Robert MacCara wrote:
My adult male mozambique is showing signs of sickness, but I have no idea
what's wrong.
His fins are clamped and a little ragged. He's been hanging about the
surface lately and not eating. His balance is affected as he doesn't seem
to swim "upwright". His missus knows something is wrong as she stays close
to him offering moral support.

Another interesting point about the pair, is a couple of months ago their
already large lips seemed to get a bit bigger, and the colouration of the
lips changed from grey to a white patch in the middle of the mouth! Not
sure if that's related - I put it down to getting older - something I can
relate to!

The tank is a non-aggressive mixed cichlid lot with no other fish showing
any signs of sickness. The mozambique is the largest fish in the tank.
http://www.dvs.ca/fish for a look at the tank. Water conditions are good.

Any ideas or things to try to help this guy? I don't have another tank
available for isolation, btw.
Thanks for any suggestions,
Rob

Hi Rob
First comment is the Robyn sp., are you aware of the space that this
species needs as it gets older, it's territory grows exponentially to
it's size. Great looking kid though :-)

Nice looking tank, but I feel you have stocked it in a way that will in
all probability cause you many headaches, fair enough, people do mix
cichlids (I'm guilty of that), but the mozzies, and dempsies aren't
really suitable for a community tank (one too big, the other too
aggressive.) I presume by blue eye cichlids you mean what call jade eyes
(Cichlasoma spilurum), if so they will breed like rabbits and when they
do they get very territorial, I had a 2" female that would keep a full
grown red belly pirhana cowering in a corner (yes, I had breeding
cichlids in with a pirhana).

Back to your original question, ragged edges on the fins, and an upset
balance says bacterial infection to me, I would suggest a course of
treatment with a general bactericide, the Esha range always work well
for me, very tank friendly but effective.

Hope this helps
Dave
www.baarks.co.uk