# Requesting help for my Convicts



## LoriL (Jun 19, 2011)

Hi all,

I joined this forum last night in hopes that some experienced cichlid owners could help me with my convicts. My current water parameters are: ph 7.6, amonia 0, nitrites 0, nirates 20ppm, temp 82%. Also I use well water normally. I'll try to make this short. I have a 55 gallon tank with 3 convicts and a green terror all doing great since I got them fall. It seems there are 2 male convicts and 1 female so I purchased one more F convict about 4 weeks ago in fear that 2M to 1F would be a big problem. About 10 days ago my bulb went out and it took about 5 days to make it to the next town to get a replacement. When the bulb went out the convicts started hiding. On day 4 of no light the new small F convict died. On day 5 I put a new bulb and the convicts have been becoming more ill every day. The day I purchased a new bulb my water parameters were the same except nitrates which were at 60 (which is sometimes the case as my tap water alone is 20). I did a 25% water change that day when I realized it was that high. I also Added Prime which is normal aquarium salt since I hauled RO water from town to be safe. I did another water change (exactly the same as before) 48 hours later. The fish have lost most of their color and refuse to eat. The large male seems most affected and has some areas where scales are falling off. There are no ick spots, or whitish fungal spots, or reddish bacteria spots. I have spent about 15 hours on the internet I can't place exactly what's wrong. I'm guessing now either hole in the head or pure stress. The green terror seems to be doing pretty well. I'm very open to long term advice as you all are more experienced than me, but I'd be extremely grateful for immediate help! My kids and I really don't want to lose our fish! Thank you so much! I have a couple pics (not great ones but the best I could do) if I could just figure out how to post them.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Could be disease (from the new fish) or aggression started your issues. Convict pairs often chase or even kill other fish when they want to breed. 

Using straight RO in a water change is not the best idea. RO has nothing in it, its like 0 ppm TDS (total dissolved solids) and the pH will often drop precipitously. Lowering pH and ion content in the water suddenly can be harmful for fish. Central American cichlids like yours should have somewhat alkaline (pH 7-8), moderate hardness water (TDS ~ 100 ppm). This may not be your only issue, but I would either say go back to well water (if the fish were doing well on it before) water changes or replace the minerals removed by RO with a supplement that "supports pH" that will likely have baking soda or another buffer. Adding aquarium salt was the right idea, provided you got the dose right, but salt alone won't buffer pH.

This doesn't mean you don't also have a disease issue, but you inadvertently added more stress to your fish. And scale problems in convicts could be from other fish. Add hiding places, change water, and watch the fish for something more identifiable as a symptom.


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## LoriL (Jun 19, 2011)

Thank you so much for your response. I also neglected to say I bought the last fish from Petsmart (should've known better) so I agree something contagious from the other fish isn't out of the question yet but at this point I don't know what to treat for. I went to a LFS for the light and asked them about the water and they told me to do 25% water changes every other day for a week so having done 2 already I'm due for another today and one more in two days. Would you recommend I continue this or just hold off due the the stress? I don't know what to do at this point :-(


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## Hansolo (Sep 10, 2010)

I'm a firm believer that constant water parameters are always better than juggling the parameters going for perfect. No more RO water. No more salt, imo. Are the fish rubbing against decorations or the gravel? If so my guess is external parasites. Continue the water changes. Try reposting in general freshwater, I think more people will read your post and you will get more answers. Convicts are very hearty fish so if you figure out what the problem is and begin a treatment, they should pull out. Best of luck. I would add some sort of a stress coat to help heal instead of the salt. I also would treat the tank with melafix. It treats a large range of diseases and won't hurt anything. Also added airation and possibly lower the temperature a few degrees. 82 seems a bit warm for those fish.


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## LoriL (Jun 19, 2011)

Thank you for the reply. They weren't rubbing so much as darting around and acting weird when they weren't hiding. I did another change and added some Parasite Clear two days ago and they perked up quite a bit. Concern now is large convict has some pretty nasty fin rot on his tail. I was questioning whether or not to give a second dose, but I think I will tomorrow. I'll keep up the well water from outside and no ore salt. I appreciate the reply!


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## Kitsune_Gem (Jun 16, 2011)

It looks like the poor thing got the crap beaten out of it.. Good luck with them


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