Wounded Cichlid

[BigFishSmallPond]

Hello! yesterday i rescued my lil albino cichlid from my 40 gallon (with just a lab and a Pseudotropheus). The Pseudotropheus is a $h@T disturber and likes to chase similar fish to him (the lab is quite bigger and he dont touch it ). Anyway day before yesterday i noticed my albino (which is quite smaller than the others im not sure if its it's breed or age) sitting opn the bottom even during feeding it didnt move much or even try to eat. NEXT morning i get up and the poor lil thing's tail has been shredded and theres even a red scratch on the body part of the tail (not the shredded fin part). So now its all alone in a 25 gallon. Hes much stronger already and i THINK his tail is gettin better. Its still ragged and the red scratch is still there, and on the side of the wound it kind of looks a little raised and fuzzy (kinda looks like fish scab tissue). So my question is should i add anything or will he recover naturally with a lil r&r and his own cozy tank? TIA.

-ak

ps If any more info is needed feel free to ask.

 

[BigFishSmallPond]

Also, he seems quite small and slim. Is it possible hes a runt/dwarf type thing? or are there some cichlid that just never grow much bigger than say... a guppy?

 

[freddyk]

My guess would be that he is having trouble surviving with his bigger tankmates, and possible isn't getting enough to eat - but you would know this. His size is not normal though. I do know he should grow.

It tends to prove almost impossible to keep most mbuna in sparse stocking conditions, because of their aggression. I'm not surprised the Pseudo is a menace. This is why you've probably seen overstocking recommended for them - it gives more targets for the dominent fish, and more crowd for the targets to lose themselves in.

Melafix is a good natural med to use for injuries and wounds, and will help prevent infection.

 

[BigFishSmallPond]

Thank ya for the info! much obliged. Ya he was surviving ok for a week or more then that pseudo started harrassing. I got a new cichlid to replace the albino in the 40 yesterday and it looks IDENTICAL to the black/purple/grey(whatever color he is he changes color specially when showing. When not showing his stripes dissapear) only its an orange/brown color. It only has one egg spot, while the darker has two. So i believe the darker is the male and the orange a female (correct me if my wrong =]). At any rate she seems to be giving him a run for his money (so far)
Ill grab some melafix for the albino(poor guy). My hope is to now make a second cichlid tank out of the 25 that the albino is in (once he recovers) of like-sized cichlid. That is, of course, if its not a rarety. Thanks again.

-ak

 

[Ferris]

I have an albino Zebra, who has grown much slower than all my other Mbuna, The Orange Blotch Zebra purchased at the same time and at the same size is literally twice his size. That said, the albino can hold his own and backs down from no-one

 

[BigFishSmallPond]

Mine was an albino zebra too but i guess he wasnt made of the same cloth as yours hehe. Gone but not forgotten Got to the lfs today and he said one of the most aggressive cichlid u gotta worry bout is the pseudo bla bla bla. Guess what killed my albino (Pseudo did) and guess WHO sold them to me hehe(HIM).

-ak

 

[Ferris]

Do you know which Pseudotropheus you have, there are a lot of them and most if not all are agressive. The albino zebra is a Pseudotropheus itself and I suspect your other Pseudo saw it as a direct rival.

 

[BigFishSmallPond]

http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/p_saulosi.php

Mine is in my avvy =]