Re: Blood Parrot Fish

Question
What is the reason(s) or cause(s) that would make my Blood Parrot Fish, in the tank without tank mates, stay around the underwater gravel filter for the past 3 days; only coming out when its feeding time?  The fins of the Parrot Fish are also tightly clasped together.  What are the causes?

LAR

Answer
Good afternoon! Thank you for your question.

This sounds like it could be one of many environmental diseases. Here are some sites on freshwater fish diseases, how to link symptoms to specific conditions:

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm
http://www.aquariumfish.net/information/signs_of_stress_and_disease.htm

My guess would be your tank is not fully cycled if it is new, or has a high nitrate build-up if it has been established for a while. Test your water. Your nitrites and ammonia should read 0 ppm, nitrates should be under 20 ppm. If you do not have a test kit of your own, ask your local fish store to test your water for you.

Don't be too quick to medicate. Perform a partial water change of 25% and see if there is any improvement. You can add some Melafix, maybe at a half-dose, and see if that helps boost your fish's immune system a bit. One teaspoon of aquarium salt per 10 gallons might help, as well.

I used to swear by undergravel filters! I don't use them any longer because they are too difficult to clean properly. When I re-did my tank and left the undergravel filter out, I saw a drop in my nitrates. Here is an article on the whole pro and con debate of undergravel filters:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/ug5proscons.htm

Please write back if you need more assistance or if the condition of your fish worsens. If you do decide to medicate, do so in a hospital tank so as not to damage the biological filtration (which undergravel filtration does effectively provide) in your tank.

Lastly, let me leave you with a couple of links to excellent sites about blood parrot cichlids:

http://parrotcichlid.com/
http://www.geocities.com/parrotcichlid/main.html

Happy to help,
Nicole

P.S. This web page is run by one of our very own AllExperts! Take a look at his subsection on blood parrot cichlids:

http://cichlidresearch.com/parrot.html