Red Sores in mouth of Blood Parrot

[annabelleKimrey]

Hi,
I have a 5 year old Blood Parrot cichlid. He lives in a 190 gallon tank with lots of room, great/stable water, lots of aeration etc... A few months ago I started to notice sores inside of his mouth where his teeth are located. Since Blood Parrots cannot close their mouths, he always seemed to hold the food in his throat and crush it. Once these sores appeared, he still tried to eat but could no longer hold the food in place to crush it in his throat. Several weeks ago his poor appetite turned to no appetite and he acquired several secondary (I think) infections...hole in the head and fungus. I quarantined him and treated him for 1 1/2 weeks with API General cure. This helped the Hole in the Head so I put him back into the main tank. He is again trying desperately to eat but can hardly chew (and the red sores are still there). I have tried soaking the pellets so they are soft, various brands of flake food, live worms, frozen brine shrimp and blood worms...he can eat some but it is a struggle. Has anyone experienced a similar situation or have any advice on what to try from here?

[Jason.M]

He's in a 190 gallon tank with what other tankmates? What is your water change size and frequency?

[annabelleKimrey]

Another Blood Parrot, 7 angelfish, a chocolate cichlid, 2 red stripe eartheaters, 3 electric blue acaras, and an african knife fish (juvie). I haven't been so great about water changes with this tank...I add some new water to the 50 gallon sump every week and I do a 30 percent water change every month. He is the biggest fish in the tank and everyone leaves him alone--even the acaras when they spawn every other week.
They are all voracious eaters (and he used to be too) but he can't compete anymore. I have to help him get the food in his mouth only to have it come back up a few minutes later.

[Phillydubs]

It sounds to me like water quality is the culprit here. With the lack of changes, I am sure the params are all over and it sounds like he has in infection or something as a result.

I would do larger more frequent water changes on the whole tank, but you will need to move him to a hospital tank and try to treat to heal that wound...

Pics?

[annabelleKimrey]

Pirate 1.jpgPirate 2.jpg

[Ryan]

With fish like that you should be doing at least one 50% water change a week. The HITH is likely from poor water quality.

[annabelleKimrey]

That is a serious amount of water! But I will get to it. When I had smaller tanks I did them all the time, but with this big tank I figured it was more stable. Would you recommend treating the HITH with a specific product? Another round of API General Cure or PraziPro? Thanks for the suggestions.

[Jason.M]

Lots of water changes is the best cure. I would change at least 50% a week. Probably 2 or 3 times a week. I'm a believer in large frequent water changes because of my time keeping large cichlids.

[annabelleKimrey]

Okay, great. I have been doing a water change daily since I got some advice and even though its only been a couple of days he is looking better. Hopefully he keeps on improving.