HELP! Malawi disaster- Dead fishes -Electric blue cichlid male turning dark(almost bl

[ksskumar]

72G bowfront.

Eheim 2217

2 air stone strips

Tank has been running for years.

Test Readings at home
GH 120
KH 120
PH 7.5
Nitrite - zero
Nitrate - 80-100

+ Petsmart girl said water is in excellent condition .

Started adding fishes after testing the water. Tests came out good.

Here is the sequence,

Added yellow labs, albino scolofi, tiger barbs, electric blue ahli. All were around 2"-2.5"

total 14 , along with existing big parrot, firemouth.

All were super active for the first few days.

All tigers are gone
3/4 yellows gone
Blue 1 gone , 1 turning black

All 4 albinos are doing just great!!!!?????!!!!

I am suspecting water temperature. It read 88F. Switched off the heater altogether.

Added 2 kenyi + 1 auratus- they are ok.

I must be doing something wrong.

Is this the temperature ? Something else?

I know I may lose a few but there seems to be a pattern.

Did I add too any fishes at the same time?

Please advise.











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cm12setx]

I might not be able to help, but what is the ammoina level in the tank? What time frame fish passed when date and when were fish added? And your nitrates are too high in my opion. When was last water change?how often do you do water changes and how much do you change?

[Mandocruz06]

Maybe mixing community fish with aggressive african cichlids wasn't a good idea

[FunsizeJav]

I say parasites in the fish from petsmart. Workers there usually don't know what they talking about. If you have a quarantine tank remove them and do 50% water changes for about few weeks. The same with your display tank. Whatever it is, still it's circulating in your tank.

[cm12setx]

Really if the nitrates are at 100 ppm you would need to do four or five water changes over a two or three day peroid. To get it down under 20 ppm. Which would make treating for parasites hard to do. I would do water changes first then treat the tank with seachem paraguard.

Do you have a water parameter test kit?
With the dead fish did they looked like they were attacked?
Or no obvious signs of cause of death?
Do the remaning fish show sings of ammiona poisning?

[FunsizeJav]

I don't own any tests kits. I usually quarantine new fish before introducing them in tank. I do 30-50% water changes daily. I Syphon waste and uneaten food nightly.

[cm12setx]

@ funsizejav, Ok good to know but, my questions were for the op. Dang what are you keeping that you do wc daily? And I agree that sometime pe$@#/?* helpers are not mich help sometimes. Their are a few good ones thought.

[ksskumar]

Thanks for your quick reply!

Never did ammonia testing. probably a mistake from my side. fishes passed 2-3 days after I added from Fishland (the first 14).

last water change was about 2 months ago. 75%

[ksskumar]

Really if the nitrates are at 100 ppm you would need to do four or five water changes over a two or three day peroid. To get it down under 20 ppm. Which would make treating for parasites hard to do. I would do water changes first then treat the tank with seachem paraguard.

Do you have a water parameter test kit?
With the dead fish did they looked like they were attacked?
Or no obvious signs of cause of death?
Do the remaning fish show sings of ammiona poisning?

Yes - Test strips
No signs of attack
no signs, change of color, just got tired and stopped moving at the bottom
don't know much about ammonia poisoning. googled it - didnt seem like it is

Thanks again!

[ksskumar]

I say parasites in the fish from petsmart. Workers there usually don't know what they talking about. If you have a quarantine tank remove them and do 50% water changes for about few weeks. The same with your display tank. Whatever it is, still it's circulating in your tank.

My first set of fishes are from fishland and the second set is from petsmart. do you think I should get Seachem Paraguard anyway?

[ksskumar]

Maybe mixing community fish with aggressive african cichlids wasn't a good idea

Thanks!!
...I have had tiger barbs with cichlids before though...could the conditions be different this time?

[cm12setx]

Thanks for your quick reply!" your welcome."

Never did ammonia testing. probably a mistake from my side. fishes passed 2-3 days after I added from Fishland (the first 14). need to know ammonia levels to help you better.

last water change was about 2 months ago. 75%

you posted nitrate 80-100 ppm, and i dont want to beat a dead horse, but water changes are necessary not just every two month. nitrate is poisonous to fish and fish can slowly adapt to higher levels but when you add new fish they cant adapt to it. you really need to water change over two or three days four or five 50% or more to bring levels down.

Yes - Test strips will work but are not really accurate. api master fresh water test is a good way to go.
No signs of attack "OK"
no signs, change of color, just got tired and stopped moving at the bottom:
"Nitrate shock occurs when fish are suddenly exposed to a vastly different level of nitrate, often by as much as several hundred parts per million. Although nitrate shock usually happens when fish are suddenly exposed to a much higher level of nitrate, fish can be shocked if nitrate levels suddenly drop dramatically. As with nitrite poisoning, immature fish and certain species, such as Discus, are more sensitive to sudden changes in nitrate."

don't know much about ammonia poisoning. googled it - didnt seem like it is

Thanks again!

My first set of fishes are from fishland and the second set is from petsmart. do you think I should get Seachem Paraguard anyway?

Paraguard is very good to have on hand anyway I keep it and treat every six months with it.

now I hope i am not coming of harsh but I would like to see you fish thrive and a some thing need to be better for that to happen.

[ameza45]

when was the last time you cleaned out that 2217? I'm willing to bet it's really dirty.

[morpheus]

reading through the thread i would make the following comments:


1) You may be under powered in terms of filtration. i generally dont trust what a filter is "rated" for in terms of tank size or gph flow. jsut the one 2217 may not be doing the job. no such thing as over filtering the water. could be a buildup of waste in your filter too.


how often do you clean out the inside of the unit?
how often do you feed and amount?


2) I have had hit or miss results with petsmart. i have had some tanks completely destroyed after some fish had some parasite when purchased. fishland i have never had issues with in the past. some stores are more reliable than others, but many of the employees do not know all that much at petsmart. i have jumped in when they tried to sell africans with mollies to someone saying "they are the same size and should be fine".


nitrates in 80-100 ppm is not excellent and will poison fish. can chalk that up to the employee who old you that. i agree with the daily water changes to drop that level into an acceptable range.


3) I personally dont add that many fish at once, but its not unheard of at all in established tanks.


4) Do you acclimate the fish prior to adding them? Or just dump them into your tank? the shock can cause a lot of stress if water params are drastically different

5) Do you add the water from the store into your tank? this can introduce bacteria if in store water.


6) The liquid test kits generally i find to be more accurate. they do sell master kits for about $30 and it has ph, high range ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. the GH and KH are sold separately


when ammonia is high they will burn their gills and cannot be cured. most fish will act lethargic, not readily eat, sit near bottom breathing heavily, colors can change, etc.


once a fish becomes lethargic they will get harassed by healthier fish


your last WC of 75% at 2 months ago is too long. i would do WCs every 1-2 weeks. i personally do a 50% change every 10-14 days in my 75gal cichlid tank (any my tank is under stocked in terms of bio-load)


7) The 88F is pretty high, but fish can tolerate it. i keep my cichlid tanks in the 80-82F range.


the heat is one thing, but heat decreases oxygen which is just as dangerous. with temp that high be careful putting meds into the water. meds will decrease oxygen further, and when coupled with high temp, can suffocate the fish


surface agitation is key when the temp is high. you have multiple air stones and can even drop the water level a bit so the filtered water drops into tank


8) Barbs are probably ok with africans if large enough and in large enough of a group. usually tiger barbs when in low numbers can be more aggressive, so usually groups of 10+ are recommended. i personally have never mixed the two together

i would stop adding fish all together at this point until you consistently test the water to be in good ranges as well as not have any die offs for a while.

[ksskumar]

you posted nitrate 80-100 ppm, and i dont want to beat a dead horse, but water changes are necessary not just every two month. nitrate is poisonous to fish and fish can slowly adapt to higher levels but when you add new fish they cant adapt to it. you really need to water change over two or three days four or five 50% or more to bring levels down.



Paraguard is very good to have on hand anyway I keep it and treat every six months with it.

now I hope i am not coming of harsh but I would like to see you fish thrive and a some thing need to be better for that to happen.

I agree

cm12setx

, I should be worried. did a 75% WC yesterday. Will get Paraguard ASAP. All fishes are Ok, Blue Ahli is total black now. Thank you!