Advice for treating ill Malawi Cichlid

Question
Hi David,

I have two female Melanochromis auratus' and one of them recently (a month
ago) had it's colour fade rapidly to the point that the yellow strip on it's body
turn white.  It's colour changed by fading so much that it looked almost like
the male of it's kind.  Yesterday I found it at the bottom of the tank and did
not feed.  I keep an isolation tank primed with the same type of water as the
main aquarium and a filter as stand by in case my fish get ill.  I have moved
the ill fish in question to the isolation tank night and mixed a small amount
of table salt (additive free) into the isolation tank water.  The temperature is
27'C in the isolation tank.  The fish is still alive, but it's upside down today.  

I normally feed my malawi cichlids on a varied diet of New Era tropical flakes,
Tetra Pro vegitable flakes and Hikari Cichlid Gold pellets.  

Can you please advise me on how to treat this fish?  


Many thanks

Mel

Answer
Hi Mel:

sounds like your fish is very stressed out.  It is good that you have separated him.  Feed your sick fish only what he will eat.  Add some aquarium salt... not table salt to the water.  Try to keep the water chemistry consistent... a stressed fish will not tolerate a changing environment.  The color fade in cichlids is a way they communicate or how they show a dominate fish that they are not a threat.  Probably what has happened is that your two cichlids have been having a conflict and it may have gotten violent...cichlids are like this.  If your fish lives... keep them separate.  It is possible that your fish has a disease but I am unable to diagnose a disease based on the information provided.  I honestly think the fish is just stressed and stress in fish can be as deadly as disease.  You can try to gradually to increase the water temperature to 28 C as a precaution to disease.  The aquarium salt and the raised water temperature is all the treatment that I would provide in this case. If you see white fuzz or sports appear or if the fish becomes very active and running into things then your fish has a disease.  It is possible that your fish has a bladder issue... Fish have a bladder that helps them keep upright and if the gasses in that bladder become unbalanced the fish will float on its side or upside down.  The varied diet you feed your fish is awesome...I sometimes treat my cichlids with a small dose of live brine shrimp.   Please keep me up-to-date with your fishes progress.  Good luck with this little guy.  Dave