he swims fine but now he started constantly swimming sideways and like rubbing against the rocks when he does it. its a african cichlid so please help!!!
What he is doing is called "flashing" and it means his skin is being irritated by something. Check your water. If your water is good (0 - ammonia, 0-nitrite and less than 40 ppm nitrate) then you may have a parasite problem. You will see little white spots that resemble salt on his fins first . If so, research ICH on this site for solutions to the parasite problem, or ask us.
He might have Ick. When mine got it i read up on it and it says they start getting white spots and rubbing up against rock or the decor. You can get rid eof it by getting some kind of chemical that gets rid of it. Its very easy to get ride of. Just make sure when you put the chemical in to take the carbon out of the filter because the carbon just kills the chemical. Hope this helped.:)
it has a parasite on its body, does it also rapidly move its body in one spot, if it does this also, then it will go away soon, the same as mine , to be on the safe side you could get a treatment for what ever it could be
Fish usually do that when they have white spot.
He might have a parasite buried in his side which he is trying to rub off .
