Blindness in Paracyprichromis 10/16/05 Bob, <Allan> Saw your new book, but hell if I will pay Pet Kingdom 60 bucks and its not even signed. You want to sell me one out of your personal stash with your famous moniker engraved?  <Man! If I had a copy I'd sell it for this much... and throw in a pint of blood> Got this problem, really nice fish are going blind and I don't know why. Paracyprichromis nigripinnis to be exact. Found one hit on Google that suggests its genetic, carried on the maternal side (unlucky for me if true since I only had one female breeding) Got any info?  <Mmmm, not much... wish my "cichlid" cohorts were present... Chuck's out at a hobby do, Oliver Lucanus likely on a hunt-about... maybe nutritional...> I am planning on turning my pool into a pond in a year or two if I can. I'm thinking of lining it, blocking off a large section to prefilter and run water hyacinths. I'll buy you a few beers <Whoa... now you've got my attention> if you want to stop by and point out obvious flaws in my plan. Allan Peterson - former employee and lifelong citer of the BFenner theory of fish disease. PS I live over by Patrick Henry high school.  <Ahh, I wonder if the Duckworths, Joe and son Wade, live still over near there... Did you know Marvin Blevins (Chemistry, Softball...) there? Bob Fenner> 
Re: blindness in Paracyprichromis Bob, Can't say I know Martin or the Duckworths. Call me at work if you want to chat. I'm serious about the pool to pond idea. I know you wrote an article on it a while back. I'm even more serious about beer. They are selling Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest at Iowa Meats. Worth the effort. <Great bier, great store... still down on University?> I'll try some new foods on the Paracyps. Perhaps its not only nutritional, but developmental. Better food in the fry/juvenile stage might just be the ticket. But stress is the thing that sets it off, I'm sure. I'm pretty sure that when I put the Paracyps in a bucket to move them, they snapped, just like that. Perhaps an overload of the ocular nerves? <Strange, but maybe> Maybe I should just give them anti-inflammatorIES. How many 250mg Naproxens would I have to grind up to treat 20 gallons . . . <Mmm.... I wouldn't do that/this> Allan P. <Like the project? Be chatting, BobF, out in HI till next mo.> 

Frontosa's Mouth Hi, Thank you in advance to reading my question. <That is what we are here for.> I have a group of frontosa cichlids that seem to keep their mouths closed, like they are stretching their upper lip downward. They are only about 3 inches and too young to be holding. It's only a few of them, the rest are fine. <Something like that typically isn't an environmental problem. This might be a case of physical deformities, and these birth defects are growing more pronounced as they age.  Frontosas breed quite easily after the 3 year mark, and many people don't take into account that in order to have good and healthy fish, breeding needs to have multiple healthy blood lines.  Chances could be that the three fish that you have might be severely inbred by the breeder. Mouth and eye deformities are common in inbred cichlids. Many responsible breeders look for issues like this and cull those fry so to keep lines pure.. If the case is an issue of birth defects, then there isn't much you can do.> When I feed them they don't/can't seem to open their mouths to feed, but they get close to the food and somehow scoop it. It is really puzzling and I can't figure out what is causing this. Any help you can lend would be greatly appreciated. <Probably the best thing to do is keep an eye on them.  Make sure that they are given clean water, and monitor to see if they are eating properly.  With a hindrance to be able to eat they might not be getting all the food that they should.> Thank You Adrian <Wish I could be more definitive with an answer to help you and your fish.  But, I think it's best to keep an eye on them and see what happens. -Magnus>