Fish Sick

If it were me, I would not rotate and use borehole one week and municipal the next
The most important thing to keep your fish healthy is stable conditions
Fish can often adapt to certain water conditions if they are stable all the time
When the water composition changes all the time, then you pick up problems

Personally... I think the first thing you need to do is stick to one source of water only and don't swop weekly
Your borehole water composition and municipal water are probably very different and this constant change could be the cause of the skin irritation that you are seeing

I use borehole water on all our tanks with no problem

 

After reading he whole thread, I don't think it's parasites. Your tank isn't cycled or has lost it, adding some media from another tank or seeding with a product will help. Those readings you gave in the OP was after a wc so it was higher before that. The worm thing you saw is probably a scratch from flashing. You would have seen parasites on all the fish if they where present. As maria said, I would also stick to one water source so that I know where I stand with it. I would use borehole and test the kh and gh so I would know what I put in. Also don't add too much salt, I hardly ever do and if I need to use salt as a treatment I dip the fish outside the tank in a bucket.

 

Thank you for the advice. I never thought about it in that way so I think I will also stick to borehole water.

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Thank you for the advice. I did add a biological sponge filter from a different tank. I did a wc again this morning with the borehole water. Do you think I should maybe skip a wc one week?


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Get a decent water conditioner.
You can't go wrong with Seachem Prime.
It removes chlorine, chloramine, binds metals and conditions the water.

Get the water parameters stable.
Use water from the same source every time, either borehole or municipal water.
With either, water conditioning is critical.

 

I wouldn't skip a wc if there's ammonia and nitrite readings. Get that sorted first and do water changes when your nitrate reaches 20ppm.

 

I agree that the temp should be dropped

 

Hi dude sorry to hear about your current situation with your cichlids .Once you have your water parameters in order NH3/NH4 etc and the problem still persists ,one will suspect a common parasite known has ich due to fish flashing .The clue you gave was that you introduced two new fish to your aquarium from a trusted source.Question is did you quarantine the new fish before adding them to your main tank?.The new fish could of been subjected to some stress being placed in a new environment that could of weakened them just enough for ich to take hold and spread . You were looking for a natural treatment/method good news there is a tried and trusted method using high temp + salt bath .Understanding the life cycle of ich will greatly help understand how to eliminate this parasite .They do hide in the fishes gills as well before ever been visible to your naked eye .For the heat treat part raise temp to 30 degrees slowly over a space of a few hours don't rush it .They'll be fine reason being you only raising it 2 degrees above your normal temp (your normal temp needs to drop to between 25-26 degrees once current situation is resolved).make sure to increase your surface agitation because higher temp means less O2 in water, even add additional airstone for the period of time.Maintain this temp for 14 days .Reason for using high temp 1- speeds the life cycle of ich 2. they cant survive at high temps it will kill them.Next up adding non iodized salt .Its great for treating external protozoa and fungi.Add 2 tablespoons per 20lt of aquarium water ,do this gradually over 24 hours .Maintain this level for 14 days aswell. They are from the rift valley theyll be okay with salt levels high for a period of time.You can do w/changes just make sure to add salt to the amount of water you removed eg if removed 20lt water add salt accordingly 2 tablespoons (premix before adding water to tank) + match temp to aquarium before adding water. Once your 14days are complete observe your check if flashing has stopped .Once you are happy do water changes gradually everyday (water without salt added) to slowly reduce salt levels back to normal and also reduce your temp to optimal range gradually as well .Keep in mind alot of meds will stain tank and damage your biofilter except seachem paraguard and bio-elite anti ich which wont,not sure any others out there. .Hope this helps. ps im currently doing this after adding new fish to my system .One new guy had ich and died .Then all of them started flashing .Im on day 4 of this treatment and everyone has stopped flashing completely.Its tempting to stop treatment but once you understand the life cycle of ich youll want to stick to those 14 days . My lesson was to quarantine any new fish no matter who they come from.

 

That's the next best thing to a QT. Yes it's true not everyone will able to keep an extra tank.

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I do the same thing, but with Seachem Paraguard.
I have never had any issues with Ich, parasites or any other issues.

 

I always add Seachem Stress guard to my new fish bag when I get them. My LFS is so use to it he waits for me to pass the bottle before sealing it. I think I need to start adding some Paraguard too.