Help...high nitrates..

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ashh1416

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Feb 25, 2017
Messages
5
Location
Virginia
Hello there! I'm Ashley I'm new here. I have a 29 gal (upgrading soon) with 5 African cichlids, mbunas. I did a huge water change a few days ago. Nitrates are high and ph is very low. I started some pothos in the tank to help with the nitrates but it doesn't seem to be working yet. My tap water is nearly perfect for these fish in ph and hardness I'm stumped here guys.. any advice?

We already lost an electric yellow a week ago, I'm unsure if it sick or it it was due to bullying. because everyone else seems to be fine, they are a bit more aggressive than usual. Def stressed out.
 
Hello Ashley.
Was your tank cycled prior to adding these fish? And how old are they now? What are your other readings from your tank? Ammonia levels, nitrites?
29 gallons is smaller than I like to go for mbuna, there could be some stress due to space. How low is very low for your ph? Mbuna due like a higher ph and harder water. I would add some crushed coral, limestone to raise the ph in your tank.
Are all 5 mbuna yellow labs? (Assuming that's what you mean by electric yellow.
 
Attached are pics of my water tests. It's everything. We have this tank set up for over a year, all of these fish have been together for almost a year. The bumble been is the oldest in the tank. And no all 5 fish are different mbuna species. 2 of which I'm unsure of and the other 3 are- yellow tail acei, "bumblebee" and arautus. Unsure of the gender of all of them. I agree the tank is too smal. There were 8 in this tank for a long time, I'm almost positive 2 of them one being the arautus are bullies. I'm sure a bigger tank could have prevented the casualties. We are going to a 75 gal very soon. Until then I'd like to get the water right before they all die. Thanks for your input. I'll add some of that to help.
 

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These are pics of all the fish. The first 2 im unsure what kind they are. The yellowish one is supposed to be a kenyi but it's colors changed a while back. It was a bluish color. The black and blue one is very cool. Mildly aggressive, super nice to look at, the store said electric blue but he doesn't look like one from what the internet says. Any one know?
 

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Well for 1 strips are not accurate at all, you should invest in an api master liquid test kit, do you have good filtration as that is a lot of fish for a 29 gallon(especially mbunas) and if you don't have the filtration it can't keep up with the bio load they put out, if you cannot afford the liquid test kit find a lfs that does water testing with the liquid not strips, plain and simple you have a way over stocked tank with probably not enough filtration leading to high nitrates, to remedy this if you can't upgrade the tank to a bigger one, get a second filter I recommend Aquaclear I would go with a 50 and run 2 filters and do 2 water changes a week, get a mesh bag and get some crushed coral put it in the bag and stick it in the filter, also Texas holey rock (which is expensive) will raise ph but not like crushed coral.
 
Filter I see a penguin bio wheel 350. We are upgrading soon. I had no idea strips were inaccurate. I'll get a liquid kit. Any ideas on the identification on the 2 fish?
 
Alot of mbuna tanks work as juvenilles. Now you have 4 adult mbuna in a small space that are all quite aggressive. The blue and black one looks to me like maybe a Pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos (maingano) or demasoni possibly a hybrid of both?
Someone else is probably better at identifying. Regardless I would take potlucks advice. At least increase filtration.
What size of tank are you upgrading to and do you know how your going to stock it?
 
We Are look for. 75 gal tank. We are gonna put these guys in it, I'm not sure if we should add any more if we do. I know my husband will want to add some. We like to buy them as juveniles I'm afraid these big guys will beat a little one up.
 
For the most part surprising adults leave juvenilles alone in my experience depending ob species of course. Expecially if you add them once the new tank is new to them as well that's just my experience.
I overstock and find a good male to female ratio for each species as do most others who keep mbuna. This spreads aggression and makes it so one single fish is harder to target. As well as not making any females become stressed by distributing the males want to reproduce. You need to overfilter since your over stocking. Just an idea if you add more as a 75g is a perfect 3 species 1m/4-5f .
 
The thing with mbunas is you purposely over stock to cut down on aggression cause they don't have a space to claim, I would stay away from penguin, whisper, marineland.. If you go hob get an Aquaclear 50, DO NOT REMOVE THE OTHER FILTER OR CHANGE ITS CARTRIDGE lol sorry that's very important, run both filters as the penguins cartridge has you beneficial bacteria on it and if you remove it your tank will cycle, if you plan on getting a 75 I would get a nice canister filter but you will have to cycle the 75 before you put your fish in it, the 75 with a nice filter you can fill up do research though I'm sure you don't want to go full mbunas, so find Malawi species from the same region they are compatible with, and get rock as they are rock scrapers for algae
 
I'm sure you don't want to go full mbunas, so find Malawi species from the same region they are compatible with, and get rock as they are rock scrapers for algae

Wondering if you have a more specific suggestions for them? Mixing mbuna and peacocks or haps can be a unwise thing to do if you don't know what your doing. Mbuna are much more aggressive and alot of the time will beat up most peacock species. Not saying it's not possible, but it can be a challenge.
As well males setup territories not females. So unless your sure of your sex over stocking will not stop them from making territories.
 
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