What kind of cichlids?

[ohiomalawi]

bottom pic looks like a stressed Firemouth --- is his tail shredded?

 

[Tobykourtney]

Turns out the bottom pic was an ellioti and at the time of the pic I was still acclimating them to the water temp and ph of my tank so he was probably kinda stressed he's looking much better now

 

[Tobykourtney]

Well the heckilli is dead but it wasn't the salvini's he had no marks of any kind on him. I'm pretty sure the salvini's dislocated each others jaws because they haven't eaten in 3 days and they are getting to the point to where they're barely breathing I was hoping they would get better but it's not looking good and on top of that my tank is developing an algae problem :-(

 

[Borderlesscott]

Was the tank cycled and ready for fish or just set up?

 

[Tobykourtney]

Tank was setup in December

 

[Tobykourtney]

The little elliotis jaw is looking the same as the savinis but he's the only one in the tank now I don't no what's going on

 

[Tobykourtney]

I'm beginning to think its a disease

 

[Cichlid ism]

Sorry for the loss, I have 2 heckelli's and I live them. They r beautiful fish.

 

[Tobykourtney]

I'm really clueless to what the problem was every fish is just dying

 

[Tbox]

Are the parameters all good? Have you done a 60% PWC recently with the recommended dosage of aquarium salt.
You say the dead fish doesn't look dead to aggression, and no sores or blemishes of any kind? I wouldn't chalk it up to disease so readily. Sounds more like suffocation or water filtration issues.

 

[Tobykourtney]

I did do a 50% wc 2 days before they started dying off. I considered suffocation also so I put an aerator in yesterday. Ph is 7.4 nitrite 0 nitrate 20 ammonia 0. I just started a DIY co2 setup last week so maybe to much carbon in the water. Could suffocation cause them not to be able to close there mouths though?

 

[Tbox]

I've never set up a DIY CO2. If the fish started to gasp at the surface soon after its installation, then my assumption is that the CO2 saturation level is too high.

 

[Tobykourtney]

I've never set up a DIY CO2. If the fish started to gasp at the surface soon after its installation, then my assumption is that the CO2 saturation level is too high.

They started to lay up side down on the bottom and there mouths seem to be stuck open and they kept doing swimming weird before they died.

 

[Tbox]

Hard to say, but I'm ruling out jaw dislocation. Cartilaginous Fish mouths can take serious abuse from each other.
I think a CO2 injector can be dangerous. Your plants shouldnt require pumped in CO2 once you get the right balance of substrate, lighting, fish/invertebrates, and filtration.
Also keep in mind that live plants and a lot of cichlid species don't mix well. They like to chomp on them.

 

[Tobykourtney]

The plants were doing fine and it looks like the ellioti is doing much better after only a day with the aerator so I'm gonna confirm your assumption correct I think I'm going to switch to liquid co2 to keep this from happening again

 

[Tbox]

If you just want a healthy aquarium of just plants then continue adding CO2. If you want fish or invertebrates, ID try to eliminate adding liquid or gas CO2.
I'm just a minimalist when it comes to maintaining a healthy balanced aquarium. Sometimes are meddling just isn't required.

I'm not pumping CO2 in my living room for my plants at the window to flourish.

 

[Tbox]

Yeah just use a powerhead, or 2 to create a whirlwind of gaseous flow. The intake will be air from your living room. The perfect mix.?

 

[Tobykourtney]

The eliotti died yesterday he was extremely bloated and was swimming upside down on the bottom of the tank. Down to 0 fish now :-(