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Chocolate Cichlid not looking good

cabinetmkr39

DavidG / CCA Member
Any Idea whats going on here, Fish stopped eating also has a white blush on his head , his jaw is swollen in the right side , belly is also swollen, clear stingy fecal matter.
I've salted the tank yesterday with 1 tsp of instance ocean no changes is behavior. temp is 78 degrees, no other fish show any signs .

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chriscoli

Administrator
sorry, Dave....and you're NOT a dummy! Hex = Hexamita (hole in the head disease).

classic symptom is the appearance of erosions on the head and lateral line area, but can also have GI symptoms (stringy poo) since it's believed to be associated with an overgrowth of Hexamita.

Metronidazole is usually the treatment.

google it and see if it looks like what you've got.
 

festaedan

potamotrygon fan
I had this exact same thing happen to my old chocolate cichlid. It ended up killing him, none of the other fish showed symptoms or anything and he didnt eat nearly as ferociously as he used to. Good luck!
 

blkmjk

Members
I have had fish that shared similar symptoms. I have milked the fluid out of those fish. Treated them with salt and they still died. Good luck with your treatment.

Drew
 

chriscoli

Administrator
secondary infections are common in fish with Hex. I think I read somewhere that the Hex isn't what usually does them in.
 
Any swollen eyes, jaw or lips and white bluff on the head are symtoms of systemic bacterial infection. With symptoms like that, the fish is a goner and I have never had success curing them. Sometime, it's best for the fish to die quickly than to hang on with healthy tankmates. Fortunately, bacterial infections don't seem to be highly contageous and tend to hit fish with stress or weaken immunity.

I lost a chocolate cichlid not too long ago with similar symptoms. He was under stress with more aggressive tankmates. He withdrew into the rock and was afraid to come out to eat. Eventually, desease got him.
 
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