Malawi Peacocks losing color and getting skinny

[batson325]

Hi,

I have a 215 gallon tank with Malawi Peacocks and Haps. Lately some of my fish have lost color and gotten skinny. I had a Red Empress that was bright red, and now it is grey. I also have a few albino eureka reds that have gotten very dull in color and gotten skinny. I have asked a few LFS and most of them have told me that I need to feed more food because the aggressive fish are eating the food before the others get a chance to. I'm wondering if it could be something else. Could this be a result of overcrowding? I have an Eheim 2217 along with a larger Eheim (about the size of a 5 gallon bucket) and I'm wondering if I need to take one of them off and clean the media inside thinking that debris may have built up over time in the filter and causing it to lose some of its filtration. I will take some pictures of my tank and see if you guys think it may be overcrowded. I might also need to do more frequent water changes (I try to do these once a week, but sometimes get busy and dont get to it until every other week). Maybe I need to feed a different type of food to fatten them up. I usually feed New Life Spectrum twice a day, but just started with Mysis Shrimp. Any input or advice is much appreciated. Thanks.

[batson325]

This is the albino. His stomach has kind of caved in. I have several fish like this.

albino peacock.jpg

[batson325]

Left is my red empress, he used to be bright red, and now is grey. This is a picture of my tank, just to give you an idea of how many fish I have. Thanks.

red empress.jpgtank.jpg

[Ballinxalex]

I would clean the filter to if u haven't cleaned it in a while but don't do both at the same time switch off so u dont kill all the bacteria in there but maybe try feeding more than twice a day if they aren't eating try blood worms every fish loves it and will fatten them up but that's all the advice I can give u

[armthehomeless]

Re: Malawi Peacocks losing color and getting skinny

Treat for parasites.

[eklikewhoa]

I would switch back to NLS as well.

More specifics as to your water condition, water change frequency/amount, etc would be nice.

[supadave]

Re: Malawi Peacocks losing color and getting skinny

+1
Also , your water quality may be poor . When was the last time that you cleaned your filters ?

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[TangoMIke]

Treat for parasites.

+1

[mistahoo]

Re: Malawi Peacocks losing color and getting skinny

I would switch back to NLS as well.

More specifics as to your water condition, water change frequency/amount, etc would be nice.

+1 NLS is the good stuff. How much of a water change do you do? 50%? 90%? I would treat for parasites just in case. Also try feeding them the NLS with garlic. It'll help boost their immune system.

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[kewlkatdady]

I'd switch back to NLS. and treat the whole tank with Metro.

[papasmurf]

I would treat for parasites. I have had similar issues with my haps and peacocks from time to time. I usually treat the tank with metronidazole or soak their food in it and feed the effected fish separately to make sure they are getting enough of the medicated food. Some I have been able to reverse the trend and save and some others it just seems to prolong the inevitable and they will waste away slowly for months before dying. FWIW I do 50% WC's every week too and have a pretty heavily filtered tank so I do not think water quality is the main culprit here but rather a parasite or something possibly introduced with a new fish.