Tropheus Death

[N_GA]

Just came home and found our tropheus moori dead, he looked completely healthy yesterday but he is now covered in white fuzz. None of the other fish seem to be showing any signs of sickness but I'm wondering if we should treat the tank anyway?

[Noodles]

Can you tell us more about the tank? Size? Tankmates? How long the tanks been running? What your feeding ?

[N_GA]

It's a 110 gallon, its been running with fish fo about 2 1/2 months. We do weekly 30% water changes, feeding NLS sinking pellets, have occasionally fed some cucumber too. Tank mates are:

OB peacock

Blank calvus

Kandango

Eureka red

1, possibly 2 Sulpher head (one is a female that I posted about holding)

A hybrid we were told is a red shoulder

Albino peacock

Taiwan reef

Dragon blood

Red peacock (labeled as that at big als)

Yellow peacock (labeled as that at big als)

Pseudotropheus polit

Aulonocara sp. Stuartgranti Maleri

Synodontis multipuncata

[Eugene]

I would say tropheus need to be in a school by themselves of at least 8-10.Your other fish are to aggressive for it.How long did you have him?

Edited May 2, 2013 by Eugene

[N_GA]

I had him since we started the tank up, so 2 1/2 months ago. I sit and watch them pretty often and I hadn't seen him being chased around or anything. When we had cichlids previously we had tropheus in our tank and they did great so I just assumed it would be the same this time. Most of our fish are pretty small, I'd say between 1 1/2 to 3 inches and he only outwardly aggressive one is the OB. I've had him in a breeder box actually for a couple of weeks because he was harassing everyone but the tropheus and the calvus.

[Blue Ram]

I totally agree with Eugene. I had tremendous success with a large school of tropheus. They need to be in groups of at least 12-15. These are the conditions they do best in.

Sorry to hear you lost the moori.

Edited May 2, 2013 by Blue Ram

[N_GA]

Ok so should I treat the tank so that none of the other remaining fish get sick or should they be ok with just water changes? I was reading online that I could also add aquarium salt, would this actually help?

Now I have to convince the mr that we need another tank because I really like the tropheus.

[Blue Ram]

I would not suggest treating the tank because you don't know what you are treating for!!

Keep up with regular water changes and monitor the fish for the next while. Minimizing stress, whether caused by aggression, feeding requirements or water conditions, is the best way to keep your fish healthy.

I spent hours researching tropheus care and requirements before I bought a large adult colony of 18. I did not lose any in the 2 years I kept them and they were actively breeding. They are a real pleasure to keep but do your research first.

[N_GA]

Based on what the tropheus looked like and the research I did on diseases it looked like cotton mouth so I would have treated for that. The reason I was wondering about treating the tank is that it's apparently contagious. My water conditions are all great so I guess I'll just keep up with them and assume it was stress that caused the tropheus to get sick even though I saw no signs of it.

Thanks for the responses.