Hello,

I am new to this message board, and I joined because I am worried for my boyfriend's fish. He went out of the country so I've been coming over to feed them. There are 4 blood parrot cichlids, and 2 of the fish that suck on the walls of the tank (sorry, I'm not sure what they're called)

When I came over one of the parrot fish had black coloring along the bottom of the mouth/stomach. My boyfriend tells me the coloring started before he left, but since the fish was behaving normally he didn't think it was anything bad.




Is this some sort of disease?

None of the other fish in the tank are turning black, and the fish turning black is still eating and swimming around.

I don't know too much about fish, but if this is hurting the fish please tell me what I can do. They're all beautifully bright orange, and it's sad to see the black coloring all over this poor guy :(

i want to start by welcoming you to the BOX.



The black on the fish maybe from recovery of a recent exposure to ammonia and/or nitrite. i would suggest that you increase your filtration and do more regular water changes.

what size tank are they in?

pics of tanks are tricky without a reference. do a water change and increase to filtration.

Welcome to the box!!
Thats a very nice tank!!

I don't know too much about parrots but that color looks too uniform to be a health issue, I think is just a color change going on. But I fully agree with doing more water changes. My theory is; if in doubt do a water change
What are you feeding them?