Question for a friend

[Guyb93]

I have a friend , who’s not a friend , but still a friend of a friend and somewhere through the grape vine they are aware I have fish and asked for some info unknowingly I know nothing but they keep Malawi cichlids, don’t know the type or the tank size iv saw photos and nothing looks out of place with size of fish and stocking just a simple low maintenance tank
but she is saying her fish are “rubbing in the sand “ I assume white spot but there’s no signs of Ich according to them and fish look act swim normal , there’s no test results to be had as no water test has been done but she says a honest 15-30% is changed weekly so possibly NO3- NO2 there , without this information and photos but baring in mind there’s no signs of white dot , why are they flashing , scratching rubbing in the substrate ?

 

[Wills]

Do you know if they have added any new fish to the tank recently? If so do you know the shop they got them from? And also what is your opinion of that shop? Would you get fish there or are they likely to be sick or dead etc?

Alternatively like you said they could have high nitrate which could come about from the fish growing and producing more waste compared to when they started or they have bred and there are now more fish in there than the tank can handle.

Wills

 

[Colin_T]

All fish have the same diseases and regardless of if they come from the African Rift Lakes, the Congo, South America, or even the ocean, the symptoms are the same right across the board.

Fish can rub on objects for a number of reasons.
1) if they have an external protozoan parasites like Costia, Chilodonella, Trichodina, white spot, or velvet,

2) if there is a water quality problem (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, incorrect pH/ GH).

3) if there is a chemical (medication, fertiliser, or something else) in the water that is irritating the fish.

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Costia, Chilodonella & Trichodina cause cream/ white patches to appear on the body. The fish also rub on objects in the tank.
You can treat these 3 protozoan infections with 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt for every 20 litres of water. Keep the salt in the tank for 2-4 weeks.

White spot causes the fish to rub on objects and develop small white dots on the body and fins.
You can treat white spot and velvet with heat. Raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after all the spots have gone. Velvet usually takes longer to get rid of and might require heat for 4 weeks.

Velvet causes fish to rub on objects but no external signs appear for the first few weeks. As the fish becomes more heavily infected, it develops a yellow/ gold sheen over its body. This can be easily detected in early stages by shining a torch (flash light) on the fish at night after the tank lights are out. You can also use a camera and flash to photograph them after dark. The torch or camera flash will show up any velvet on the fish.

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They need to do bigger water changes (at least 50-75% each week to prevent hole in the head disease) and gravel clean the sand.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

They need to clean the filter at least once a month. Filter media should be washed in a bucket of tank water and the media is re-used. The bucket of dirty water gets poured on the lawn.

If they have Mbuna (zebra cichlids), make sure their fish get plenty of plant matter in their diet.

 

[Guyb93]

Do you know if they have added any new fish to the tank recently? If so do you know the shop they got them from? And also what is your opinion of that shop? Would you get fish there or are they likely to be sick or dead etc?

Alternatively like you said they could have high nitrate which could come about from the fish growing and producing more waste compared to when they started or they have bred and there are now more fish in there than the tank can handle.

Wills

Basically it’s my work pals cousin he showed me a photo today looks a real simple set up one big rock and sand with around 5 mbuna I think my African ID isn’t great , looked ok for stocking , apparently they have been doing it for 6 months plus , no breeding , no deaths , one new fish off a private seller but that was after it started and the new fish has started doing it all so , which is making me think there’s got to be something in the tank

 

[Guyb93]

All fish have the same diseases and regardless of if they come from the African Rift Lakes, the Congo, South America, or even the ocean, the symptoms are the same right across the board.

Fish can rub on objects for a number of reasons.
1) if they have an external protozoan parasites like Costia, Chilodonella, Trichodina, white spot, or velvet,

2) if there is a water quality problem (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, incorrect pH/ GH).

3) if there is a chemical (medication, fertiliser, or something else) in the water that is irritating the fish.

----------
Costia, Chilodonella & Trichodina cause cream/ white patches to appear on the body. The fish also rub on objects in the tank.
You can treat these 3 protozoan infections with 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt for every 20 litres of water. Keep the salt in the tank for 2-4 weeks.

White spot causes the fish to rub on objects and develop small white dots on the body and fins.
You can treat white spot and velvet with heat. Raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after all the spots have gone. Velvet usually takes longer to get rid of and might require heat for 4 weeks.

Velvet causes fish to rub on objects but no external signs appear for the first few weeks. As the fish becomes more heavily infected, it develops a yellow/ gold sheen over its body. This can be easily detected in early stages by shining a torch (flash light) on the fish at night after the tank lights are out. You can also use a camera and flash to photograph them after dark. The torch or camera flash will show up any velvet on the fish.

--------------------
They need to do bigger water changes (at least 50-75% each week to prevent hole in the head disease) and gravel clean the sand.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

They need to clean the filter at least once a month. Filter media should be washed in a bucket of tank water and the media is re-used. The bucket of dirty water gets poured on the lawn.

Make sure their fish get plenty of plant matter in their diet.

What I saw on video call the fish looked as healthy as mine no marks , white dot , discoloured, I did say water changes can’t help and try and do more weekly but I’m lost as to why an apparent healthy looking fish is rubbing along the sand and then new additions join in , I said il give my co worker a crappy api test strip to give To them tomorrow there not fret I know but might show some issue

 

[Colin_T]

It's probably velvet or poor water quality.

Just get them to do a big water change every day for a week, and photograph the fish to put on here.