Acei developing something

[Glyce]

Hello, One of my Acei is developing somekind of black marks.  Here is a picture.  If anybody has seen this before some help/advice would be greatly appreciated.  This has just happened over the past 24hrs, I have done a water change this evening and used some "MellaFix" to try and help.

Thank you,

AL.

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[FishBuddy]

Hello, One of my Acei is developing somekind of black marks.  Here is a picture.  If anybody has seen this before some help/advice would be greatly appreciated.  This has just happened over the past 24hrs, I have done a water change this evening and used some "MellaFix" to try and help.

Thank you,

AL.

Looking at the picture, the fish look normal to me..  I have a few fish that develop black pigments from time to time but they go away afterwards...  BTW, I think your Acei is holding eggs    You might want to isolate her to a separate tank so that she'll have some peace and quiet...

[Glyce]

Thanx for the imput.  Yes she is holding eggs, unfortunately I don't have another tank set up to put her in, hoping to set something up in the next couple of weeks.  Until then, she'll have to stay.

[cichlidicted]

hey .. yes she is holding... if you want to keep the fry, i suggest you strip the fish.... i've never done it or saw anyone do it except online ... and my first time was easy... use the net to grab the fish and with your nail, gently push down the mouth and the babies will come out...

OR, you can let nature play its role and wish for the best.

goodluck.

[taim_30]

one...let her hold the eggs and release the fry naturally.  I'm not a big fan of stripping eggs because like it or not, it does stress the fish.  It's not wrong to strip them as many cichlid keepers do it but I just prefer the natural way:)

two...I had some with black marks as well and I'm talking about wild caught specimens.  I've read up on it and asked some experienced keepers and found out that it can be caused by a diet which is high in spirulina.  It's okay and the black marks do dispappear over time:)

[Thumpya]

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/feeding_mbuna.php 

scroll down to the line, So then, what foods are best? it describes a possible reaction with your Acei. It happens to my fish once in a while too

[Glyce]

Thank you for the info, so far so good, marks are disapating slowly. Good to know it's likely to be a food reaction. She found a nice quiet spot in the tank.  Hope it does the trick.

[bitterman]

one...let her hold the eggs and release the fry naturally.  I'm not a big fan of stripping eggs because like it or not, it does stress the fish.  It's not wrong to strip them as many cichlid keepers do it but I just prefer the natural way:)

Letting a fish hold is good but if she breeds too often eventually she coudl get week and prone to disease if she is alwasy holding. Also some females will not release the fry, so keep track of when she started holding and if she won't release the fry you may  have to strip her.

two...I had some with black marks as well and I'm talking about wild caught specimens.  I've read up on it and asked some experienced keepers and found out that it can be caused by a diet which is high in spirulina.  It's okay and the black marks do dispappear over time:)

The black marks often occur on WC Africans from the lake can be Ammonia burns from being in the bags too long on the Trip from Africa to the USA and Canada. This is pretty normal for WC fish to have such marks. They go away when the scale they are on falls off. Appearing after the fish is in your tank is a bit different though.

Bruce