African Cichlid dieing one day at a time.

[prostreet69camaro]

Seems my fish die 1 every day. I test the water. The PH is kinda low at 7.6. Would low PH cause African Cichlid to die. I have a 180 gallon aquarium with about 40 cichlids in it. My wife says I have to many fish in it but they are only about 2-1/2" long and only a couple a little bigger. I do have a 5" red tail gouranmi but he is pretty tame and a red parrot about 4" and he gets aggresive sometimes. The rest are all African Cichlids

I go buy a few fish then some more die, not necessary the new fish. I seem to be fighting a loosing battle.

I also treated the tank for parasites a couple times.

I do a 50% water change every 2 weeks. The tank has been running for about 5 months. The tank has pool sand in it.

The last test results were:
PH 7.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

[Andrew_B]

Every time you do water changes, what do you do exactly? Whats you're cleaning routine

[ruston123fishing]

I ain't got enough experience to give out advice.... But I definintly wish you good luck on finding a quick cure to whatever it is! Sure that'll drive ya just about outa your mind!

[Geral]

Every time you do water changes, what do you do exactly? Whats you're cleaning routine

And filtration,temp of tank , do you use prime of safe? you match the water temp during wc, tbe dead ones they look beat up, dead with mouth open ?? That would help to see what can be.

[jeb102385]

Sounds like a pecking order problem. If you throw new fish into an already established tank, you run the risk of them fighting for already established territories of the existing fish. For better luck try rearranging the tank to mix uo the territories. Then feed the fish to help distract the current fish. Might have better luck. But in a cichlid tank with that many fish you will have casualties.

[prostreet69camaro]

Turn off my filters- 2 eheim 2217
Turn off my heater
Turn off my 2 wave makers
I have an air pump that I leave on when I clean the tank.

Drain the water with a gravel suction hooked to a water hose. I move most of the rocks pull out all the fake plants to clean out all the fish poop. I drain the water into a 5 gallon bucket so I can clean any rocks in the bucket and scrub with a plastic brush that I only use for the aquarium.

When I clean the rocks I wash them off with a water hose but put them in the 5 gallon bucket with the tank water in it. I dont clean them everytime, only if there is alot of algae.

Once the rocks are clean I put everything back in the tank.

I clean the inside glass with a sponge I bought at Petsmart.

I use a RV hose with the carbon RV filter on it to fill the tank. I add 4 caps of prime when I start to fill the tank.

Once filled I turn on the heater, wave makers and pumps.

If I clean one of the pumps I clean it with a 5 gallon bucket of tank water and change the white filter. My filter doesn't have a carbon filter. But I just bought some. I only clean one filter at a time and usually when the water flow is down, maybe 3 to 4 months.

[prostreet69camaro]

Tank temp is around 76 degrees. Fish look OK just there color is gone. Today one was laying on the bottom and when I went to get him he took off but ended up on the bottom dead.

I try to match the water temperature by feeling the water at the opposite end and then at the hose.

[Geral]

+1 jeb

I always keep Africans fish from 78-80

What do you do for introducing a new fish ?
You introduce one at a time or few ?

You have mbunas ,Malawi,Victorians,tang? Or a mix?

[Andrew_B]

Are they eating?

[prostreet69camaro]

I have a mix of cichlids.

So do I need to raise the temperature?

What about the PH level?

[moganman]

Seems like aggression to me. Don't think many sick fish will die one day at a time. There should be multiple fish dying with a sickness or bad parameters. I put money on aggression.

[prostreet69camaro]

Are they eating?

Yes they all eat real good, pellets and spurilina flakes and maybe once or twice a week brine shrimp.

[prostreet69camaro]

Seems like aggression to me. Don't think many sick fish will die one day at a time. There should be multiple fish dying with a sickness or bad parameters. I put money on aggression.

I dont see a really agressive fish unless they are doing it at night when the lights are off. But I do find the fish ( dead ) in the mornings when I turn the light on to check to see if any are dead. I can give a list of fish I have if that will help.

But my wife thinks the red parrot could be the meany in the tank. He is a bigger fish around 4" and isnt very orange anymore. He is turning kinda white silver. I have thought about ICK but none of the other fish show any white on them.

I also use freshwater salt in my tank.

[moganman]

Do an autopsy. Do you see scales missing? Fins damaged? Aggression happens a lot at night. When I had my red kachese tropheus as soon as I turned the lights off there would be three pairs of males fighting. Splashing water and everything. Like I said, I think it's aggression. Doesn't make sense that fish would die one by one with your parameters if they are accurate.

[armthehomeless]

It sounds morbid, but can you post a series of pictures of the next fish that dies (if it happens)?? Aggression could certainly be it. . .but there are other possibilities.