[Solved] Hrp/blue Convict Rubbing Left Side Only On Sand

[kaivalagi]

Hi All,

I wasn't sure whether this warrants a fish emergency post or not...as the female HRP seems fine, but I have noticied her rubbing the sand on her left side quite a bit and wondered why? She is currently in a quarantine tank as I only got her at the weekend...

Youtube video showing the behaviour is here: http/www.youtube.c...h?v=lP8MLbhijuU
[media]http/www.youtube.c...h?v=lP8MLbhijuU[/media]


Is this anything to be concerned with or just normal for a female? I have noticed that she has already commandeered both a pot and the sheltered rocks in the tank, leaving the cory and Geo's no where to be except out in the open...almost readying for breeding it seems...she also has a slight purple hue on her sides now which wasn't there at the weekend which would indicate her being in the mood I think.

Any pointers/advice is much appreciated!

Cheers

 

[minxfishy]

The only time Ive seen fish do this (more than once) is when they have Ich, even if you cant yet see the spots, so keep an eye on her. Ive just finished a full treatment on my Vieja tank as they were all covered in Ich (and Velvet) and they were all doing this on the sand/wood etc, now the Ich has gone, they have stopped. Occassionally a fish will do it if something is 'itching' them but not over and over again.

 

[star4]

Ditto Minxy, keep a close check for spots. I have 3 fish that occasionally flick like this Bailey the royal acara (can never spell the lating name lol) and my 2 Blue acara, they are wild caught and they are disturbing the bottom looking for snails (I have now found out after panicing lol), but normally they are hovering above the spot for a minute or so first till they spot the gravel moving.

 

[kaivalagi]

Okay, I f I see it continue through until the weekend even if there are no signs of Ich, do you think it would be wise to treat the tank with something once the Tapajos are out?

She has some sand I think "stuck" on her side under scale or in a wound maybe. She hasn't rubbed since I first posted the thread either...I wonder whether she has a wound from an overly populated LFS tank (the fish were all over 2" in such as a small tank) and that she's getting some of the finer sand particles in it?

I've just seen her shuffling her body so her underside and dorsal fins are fanning sand away leaving a ditch, is this normal? This is in the seclusion of a rock cave thing...

edit: definitely no snails in the sand yet...waiting for my MTS from Nelly The sand is newly used, could that have something to do with it?

 

[star4]

If it is ich it will affect all the fish in the tank as its contagous, I wouldnt remove the other fish yet just in case as they will carry it into the tank you put them in, if she has a lifted scale I would treat with Melafix or another anit bacterial treatment first, or you could just do lots of water changes see if it clears up.

 

[minxfishy]

As above, if it is Ich, no point in removing the tapa's, they could be infected too, even if they have no signs of it, best to medicate the whole tank with all the fish in. I would be tempted to start raising the temperature, up to 28-30c as it will (if it is Ich) speed up the lifecycle of the parasite, if it isnt Ich, then a higher temp for a few days is no problem for the fish, just raise it slowly.

The digging of a pit is normal behaviour for cichlids, almost always done with the underbelly and fins and often mouthfuls of sand. That scratching in the video is not normal. If it is a cut/scales missing, extra water changes and some melafix will clear it up.

 

[kaivalagi]

Thanks for the advice

Here's the best pic I could get for now showing a slight orange/brown area on here side where the rubbing has been done (could be a result or a cause for the rubbing I guess):

I'm liking the female fish behaviour thing, much better than stupid male posturing

I'll be doing daily water changes with hose out and in now I have made my new "mixer" python:

 

[kaivalagi]

I just thought I should do a Ammonia and Nitrite test and guess what, Ammonia at about 0.5mg/l

Now done a 80% water change, cleaned the filter a little in old tank water to get the bucket loads of daphnia/brine shrimp stuck in the vents and am now waiting a couple of hours before testing again...I can't believe this has happened but I guess I've just been over eager to feed the little geo's...2 biggish meals a day, atleast one of which is frozen live food of one sort or another. I did think the little fellas were scoffing the lot but it turns out quite a bit was getting trapped in the vents and was probably the cause for the ammonia spike...

I'm gonna cut back on feeding now and do daily water changes until unleast the weekend atleast...I'll do another water change later on tonight too

Me thinks it would have been so much safer to put the fish straight into the main tank to be honest...this quarantine tank filter is not filling me with confidence right now

The geo's look A okay, but I am guessing the rubbing done by the HRP was due to the ammonia levels irritating her?

 

[minxfishy]

Could well have been irritating, stick to one feed per day, or two smaller ones, its easy with geo's to assume they have eaten it all, sometimes they sift so much, they cover up left over food.

 

[kaivalagi]

I'll not be making that mistake for a while.....can't loose my lovely little geo's...


They are non-stop sifting...I only have to watch them for a bout 5 seconds and there it is! Head diving into the sand again

We'll even though it probably isn't Ich now at least I know what to look out for now, thanks Minxy and Star!

 

[snowflake311]

I was going to ask what your water stats were. You said you have an overstocked tank. Poor water will cause them to flash. Also a ph change. My tank water is 6.5 my tap water 7.4 after a large water change my pictus cats flash a little then after a few hours they Are fine. My other fish never flash.

Do more wc and that should help. Now that the female is in her own tank do you see her do it now? It could have been that .5 of ammonia that caused it.

 

[kaivalagi]

Hi Snowflake,


Just to bring you up to speed, I used to have an over stocked tank, since then I have a new 5ft were the majority of the fish are now (I think you've seen my journal), all is fine there as I moved existing filtration across.


The old Roma 125 tank (this one being discussed) is the one I have setup all over again as a quarantine tank with old media and new sand substrate....it was fine for a few days and I think over feeding caused a ammonia spike...the only fish in there from before are 4 cory and moved along with the media.

The pH of the tanks pretty much match the tap, I am running at approx 7.5 on both tanks and that's what I get from the tap, so no real pH movement.

The 4 Tapa's and 1 HRP female are new additions to the QT that I got on Saturday, they're doing their time in the QT for atleast a week. When I am happy I'll move the Tapas into the main tank, but keep the HRP where she is. I want the HRP to grow/bulk up a little before I introduce her to the male I have, who is currently quite a bit bigger and I am sure far to eager to breed. (She is around 2.5" and he is more like 4")


I think until I definitely get to the bottom of the issues with the female HRP I'll just keep doing big daily water changes. I now have my python working with separate hot and cold taps so can mix to get the right temp and pour straight in. I'm not taking any risks with the internal filter either, as I am taking it out of the tank before introducing the water then treating it with dechlorinater in the tank, waiting 5 minutes, then putting the filter back.

All looks fine right now...Although I think I need to order some more liquid tests before I run out, all this fish moving and tank setup have eaten into the amount of testing I have left Saliferts this time around I think...

All sound fair enough now?

 

[snowflake311]

Why are you taking the filter out when you do a wc?

So she is better ? Or flashing less now? Just keep doing what your doing lots of water changes should help.

 

[kaivalagi]

Why are you taking the filter out when you do a wc?

So she is better ? Or flashing less now? Just keep doing what your doing lots of water changes should help.

I'm taking the internal filter out for a 80% water change with chlorinated water straight out of the tap going in. It's being treated before the filter gets put back...should I not bother? Would it be fine just to have the filter turned off, take water out, put water in, treat and then turn on? Even with a big water change?

This time around it was a good thing though as that's what made me realise it was clogged up with food waste...

She's much better thanks, much more lively and I haven't see any rubbing/flashing again, I'll keep doing water changes, one more before bed tonight and again everyday after until the weekend. It won't do any harm with the new fish anyway will it, I want to encourage good growth which I am guessing frequent water changes help with

 

[chocolicious]

My Honduran red point's also do that and they've never had white spot.

Also i think your 'female' is a male.

Has a lump on his head and it's a bit too big to be a female.

Here's a video of my old tank with HRP's - There's a clear visual a male from a female.

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3mpw1Rh37M