Fish are dying out!!

LiVe4fIsH · 05-06-2009, 06:47 PM

Hey guys!!!! Long time no talk! Sorry I have been MIA for awhile but school has taken over my life. Anyways, as some MAY remember, my freshwater african cichlid tank has been up and running for little over a year now and I have been super happy that I have yet to loose any fish, UNTIL two days ago. I had one hap and one yellow electric die. I was able to witness the y.electric die which he swam like he had swim bladder for over two hours and then, the others basically killed him. The hap died overnight. After the y.electric died I did a 40% water change which was due anyways because my last water change was 8 days before that but I did a 40% which I normally do smaller amounts. I have added nothing new to the tank for over 6 months EXCEPT a new canister filter (eheim 2028 filter) that was added 35 days ago. I went ahead and used all of my materials/filter pads that were in my old fluval filter and put it into my new filter with a little bit of new media since it was a bigger canister which could hold more. After finding my hap dead this morning, I went ahead and did a 50% water change and cleaned out my filter media partially making sure I dont over do it and clean out two much bacteria at once. Anyways, my water params are as follows;
nitrite- 0ppm nitrate- 15ppm (its lower now since the water change, most likely at 7ppm) ammonia-0ppm pH-8.0 temp- 80 degrees. All of my params have been steady every week when I check it and my temp was steady every day when I check it. These two fish were not old fish, they still were medium size and were not acting adnormal at all. My fish load in my 75g is not bad and is as follows: 4 medium cichlids, 1 large cichlid, 1 med pleco, 2 small Multipunctatus Spotted Catfish and 2 baby fry. My feeding schedule has not changed at all and still follow a strict manner of high veggie diet. I make sure none grab food out of the water which would cause swim bladder so I am not sure why the y.electric swam like that. I might be leaving quite of few things out but Im in a rush right now, though, I needed to get this out for some help. Any help is appreciated! Thanks guys!

Izzy

louistheloach · 05-06-2009, 10:26 PM

Sorry to hear of your loss. It sounds really bizarre. I don't really know anything about cichlids except they like high pH water, so I don't know if there is something unique to the fish. One thing I have learned, is that sometimes we just don't know, unless you want to have the fish autopsied. I think that sometimes there are just problems with the fish that are beyond anything we can control or influence.

I hope there are no more losses, it is hard to take. Especially when there aren't any definitive answers.

ltl

LiVe4fIsH · 05-07-2009, 12:15 AM

Thanks so much for the response Louis! I just got home a few minutes ago and everything seems to have checked out fine for right now. I will cross my fingers for tomorrow morning!! I still have no answers to what have caused these two fish to have suddenly die. I inspected them before disposing them, and their fins, scale coloration, any thing that would look different from them and all checked out fine. This is really leading me to the conclusion that something is just not write with the water. I never let my tank nor filter get excessively "dirty" in a way that could pose a problem with diseases, though I am starting to think there might be a disease that is spreading to the rest of them as I write this post. Currently there are two a.cichlids that are holding eggs so I like to think that they only hold eggs when they are healthy and so is their environment they are in but then again, disease can be created very quickly. All in all, I really do not feel like waking up tomorrow to another one of my dearest fish lying dead on the tank floor. I am not a fan of chemicals so I have not given that any thought and I really do not plan too but if these fish keep dropping, is there any other choice??? Please helppppp!!!

Izzy

Methodracing · 05-13-2009, 07:15 PM

first thing i was going to say was diet but a hap and Y.E. kinda counteract that theory, the only thing i can think of is compatability stress factor and the addition of the new filter, but sounds like you took fair percausion, i have haps and frentosas mixed with mbunas have to be careful with protein is all i know, malawi can be a pain due to their territoty maybe he was a loner, as far as your hap could be same double issue sometimes this is an indavidual instance and may not be a tank issue. wish you luck.

mikek996 · 06-07-2009, 08:07 PM

If I remember correctly our tanks are about the same age mine might be a couple of months older and I have so many fish in it I lost count at around 25. I have also lost about 4 (other than fry that disapeared) total over the last year and only one had any sign of sickness (its eyes were protruding from its head) possibly popeye? since then no others have died. your water is clean and good ph so it could be coincidental. good luck.