tails disapearing

[gorgonzola2924]

OK I was doing a water change last night on my krebensis cichlid tank
and see a few tails are missing. Looks like the fin part has been
surgically removed. What's up with that? Have they been chewed off due
to stress between the fish? There are about 15 in a 40 gallon tank,
lots of lava rock, plants and hiding places. Also, they fish seem to
be hiding away all the time.

John

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

Check the pH. Really acid pH will eat the fins off.

"gorgonzola2924" > wrote in message
...
> OK I was doing a water change last night on my krebensis cichlid tank
> and see a few tails are missing. Looks like the fin part has been
> surgically removed. What's up with that? Have they been chewed off due
> to stress between the fish? There are about 15 in a 40 gallon tank,
> lots of lava rock, plants and hiding places. Also, they fish seem to
> be hiding away all the time.
>
> John
>

[gorgonzola2924]

On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 20:20:43 GMT, "Ghazanfar Ghori" >
wrote:

>Check the pH. Really acid pH will eat the fins off.

Thanks. I tested the pH and it's right at 7.0 (after a small water
change yesterday). So I bought some 7.0 buffer, and also started a
treatment of Clout, in case it's a parasite or something.

I've noticed them hiding away and lookng stressed the last few weeks,
so maybe there's some Ick or something.

Cheers,
John


>
>"gorgonzola2924" > wrote in message
...
>> OK I was doing a water change last night on my krebensis cichlid tank
>> and see a few tails are missing. Looks like the fin part has been
>> surgically removed. What's up with that? Have they been chewed off due
>> to stress between the fish? There are about 15 in a 40 gallon tank,
>> lots of lava rock, plants and hiding places. Also, they fish seem to
>> be hiding away all the time.
>>
>> John
>>
>

[john Doe]

On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 07:18:48 -0300, gorgonzola2924 wrote:

> OK I was doing a water change last night on my krebensis cichlid tank
> and see a few tails are missing. Looks like the fin part has been
> surgically removed. What's up with that? Have they been chewed off due
> to stress between the fish? There are about 15 in a 40 gallon tank,
> lots of lava rock, plants and hiding places. Also, they fish seem to
> be hiding away all the time.
>
> John
>

Sounds like fin rot. Google "fin rot" for more information. There are a
number of medications and fish typically recover just fine.

[gorgonzola2924]

On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 07:18:48 -0300, gorgonzola2924
> wrote:

>OK I was doing a water change last night on my krebensis cichlid tank
>and see a few tails are missing. Looks like the fin part has been
>surgically removed. What's up with that? Have they been chewed off due
>to stress between the fish? There are about 15 in a 40 gallon tank,
>lots of lava rock, plants and hiding places. Also, they fish seem to
>be hiding away all the time.
>
>John


Update - the Clout didn't do a thing. The water was high in
nitrites/trates so I've been doing daily 10% water changes and things
are looking better.

I thought back about what has changed in my tank since these problems
started. The main one was that I removed about half my lava rock.

I think what happened is that the breeding pair kept the others so
stressed that the tank went sour and my regular schedule of water
changes (from when the lava was still there) just didn't keep up with
the toxification caused by the stressed fish.

Anyway - things look better now, but there's still a long way to go.
I'm also cutting back on food.

Cheers,
John