Flicking against rocks and other tid bits

Question
Hello,
Help......  my fish are flicking against the rocks and decor!!!

1) I have 2 tanks, one is a 29 gallon with a mating pair of small convicts cichlids and their baby that was spared ( not eaten by them )and a larger pleco.   The 2nd tank was a 30 gallon that sprung a leak and I had to put my 4 parrot bloodfish in their withe the others.

I was using AQUARISOL to treat the convicts for the flicking against the rocks etc and they stopped for a few days after the 3 day treatment and water changes.

Now that I had to put my other fish in the tank because of the crack/demise.....  they have all started to flick against the rocks, some are swimming sideways and some seem to be paralyzed on one side, they seem to be only using one side of their body to swim. My father cichlid of the convict pair is now laying on its side at the bottom of the tank gasping and I am afraid by the time I get an answer back from you he will be dead.  I did notice a spot that seemed sore on his belly just betwen his front under fins and he sometime just darts and then goes back to laying on the gravel.  I do not want to lose all my fish and I know I need a another tank to house the parrots but I do not have the $$ right now and I do have HIGH filtration on the tank.

Both tanks have been set up for about 2 years and I had not signs of anything witht he parrots before this happened.

both tanks had a great level for ammonia, nitrates etc but I am afraid because of the introduction of the other fish I will have a big spike, as the water is turning cloudy and yuccky, I am trying not to feed them as much, just enough to hold them over and I am using seachams tank syndrome solution to try to cure that.  and I just started to use the aquarisol again to ease the flicking........  Any help or ideas........  please.....  thanks, Ed

Answer
Hi Ed;

Make a 25% water change every day until the symptoms ease. The tank is now way overcrowded and the bacteria balance may not be able to stabilize so toxins are poisoning them and burning their gills and skin. You can even do the changes twice a day. As long as the new water is the same temperature as the old and you use a water conditioner it will not stress them too much and will not delay or halt the bacteria balance. Keep doing the changes until nitrites and ammonia are down to zero and stay there. Note that it is "nitrItes" and not "nitrAtes" that are so toxic. Nitrates can be up to 40 ppm. Nitrites must be zero.

You might want to try to re-seal the leaky tank. All you need to buy is "aquarium safe" silicone sealant. It is available at the hardware store or your local fish store and much cheaper than a new tank! Here is a link to instructions for that;

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/aquariumdiy/a/aa031302.htm

Hope it all works out.......

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins