HELP! SICK FISH!!! : (

Question
We have a 55 gallon African Cichlid tank consisting of mostly mbuna.  Our tank seems to be infected with something.  Most of the fish have BIG open sores on their sides.  We have had this tank for about a year now so we know the sores are not from them picking at each other.  Some fish are much worse than others.  Many of them have lots of missing scales.  It looks like it could be a bacteria that is eating away at their sides.  Some appear to have white around their lips (lip fungus?).  We did some melafix for a week, and nothing was cured.  We just started with the quickcure last night.  We did a 25% water change (and added salt) after finishing with the melafix.  We feed them omega one cichlid flakes and HBH supersoft frozen food alternative with Krill. We have had 3 fish die over the past couple of weeks.  We are very upset about this whole thing and are willing to try anything to get our healthy tank back again!

Answer
Hi Erin
Sounds to me like it's a bacterial infection called columnaris(aka cotton mouth).  It has several symptoms, and sometimes doesn't show anything on the mouth area, but the head or sides.  That's also most likely what's causing the ulcers on their sides.  You'll need to use a broad spectrum antibiotic that treats gram negative bacteria, Maracyn Plus or Maracyn 2 should work for that.  

Stop using the Quick Cure, because it's not a fungal infection, though it's usually mistaken for one.  Do a partial water change also to remove some of the Quick Cure, and make sure you remove any carbon from your filter before adding the meds.  

You'll also want to make sure to keep the water quality excellent to prevent a fungal infection on the sores.  Not sure on your water change schedule, (once the fish are healed) I usually recommend vacuuming the gravel good and changing out about 25% of the water once a week.  If the tank is overstocked, you'll need to do more.  If you don't have a test kit, buy one.  The dropper test kits are more accurate.  You'll want the ammonia and nitrite readings always at 0 ppm, and nitrates ideally under 20 ppm to maintain good water quality.

One last thing, MelaFix is great stuff, but is more for when adding new fish, or for injuries from fighting or scrapes.  PimaFix seems to work better for bacterial and fungal infections.  When you can, I'd pick up a bottle of that to keep on hand.  

Hope that helps, and good luck with treatment and hope it all goes well!  Let me know if you have more questions.

Christy