Parrot Fish

[Genny]

I wanted to ask something about our parrot fish. We have 5 of them. We've had them about a year now and they're all growing and getting bigger and seem very healthy. Each one of them had some black on it when we first got them, but as they grew and got older the black went away and I figured it was the chlorine doing it. But, ever so often one of them will get some black coloring come up on their tail/face. It's strange...and then a week or so later it'll fade away...and then it will usually happen again within a month or so. Is that normal?

[IRescue452]

A lot of fish species get black spots that indicate healing from ammonia burns. Its likely your ammonia spiked to toxic levels and then straightened out naturally over time. You should keep good track of your ammonia levels and increase your water changes. If you see these black marks often, its likely your tank is too small to control the ammonia produced by the amount of fish you have. They will continue to get burns if you don't fix the problem.

[Genny]

Hmmm....we clean it out regularly. It's a 55 gallon.. We've got the 5 parrot fish, 3 silver dollars, 1 platty, 5 of the corrydorras (sp?) 2 small sharks and one of the big sucker fish, 1 paradise fish (she's kinda like a cichlid, but she's super sweet, we've had her for like 2 years) and 2 rope fish..and another kind of fish..she favors the parrots a lot, but she's a different kind..can't remember what she's called for sure....all of our fish seem to get along really great and nobody ever bites anyone... actually tho our tank could probably use some fresh water about now. I'll add some tonight.

[Christmas_Hamster]

Do you have a test kit? If so, test the water before you add some clean water and see what the ammonia, nitrIte & nitrAte readings are. If you don't then take it to a pet store they should be able to test it either for free or for a small charge. With a tank that only gets partial water changes (meaning it will be cycled, creating an ecosystem of good and bad bacterias) you should have a test kit (preferably a drip test kit as they are far more accurate then test strip tests) so that you know when best to do water changes.

I agree with Irescue452, it sounds like ammonia burns.

[IRescue452]

Do you have pics for fish identification? Unfortunately, I can tell you already that your tank is overstocked, which would explain why it may not be able to keep up on ammonia. You should definately get a liquid test kit if you don't already have one. Test strips are ineffective because once you open the package and expose them to oxygen they start to break down. The meters that go into the water are also ineffective because they don't distinguish between treated ammonia and untreated.

Adding water is never a good idea unless you take water out. When water evaporates, it concentrates the metals and chemicals in the water. If you keep adding, you're just putting more chemical load into the tank. Taking water out before adding new water helps keep the dissolved chemicals at a managable level.

[Genny]

Do you have pics for fish identification? Unfortunately, I can tell you already that your tank is overstocked, which would explain why it may not be able to keep up on ammonia. You should definately get a liquid test kit if you don't already have one. Test strips are ineffective because once you open the package and expose them to oxygen they start to break down. The meters that go into the water are also ineffective because they don't distinguish between treated ammonia and untreated.

Adding water is never a good idea unless you take water out. When water evaporates, it concentrates the metals and chemicals in the water. If you keep adding, you're just putting more chemical load into the tank. Taking water out before adding new water helps keep the dissolved chemicals at a managable level.

No, I dont have pics of them...and I did take some water out before I put in fresh water ;]

[king2005]

Do you have pics for fish identification? Unfortunately, I can tell you already that your tank is overstocked, which would explain why it may not be able to keep up on ammonia. You should definately get a liquid test kit if you don't already have one. Test strips are ineffective because once you open the package and expose them to oxygen they start to break down. The meters that go into the water are also ineffective because they don't distinguish between treated ammonia and untreated.

Adding water is never a good idea unless you take water out. When water evaporates, it concentrates the metals and chemicals in the water. If you keep adding, you're just putting more chemical load into the tank. Taking water out before adding new water helps keep the dissolved chemicals at a managable level.

I agree with you 100%. That tank is way overstocked. Parrot fish can get quite large as they are typically part Red Devil (gives them the orange).. depending on the breeder there could also be some flowerhorn or Jack Dempsey in them. All 3 of those fish are large fish (the Jack being the smaller one, but not always by much.. depends if it's pure or mixed with Jewel <-so I've heard)...

1 Red Devil needs a BEAR min of 55gallons & that includes no other fish. 75gal is a much better min and you can have some cleaner type fish in there, but a Red Devil would eat them (one of the most aggressive fish you can buy.. mine was psycho & I couldn't put my hands in the water as he would have shredded my skin to pieces) lol. Awesome fish though!

So 5 Parrots in a 55gal with a whole whack of other fish will give you
1. out of control toxins
2. not enough growing space/fish = premature fish death (fish do NOT grow to their environments.. they die young in too small of tanks).
3. Hole In The Head will more then likely infect your fish (hard to cure & is known to be deadly), not to mention defiguring (sp?) & terribly painful.

The the amount of fish you have you'd have to do 25% water changes every day to try to keep the toxins under control, but the tank is so over stocked I'm not sure if that is even enough.

My advice is to return/rehome all the fish & keep 1 Parrot, or return all parrots & all Silver Dollars & I "think" the others will be fine in the tank.

I hope I don't sound rude or anything, but I'm a serious fish owner & fish rescuer. Too many fish are neglected every day due to ignorance (I was once too).

Here is some info on Parrot fish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_parrot_cichlid
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/ci...loodparrot.htm
http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/376/

[Genny]

I went to lots of websites trying to find a picture that looks like her, but I couldn't find one ;[ Maybe she isn't a paradise fish...she doesn't look like the ones that came up when I typed that...she may be some other kind...who knows? ;-/