Apisto turned black overnight

[Herefishie]

I've had a double red Apisto since October 5 in my community tank. He's been doing great and eats like a horse. Not aggressive nor is anyone towards him. Water parameters are all fine and I do a partial water change weekly.

Yesterday morning I got up and discovered him on the bottom of the tank lying on his side. His body has turned completely black. This all happened overnight. I put him in a quarantine tank and added some aquarium salt, Maracyn & Paracleanse (not really knowing what is going on).  I wish I could get a good picture but I have not been able to do so.

I have been researching and so far I can't find anything relative to this. If anyone has any insight, I would surely appreciate it. I have only been fish keeping for a few months.

 

 

[Colu]

What exactly are your water parameters how long have you had the fish what other fish are in the tank have you added anything new to the tank recently can you post a picture of the fish it will help with a diagnosis 

[Herefishie]

Tank mates include three neon tetras, two black skirt tetras, five Corydoras and two tiny rainbow fish. Nothing has changed in the tank. No new fish, decor, plants, etc.  I've had him since October 5, 2023. All fish peaceful. I've never seen any aggression among any of them.

chlorine = 0

ph= 7

kh=80

gh = 25

nitrite = 0

Nitrate = 0

temp = 78

 

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by Herefishie

[GoofyGarra]

@Herefishie is the fish acting sick or abnormal at all or is the color change the only symptom?

[Guppysnail]

@Herefishie have you checked ammonia levels?

[Herefishie]

On 12/4/2023 at 3:57 PM, GoofyGarra said:

@Herefishie is the fish acting sick or abnormal at all or is the color change the only symptom?

He's been lying on the bottom of the tank the whole time. Sometimes on his side and sometimes upright but he doesn't swim/eat and the black coloration literally happened overnight.

On 12/4/2023 at 4:12 PM, Guppysnail said:

@Herefishie have you checked ammonia levels?

I forgot to mention that yes I did. I use Aquarium CoOp anmmonia strips and the level is zero. I do water changes weekly.

[Colu]

Possible stress related with the colour change could be bacterial  am going to tag @tolstoy21he has more experience with apistogramma behaviour maybe it   something he seen before 

Edited December 5, 2023 by Colu
Typo

[tolstoy21]

Apistogramma tend to darken in response to their environment. If things are dimly lit and you have dark substrate or a dark background, their colors will be darker. The opposite is true if they are in a light environment with light substrate, etc.  

Generally when I see an apisto laying on its side and being lethargic, it's not a good sign.

I find that curing fish is one of the harder aspects of this hobby and my success rate is low. I was reading through Romer's Cichlid Atlas and he mentions that only in rare cases are apistogramma curable of fungal or bacterial infections in the home aquarium.  Perhaps this isn't really a truism and he's just as bad a veterinarian as I am, but this made me feel a little better and that I wasn't alone in this experience.  However, I still feel terrible when I cannot rescue a sick fish.

Wished I had more advice to give you. I think the general treatments you're attempting are the way to go, not knowing what is really going on. But, keep in mind that sometimes the attempted remedy can be worse than the disease. 

[Herefishie]

On 12/4/2023 at 6:30 PM, tolstoy21 said:

Apistogramma tend to darken in response to their environment. If things are dimly lit and you have dark substrate or a dark background, their colors will be darker. The opposite is true if they are in a light environment with light substrate, etc.  

Generally when I see an apisto laying on its side and being lethargic, it's not a good sign.

I find that curing fish is one of the harder aspects of this hobby and my success rate is low. I was reading through Romer's Cichlid Atlas and he mentions that only in rare cases are apistogramma curable of fungal or bacterial infections in the home aquarium.  Perhaps this isn't really a truism and he's just as bad a veterinarian as I am, but this made me feel a little better and that I wasn't alone in this experience.  However, I still feel terrible when I cannot rescue a sick fish.

Wished I had more advice to give you. I think the general treatments you're attempting are the way to go, not knowing what is really going on. But, keep in mind that sometimes the attempted remedy can be worse than the disease. 

Thank you for your helpful comments. The tank is actually quite light and I have light substrate. I think this is just going to go down as a mystery that he turned black overnight. It's hard to watch because sometimes when I look in the hospital tank he is upright and other times he's on his side. Being fairly new to this hobby, this is tough but I realize it's part of fish keeping. Again, thank you. 

[Colu]

On 12/5/2023 at 2:41 AM, Herefishie said:

Thank you for your helpful comments. The tank is actually quite light and I have light substrate. I think this is just going to go down as a mystery that he turned black overnight. It's hard to watch because sometimes when I look in the hospital tank he is upright and other times he's on his side. Being fairly new to this hobby, this is tough but I realize it's part of fish keeping. Again, thank you. 

What I would suggest is doing full course of maracyn then follow up with a full course of paracleanse if your seeing no improvement after the course of maracyn add an extra air stone during treatment 

[Herefishie]

I thought I would give an update on my poor fish. I euthanized him this morning with clove oil. I couldn't bear to see him suffer any longer. I'm grateful for all of the YouTube videos I've watched over the past few months that showed how to humanely do it. I'm also grateful to those of you who responded. I cried like a baby. I know some people think "it's only a fish" but I really cared about him. 😢