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In my 55 gal cichlid tank, my zebra cichlid hasn't been feeling too well. For the past few months he has had some type of parasite (I think) and he keeps his fins clamped and sits and just shakes in the water. I was trying to use some other medication but it only helps for a day and then its back to clamped fins and shaking. I was going to try Melafix but wasn't sure if it would negatively affect my clown loaches. Thanks.

PS, all the other fish are fine (3 clowns, 3 elec. yellows, firemouth, severum, 2 plecos) havent checked water parameters for a while, Ill do that tonight if I remember.

From my understanding Melafix is fine for clown loaches. However I dont think that Melafix will help if it is parasites your fish have. I'm not sure on what meds would be best to use but i'm sure someone else wil be able to advise.
Are there any other symptoms? What medications have you tried already? Check your water parameters aswell, post back results.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Well, he also had popeye at the beginning of all of his sickness, and the bottle of Melafix said that it would treat popeye, so I thought I would try it. Right now I've been using Aquari-sol which is mainly for ick I believe but it says it will treat parasites too.

Tankie, yes....meaning it IS safe for my clowns??

Edit:
Ammonia: .25 ppm
Nitrate: 160 ppm
PH: way down at 7.0

Last edited by fishiedude at 28-Jul-2005 14:27

The nitrate level probably has a big influence on how your fish are behaving. You need to lower that figure asap with water changes. I would recommend 20% daily until you get it down to about 20ppm, less if possible.
Then you need to work out how these levels got to be so high. What is your maintenance schedule? What filtration do you have for the tank? How often are you feeding the fish? What sort of plecos are they in the tank? Plecos produce alot of waste and many grow too big for a tank the size you have.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.