Whaaaaa!!!!

JNevaril

Large Fish
Jul 10, 2005
369
1
0
42
Lincoln, Nebraska
#1
My Red Zebra has what looks like pop-eye.

:(

I am so friggin sick of doing water changes on a daily basis, b/c I had a spike in nitrites for some reason.......

And when I think I am on top of it all, my Zebra gets sick.


GRRRR!!!!!

I hope the 50% water change, some MelaFix and a bit of Aquarium Salt do the trick.

They all seem to be swimming 'happier' since the addition of the salt...

but it's probably because instead of my regular 20% change...they got a fifty, and I dropped their tank temp a few degrees so they'll CALM the F down.
(It's been a hectic few days....)

Just had to vent a bit.
 

Orion

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
Feb 10, 2003
5,803
3
38
Kentucky
www.thefishcave.net
#2
Was the tank fully cycled before you added the fish? If so then the spike in nitrites was most likley caused by overfeeding/more waste, or something disrupted the biological filtration. Have you added new fish latley?

Sorry to hear about the pop-eye. Normaly by the time you see this in a fish, its quite advanced and hard to save the fish. I've never been able to fully recover the few that I've had with it. You may want to try an anti-biotic made to treat pop-eye. And when adding any type of meds, don't forget to remove the carbon (if you use it) from the filters.

Also, what is your water's hardness (Kh and Gh) and pH? Rift lake cichlids do much better in harder water with a higher pH IME.

Sorry to hear about your woes with your tank. It's happened to all of us for one reason or another, and never a fun thing to go though. Vent away. :)
 

JNevaril

Large Fish
Jul 10, 2005
369
1
0
42
Lincoln, Nebraska
#3
Well, my tank was fully cycled before adding fish.

The spike in the Nitrites was due to me not vaccuming the gravel as thoughoughly as I should have....and not being as diligent with my water changes this past week. The minute I noticed his eyes, they got a full run of water tests, and upon seeing the horrific results of the tests, a 50% water change....

When I changed the water, I put in a new filter, and took out the carbon....

They got the reccomended dose of MelaFix (antibacterial remedy...says it will work for pop-eye), and I put in some aquarium salt....1 tbs for each 5 gal. of H2O.

I was really really really weary about the salt, but they seem to be taking it okay...

As for water hardness, I do not have a test for that....and to tell you the truth, the city water here in Lincoln is super hard.....we have to use gallons of shampoo to get it to suds up in the shower.

pH is at a stable 8.0, hasn't moved one bit.

I have to wait till the LFS is open, and talk to them....they deal with cichlids...maybe they will have a better remedy if this doesn't work after the MelaFix's 7-day treatment.