# Need Help with Disease Identification, Please



## zombilex (Jul 26, 2013)

This is a duplicate post, I've also posted this question in the Freshwater Fish Diseases, Algae Problems, and Tank Emergencies section. Since we have African Cichlids, though, I figure you guys might have some extra knowledge to impart. 

My husband and I are somewhat new to aquariums. We've had our 75-gallon freshwater tank with only cichlids (population 11 as of this afternoon) for a couple of months. Today, we found one of our little guys at the bottom of the tank, vertical, and covered in a translucent white film/slime stuff. None of the images I found in an online search seem to match him.


We do a 30% water change every month, and all the other fish appear healthy. We've had 4 die in the last couple months, but none of them seemed unusual since we just started our aquarium. The first one acted very odd from the beginning (never socialized, didn't eat much, hid most of the time). The next 2 who died just kinda stopped eating healthily, but again, we didn't think too much of it since our aquarium is new. This fish has been acting a little funny for a few days, not eating as much and being anti-social. This is the first fish we've had die with an obvious disease, but we don't know what it is.

Note: The image I uploaded here needs rotated - it's showing him horizontally, but he was floating near the bottom vertically.


If anybody here can give us suggestions, we would be eternally grateful. We'd like to prevent this from happening to the rest of our little guys! Thanks in advance. 




Edit: Oops, I just read another thread asking people like me to include this kind of info in our requests for help...

Tank size: 75 gallons
Ammonia: ?
NitrIte: ?
NitrAte: ?
PH/GH/KH: ? No current test available, but when we tested it initially it was fine
Cycled,yes or no: Yes
Number of fish: 12 until this one passed
Acclimation process: Brought home from aquarium store 45 minutes away, put into tank still in bags from store for 30 minutes, added water from our tank every 10 minutes, then released from bag into our tank population
Physical signs of illness(IE spots,shimmer,ECT): None
How often between fish additions: We just started the aquarium, so there were a lot of additions recently, but none in the last month
Waterchange schedule: 5-7 gallons weekly
Tank temp: 77 degrees Fahrenheit


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

You definately need test kit(api liquid master).
I'll geuss you should up your water changes to at least 50% every two weeks(just my preference).The 5-7 weekly is worthless as small changes only remove small amounts of nutrients.The % changed will equal nutrient reduction(for example nitrates at 40ppm with a 7 gallon change will leave you nitrates at 36ppm 10% water change equals 10% nutrient removal).
The film on fish is not what killed him as it is bacteria growing on a dead fish that has been in tank "a little to long".Dead fish create more ammonia than live fish,but without test results we'll never know where your water is at.
I would read the drip acclimation sticky and never add store water to your tank again(you're asking for it!)


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## kicksilver (Aug 9, 2012)

That looks like the same fungal slime that sometimes coats driftwood when first put into a tank.


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## StevenT (Jun 11, 2013)

It would also be good to know what type of AC you have. Also the male - female ratio. One of the biggest killers of African Cichlids are other African Cichlids. Have you noticed any aggression?

Also your water should have a high PH (8.0). It should also be hard water. You should invest in a master freshwater test kit and a GH/KH kit. Any LFS will have them.


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## zombilex (Jul 26, 2013)

Thanks for the advice and help! We ended up treating the fish for ich, as that's what most people were saying was the problem, so hopefully that's all it was. I'm glad the film is probably not some terrible contagious disease my other fish will get. I can't be sure how many males and females we have, since we're not planning to breed. If fish are anything like other species, I'd guess we have mostly males, because we chose a lot of brightly colored fish. There was some aggression early on in the tank, but the main instigator was our first fish to die (he was so mean to the other fish that we even named him after my husband's jerk coworker lol). We're definitely going to change the water more frequently now, though, so thank you for that advice. Our aquarium store is awesome and does free water testing, so we're going to take in a sample and then get another test kit (ours broke after 1 test, but it was good so we figured we didn't really need to keep testing...oops). Thanks again, everyone!


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## graybot (Apr 24, 2011)

It's likely that film appeared after the fish died. It looks to be fungus. Common on decorations in new tanks, and can grow like that on a deceased fish depending on the tank conditions...


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