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i have three Keyholes and over the last two weeks i have been frequently convinced one has died.

at first i found the missing one hiding in the plants along the back of the tank, she(a total guess on the sex btw) had a white pimple on her head and i did a 30% WC.

the other two have been showing funny dominance behaviour, one fish swims up to the other fish and the other one sort of lays flat in the Water - does that make sense?

all three used to swim together ALL the time,

any how after the WC i saw the three together onece at feeding time. again on the Wkend i did an extra WC and the pimple thing has gone but she is still hiding?

yesterday i went on a body hunt and was convinced everyone had eaten her. Today i came home and she was hiding in the rock cave, the other two were out swimming. last night the hidey one didn't come out to eat(although she nearly always has)

all their "keyholes" are showing vividly today.

is it a breeding thing?
is it illness?

is it a personality clash?

thanks for any suggestions
Lucy


_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

right sorry to post again so soon, but i wanted to update and see if any one could suggest anything

i did 25% WC tonight, really don't want to lose my keyholes,

she has perked up a fair bit - swimming out with the other two who are still doing that dominance/sumissive thing and sort of ignoring her, she still has the white spot on the top of her head, i read in another post that these pimple things are a reaction poor water quality, which would make sense since Wc's seem to have improved her(and would also mean i need new tests think i am going to give and buy the very expensive kind i always seem to have hassles with test kits)

the only other thing is that she is now significantly darker than the other two? and i think i just saw her flash..

so could it be a water quality problem? the tank has been running for two years now and the test come up at nought - it is packed with java ferns, maybe something else in the water is causing a problem?

maybe i should i have posted in the hospital forum sorry if this is wrong, i was kind of hoping it would be a behaviour breeding related thing but maybe now she is sick?

thanks for any input
GFG

_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

i dont think its a water problem. When americans go dark it either means that there dominant or in sum species it can mean that ther stressed. it could be that the other 2 hav paired up and are picking on the weaker one. even tho keyholes are usually peaceful at breeding time most cichlids are aggressive... but i spose the question i should hav asked first is have you seen any fighting??? other than that it could just be that the fish is shy.

thanks for you reply was being slightly panic stricken last night!

today i bought the expensive test and my carbonate hardness is at 0 which could be a problem for the pH levels (some nice person on the water quality board is helping me with that! cos i don't get it really.

all other tests came out at 0 tank is happy and cycled

tonight i fed them live food - small blood worms, they were all very active and feeding although the shy one was pushed away from the food by the other two and has gone back to hiding. i think you are right that she is being bullied. I have seen some chasing of the shy one, altohugh sometimes they all chase each other.

is there a way to solve this should i get her a pal? move her to the liverbearers tank although she ouldn't handle the salt could she?

thanks again for your help
GFG

Last edited by goldfishgeek at 04-Feb-2005 17:21

_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone