Malawi Cichlids - Fish Flicking/scratching Against Gravel/rocks

[Hornchurch Hammer]

Hi,

I need some advise please.
I have a 4ft Malawi Cichlid aquarium, recently I have noticed that the fish have started the flick/scratch against objects like rocks or gravel. This has got continuly worse, it started with just a few fish, but now most of the fish are doing it. The flick/scrathing does not seem to affect them to much, they swim around normally and eat normally. My local fish shop suggested using Protozin to treat ich, I have followed the dosage and completed the course but this does not seem to have made any difference.

The background of my fish tank: It been up and running for around 15 months and the fish all seamed happy, and have been breading quite a lot, lots of fry which I have raised and either reintroduced or given to other hobbyists.
The tank is filtered by two eheim filters (a 2217 and 2028) and also has two powerheads for water circulation.
Tank has two heaters and four T8 lights (2 blue, 2 white) which are on for 7 hours a day(on a timer)
I do regular 10-15% water changes at least once a week and use JBL 'Tap Water Safe' at each water change.

One thing that I am not sure of which may be causing the problem is as follows. The filters are both functioning normally, the spray bars are pumping out the water at a steady/strong rate, but should I stop/clean the filters out at this stage. I assumed that if the rate of flow slows down this would be the time that the filters needs cleaning. Could this be a cause of the problem? I have cleaned the filters twice each since the tank was setup, and the filters flow rates never slowed down before I cleaned them. Is there an average length of time when the filters should be cleaned?

Any advice on treatment/filter cleaning would be much appreciated.

Many thanks, Hornchurch Hammer.

 

[WILDER]

Need to look at your water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.
How many fish and which type.

The impellor should be cleaned at least once a month.
You need to rinse sponges in old tank water once they start to looked clogged and mucked up.
You should only slightly rinse the sponge, don't go mad. Also I was told only to touch one sponge at a time. Do the rest over the coming weeks.

We really need to look at water stats before we can go any further.

Is there a greyish white film on the fish, or a blue greyish film on the fish.
Is there a gold dusting on the fish or a rusty coloured varnish.
Any excess mucas on the fish body or gills.
Any tiny white spots on the fish, the size of a grain of salt.
Do the gills look red and inflamed, or pale with excess mucas.
Do the fish swim in a jerky movement.
Any signs of darting, erratic swimming, laboured breathing or gasping at surface of tank.
Any red pin pricks marks on the fish or red sores.
Get a magiying glass and take a closer look at the fish for parasites. Also check that scales are not lifting.

 

[WILDER]

Added anything to the tank in the last couple of weeks like plants, fish, rocks, etc.

 

[Hornchurch Hammer]

Hi,

The fish are Malawi Cichlids, Yellow Labs, Mel Auratus, Greshakei, Red Zebra's, and a few more types, plus 4 large Plec's.
Around 40 fish in total, including the fry that survived.
The tank is 4ft x 2ft x 2ft.
I noticed one or two of the fish have a white sheen/patches.
I will check the water conditions tommorow (Its 11:40 pm here in the UK)and will report my findings.
Many thanks.

Hi,

Nothing new added recently.

Regards,

Hornchurch Hammer

 

[WILDER]

There a calculator at the top of the forum. Put your measurements in there and it will tell you how many gallons is the tank.

Get water stats.
Also is it possible to load a pic up of the white shiny patches.
How long did you use the protozin for.
Also do the fish swim in an odd manor, like a jerky movement.
No signs of darting, excess mucas, or laboured breating.

 

[Hornchurch Hammer]

Ok, I will upload a photo tomorrow and will let you know the water stats etc..
Gonna go to sleep now, Goodnight.
Thanks for your help.

 

[WILDER]

Ok. I'm off to bed aswell.

The symtoms are pointing towards a number of things, bad water quality, ph, bacterial, parasites.

 

[Hornchurch Hammer]

Hi,

I did some water tests today.
pH is 7.4/7.8 - booklet says 8.2 is the ideal pH level for Malawi cichlids.
Ammonia is 0.0
Nitrite is 0.0
Nitrate was high - in the 60/80 colour range.
I went to the local fish shop for advice. They said that I should do a 50% water change to lower the Nitrate and this would also increase the pH level.

I also cleaned out both of my external filters (It took nearly 4 hours !)

My tank size is 48 inches x 24 inches x 22 inches, and holds 415 litres of water (91 Imp gallons, 110 US gallons)

I will try to attach a picture of the fish with the most noticable sign of an infection, but to be honest the quality is not good, I will also try to attach a video.

The fish are still ficking/rubbing against rocks/gravel.

Any help/advice would be much appreciated, many thanks, Hornchurch Hammer.

 

[WILDER]

What test kit are you using?
Test your tap nitrate reading, and ph tap reading.

Just going to look something up for you.

 

[WILDER]

The white sheen patches do they look like cotton wool.
Also any swelling beneath the white sheen patches.

I think columnaris can also look like the fish has been splashed in white paint.
Sometimes fish with columnaris will flick and rub.
But if all fish are flicking it sounds more like a parasite to me.

See if the flicking and rubbing settles down, now that you have clean filters, and preformed a water change.

 

[Hornchurch Hammer]

Its called a Dry Tab - Dry Tablet testing kit.

Cant figure out how to upload photo, it says that the photo sizes are to big.

 

[WILDER]

Never heard of that type of testing kit before.

Down size the pics yourself, then try and upload them.
I had to ask son to resize one of my pics as it was to big.

 

[Hornchurch Hammer]

No it doesnt look like cotton wool, and it is not raised. The fish that looks the worst has what appears to be lots of tiny white marks/spots, but not as defined as white spot.

I will see if anything changes over the next few days and will let you know how I get on.

Thanks for your help.

 

[WILDER]

Are you sure the marks are not tiny spots all joined together.
Shine a torch on the fish with tank lights out.

 

[Hornchurch Hammer]

Hopefully this worked.