. If you can't get Protozin then use Wardleys Promethysol. Both medications should treat costia, whitespot and most fungal & bacterial infections. Salt is fine for cichlids.

To work out the volume of water in the tank
measure Length x Width x Height in cm
divide by 1000
equals volume in litres

When measuring the height, measure from the top of the gravel to the top of the water level. If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, try to remove them before measuring the height. Otherwise estimate how much water has been displaced by them.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating otherwise it will absorb the medication out of the water