unclenedsfishfactory.com

I purchased four beautiful Acarichthys heckelli from Ned nearly thirteen years ago and have been keeping, breeding, and raising Eartheaters of at least a dozen varieties ever since. However, when I set up my first earth-eater tanks I was no expert, and I ran into a number of problems with the fish. In an overcrowded mixed tank of Geophagus, Satanoperca, Guinicara, and Acarichthys the fish started to develop pitting on their foreheads and the membrane of their dorsal fins began to recede. These problems were especially prevalent on the more delicate Satanoperca.

Since my first eartheater tanks I have made important adjustments in how I care for these fish that have eliminated neural erosion, "hole-in-the-head", and fin recession.

1) Carbon removal: carbon filtration has been linked to neural erosion and fin recession in eartheaters. Whether it is something about the carbon itself or problems arising from poorly maintained, too rarely replaced, chemical filtration, I am unsure - but eartheaters seem to do better without the charcoal, so get rid of it!

2) Water Quality: Eartheaters are less tolerant of Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate than most other cichlids. Satanoperca species kept for a prolonged period of time in Nitrated water will develop erosion. Eartheater tanks should be well filtrated, the gravel should be cleaned regularly, and the water should be changed as often as possible.

3) Overcrowded Tanks, Dominance Stress: The worst cases of Neural erosion always seem to attack stressed out subdominant fish. Make sure earth eater tanks are large and full of fish with comparable aggression. Mixed species tanks often lead to problems. My most succesful eartheater tanks have contained only a single species of eartheater, together with peaceful large tetras (hatchetfish, hemiodus, etc.) and catfish (brochis, doradids, plecos). Other cichlids should be mellow, like wild angelfish, festivum, etc.

4) Food: An inappropriate diet could lead to vitamin deficiencies and stress. Diet has been linked to hole-in-the-head disease in oscars. Feed earth eaters frozen insect larva, brine shrimp, and high quality dried foods. No live fish and not solely flake food.

5) Natural conditions, PH, Hardness: I am unsure whether keeping eartheaters in hard water and high ph causes problems - my water is naturally very soft and my eartheaters love it. The stores water is hard, but we rarely have fish in the store very long. If your earth eaters fail to thrive or are developing erosion try using a low ph buffer or filtering with peat.

6) GENERAL STRESS: All of the above conditions can lead to general stress and I believe that this is the most immediate cause of non-pathogen related neural erosion and fin recession. Identify what could be causing prolonged stress to the fish (carbon, nitrates, tankmates, temperature, ph, hardness, diet) and fix the problem.

*Healing Neural Erosion, Fin Recession, Hole-in-the-head- Adjust how you care for the earth eaters to reduce stress
- After these problems are corrected, you can treat the fish with a mild antibiotic to reduce risk of infection and stimulate regrowth. I had good luck with Erythromycin treatments together with very frequent water changes.
- do not expect the lesions to go away over night, much of the damage may never heal completely.


The information above comes largely from my own experiences and those of our costumers. There is little written online about the factors causing non-pathogen related neural erosion and hole-in-the head in earth eaters, and I am unaware of the physiological factors involved. I do know that keeping eartheaters under excellent conditions should keep the problem from ever developing.

-Sam

A disturbing video of Satanoperca lilith with advanced Neuromast pitting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbqRejNlZh8

Satanoperca with erosion/hole-in-the-head



Geophagus with erosion/hole-in-the-head