# Scales coming off



## Reckon

I noticed this evening that in my father's 150gal Cichlid tank most of the fish are losing scales.

I believe it started perhaps 4 days ago when I saw that one of the tin foil barbs in the tank had lost a small patch of scales, I didn't think much of it at the time.

Ph etc all seemed normal. No changes to the tank except that my father started a new pack of bloodworms to feed them.

Right away I did a 40% water change and added Seachem Paraguard.

Any ideas what it is and if there is anything else we can do?


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## Adz1

you sure they are not just nipping each other?
i know my silver dollars are always missing some scales but is just from getting chased and nipped by the pbass...


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## Tazzy_toon

same thing happened to my daughters tinfoil barbs. They where nipping each other, she didn't have a proper group and one got beat up pretty bad.


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## Ebonbolt

You'd notice nipping though. I don't think I've ever seen (or at least I don't remember seeing) nipping where only the scales are affected. Usually I would see torn fins too, and maybe hiding, reluctance to eat, and stress colours. Of course all those things could also be caused by diseases, so I think for now just make sure they're all getting enough to eat, and keep an eye on them. Usually, if it's bullying/nipping you'd see them doing it at some point. Also, spend a good 5-10 minutes watching the fish closely, and see if you notice anything out of the ordinary, like fuzzy patches, little white dots, parasites, etc.

As a side note, what's in the tank? Cichlid personalities can vary from completely docile, to extremely violent, and it doesn't even have to be different species. A list of the inhabitants, the tank parameters, and your weekly routines may help diagnose what's going on.


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## macframalama

my jags back when i was trying to have them housed with other fish , would "rake" there teeth along the sides of oscars, and tearing them length wise along there bodies over and over again, oscars kindo have a unique"skin" texture but if the same thing were happening to something "scaled" or even heavily scaled with larger scales it could be whats removing the scales from them...

knowing better whats in the tank would help for sure


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## Reckon

Currently there are 2 red devils, 2 blue african, 4 tin foils, and a common pleco. Lots of space for them.

You know, the only fish that hasn't lost scales is the "aggressive" red devil. Maybe you are right about the nature of lost scales due to attacks. But I haven't seen the red devil bother any other fish except for his partner.


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## Reckon

No torn fins though. Both of the devils tend to hide from each other half the time and then one chases the other the rest of the time.


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## charles

i think there is your problem there. Red devil basically rule the tank with the type of other fish you have there.


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## macframalama

haha I know whats going on here.... my friend you have a very common problem here its called devilitis, devils,midas,midevils amphilophus, whatever you wanna call them are EVIL, lol I know much on this subject as they currently scourge a couple of my tanks.

1 devil in a tank with others will end in tragedy , 2 in one tank you may have bought some time because there gonna spend there days beating the crap out of one another , most likely whats happening is your devils are both male and they fight beef over supremacy but devils are just nasty in general , i have a 12 inch midevil and he is ALONE for good reason once they hit a certain size they go homicidal, my big guy 12 inches killed off his mate 30 min after spawning , I would put money on the devils being the reasoning your fathers other fish are losing there scales aswell..

#2 africans shouldnt be housed with these guys either they need completely different water parameters than there south american/central american counterparts.

I assume the tin foils are the ones showing the most missing scales and i bet its from run ins with the devils ... after the lights go out buddy the assaults commence and im certain the devils are doing the "rakeing" i was telling you my jags did to those oscars

you should advise your father to make some changes to his livestock before he wakes up and has a tinfoil barb or african with its face torn off..and i would definately remove one or both of those devils and rehome them or trade one of your males for a confirmed female and remove the africans and tinfoils. or just get the devils out of the mix ..they are way better as a solitary fish 

good luck guy if you dont do something sooner than later your gonna have more than missing scales 
I put that on my momma lol


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## macframalama

^^^^ da fudge you talkin bout willis


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## Foxtail

Another crazy talkin uk spammer? Lol

Sent from my SGH-T959D using Tapatalk 2


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## Lamplighter

Extract or file the teeth of all the fish and muzzle them.


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## Elle

Rehome the devils. 10 to 1 that will fix the issue.


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## aquafunlover

Agree with everyone about the Red Devils. 

Double thumbs up for "you can't see what they Re doing when the lights are out." I think the bullying is happening when mommy and daddy are looking the other way. Most of my fishes disagreements seem to happen overnight prompting a re-homing first thing in the morning. It's like having nocturnal kids I tell ya!


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## Reckon

Thanks for all your advice. We rehomed the red devils and replaced them with crosso reticulatus lol. The scales on the tin foil barbs are looking much better.


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