My fishes my be scared

Question
Hi,

Thanks!  I don't know what to do they do not seem to be getting better.  I have 5 of them and 2 of them have died.  They also begun to cnahge their color from a silver to these dark spots.  And they are also breathing heavily.  For a while they looked like they were improving but than they reverted to hiding and heavy breathing.  
Thanks Again,
T

-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
Hi,

My tank has been set up for about 5 months.  I have 5 Flower horns and 1 fish that is use for cleaning the tank (I have forgotten the name). I cleaned the tank about 2 weeks ago and they haven't been the same since.  Although I don't know if it is also due to my nieces bothering the fishes while they were here on they're visit.  They have rapid breathing and are always hiding.  They are usually friendly fishes but they don't even want to eat.  Everytime i approach them they run away to hide.
Answer -
Hi Tanitra;

I think they should be recovering from the visit by now so it could be that fish waste toxins are making them sick. When a tank is cleaned, sometimes it can kill the beneficial bacteria that keeps fish waste toxins under control. You might want to test the water and see if toxins have risen from the cleaning two weeks ago. Test for ammonia and nitrites. These are the two deadly ones. It can take at least a couple of weeks for the levels to stabilize again.

Start by making a 25% water change right away to hopefully relieve the fish a bit. Do another one the next day too if levels are still up.

Look at the fish closely for signs of parasites. If they were stressed by the niece's visit they could easily have come down with an infection or contracted a parasite. Parasites, bacteria and fungi are always present in our tank water so when fish are stressed and their immunity is down, they can attack. Especially if the fish are injured from hitting things after being startled or frightened.

I hope they feel better soon.....

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins


Answer
Hi Tanitra;

Oh, what a shame. I'm just not sure what could be the problem. It could be a parasite or a gill infection or something too. Have you tested the water? Check the levels of pH, nitrite and ammonia. Is it possible something else got into the tank? A toxin like cleaner, soap, hand lotion?

You might want to contact Ron Coleman too. He is a very experienced cichlid expert. Tell him all the symptoms, what size the tank and fish are, what you have tried so far, how long this has been going on, etc. You could also copy and paste our corespondence for him to read. Here is his profile page;

http://www.allexperts.com/displayExpert.asp?Expert=21527

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins