Sick African Ciclid: Kenyai

Question
Hi,
 We have a 55 gallon tank of Ciclids, started
out with 11 about 2 years ago, and now down
to 5. I'm not sure about the filtering system.
We have two on top and the kind that lays on
the bottom of the tank.  Our water is well-water
and very high in minerals, the ph has been fine,
the nitrates has always been high. But my
problem is our Kenyai, he use to be the most
aggressive fish in the tank, now its the Albino,
but just a couple of days ago, i noticed when
i was feeding them, and you know how aggessive
they are at feeding time, well the Kenyai was
kind of hiding at the bottom in the corner and
when he did come out, it looked like he couldn't
open his mouth, plus had aquired a white fleck
by his upper lip. The next day i went to Petco,
they said it could be "cotton mouth"? Gave me
some treatment, we took him out of the tank last
night and treated him, and when we took him out
at the bottom of the bucket was a round white
ball thing, looked kind of like it could have been
an egg, don't know.  But we put him back in the tank and later feed them.  He still didn't open
his mouth.  Do you have any suggestions?  Have you
heard of such a thing before?  What is their
life expectancy?  Believe it or not, i am very
attached to my ciclids, and i don't want to lose
another one. Please help.  Thank-you,

Deb

Answer
Hi Deborah;

Sounds more serious than I know how to help you with. You might ask Ron Coleman about this one. He is the cichlid expert around here. His profile;

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

Hope your fish feels better soon.....

Chris Robbins