black dust?

[steve]

sorry im a newbie, ive had my malawi chiclid tank for about six months, all but one of my yellow labs have grown. Ive noticed the one that hasn't grown is covered in a fine dusting of black spots, is this harmful? the guys at my local fish store say its just colour changing, im very confused any help would be greatly appriciated

[dom]

hi,

how many gallon is your aquarium? And are you over stock? Check out the PH level for yr malawi. they do preferred high PH like PH7.8 at least - PH9. If you found yr PH level is low...try to get some coral chips and put inside yr filter. Coral chips will raise the PH level.

And other Malawis is fine? Normally cichlids will attack each other. especially the same breed. Dont over stock yr aquarium will do. provide them some space to hide.

[steve]

hi, thanks for the advice, i shall look into the ph side of things. My tank is 120cm x 40cm x 40cm, not sure how to work out the volume in gallons. I have 24 adult chiclids four of which are yellow labs, i also have 8 baby johannis as they breed like rabbits, they seem to be trying to re populate the world all other fish seem fine, they are quite aggresive in the mornings but calm down after their morning feed.