Fishyfanatic
Aquarium Advice Addict
I am having a problem with my 150 gal Cichlid tank. It has been set up for about a month. I am using a Cascade 1000 and 1200 Canister filtration unit. The tank parameters are Ammonia= .5, Nitrite=.25, Nitrate=5, Temp=79.9, Ph=7.7. The history behind the tank is: I used to have a 55 gal tank with my cichlids and upgraded about a month ago. There was no way to have the 55 and 150 setup at the same time. To try to preserve as much bacteria as possible we used the same filtration unit, all of the water from the 55, plants, and decor from the 55 in the 150. Since the tank is obviously not cycled, we are doing daily 20% water changes, not touching the filtration unit or gravel. It hasn't had a gravel vac yet. Nothing has been added to the tank since the problem has started, not even decor.
Yesterday afternoon I was doing the daily water change and as I was filling the tank, a dead fish floated to the top. It scared me half to death. I dropped the python on the floor, dechlor in the tank and ran and grabbed a net. I netted the little guy out and resumed filing the tank. As I am putting water in the tank, I pour dechlor in the python tube and then dump the water in the tank. It takes a while to do, but this way the water that enters the tank has the dechlor already added.
After each water change I always count the fish. As I was counting the fish I found a recently dead fish stuck under one of the caves. The entire body was intact. It couldn't have been dead more than 2 hours. I kept counting the fish, and 1 is MIA. So far, 1 Maylandia Estherae "Blue/Red", 1 Pseudotropheus Socolofi, 1 Nimbochromis Venustus, and 1 Female Melanochromis Auratus have died in the last 24 hours. I still have not found the body of the Maylandia Estherae but I know that he must have died. The Auratus died this morning, I found her when I woke up but she couldn't have been dead that long because her color had not started to fade and her fins and body were still intact.
I can't figure out what is killing these fish. I have examined all of the fish and none of them have ich. They all look perfectly healthy, swimming around like normal, eating like normal, digging holes in the sand. There is plenty of airation: 2 air stones (one in each of the back corners), and 2 maxi jets that pulls air into the tank. I am at my wits end with this. We have searched the tank but can't find the body of the MIA fish but tonight we are going to pull everything out until we find it. I took a water sample into the lfs because I thought maybe my readings were off but they weren't and they said that the water parameters shouldn't have killed the fish since they are so low and we are doing daily pwc. The fish have already gone through the worst of the cycle and it's starting to taper off. They aren't showing any kind of stress, the aggression has actually decreased lately.
Please, help. I don't know what to do. I don't want to lose anymore of my precious fish. I have become very attached to them. Most of them we have had for about a year. I would have thought that if it was poor water conditions, the baby yellow labs would have died, not the adults. The body of the fish haven't bloated. We're feeding flake as staple, blood worms, brine shrimp, zuc, peas, algae wafers (for pleco's), and tubiflex worms. I alternate between the foods to give a variety but always feed flake. I feed twice a day, once in the morning, once before bed. If anyone can shed some light onto what is going on, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Yesterday afternoon I was doing the daily water change and as I was filling the tank, a dead fish floated to the top. It scared me half to death. I dropped the python on the floor, dechlor in the tank and ran and grabbed a net. I netted the little guy out and resumed filing the tank. As I am putting water in the tank, I pour dechlor in the python tube and then dump the water in the tank. It takes a while to do, but this way the water that enters the tank has the dechlor already added.
After each water change I always count the fish. As I was counting the fish I found a recently dead fish stuck under one of the caves. The entire body was intact. It couldn't have been dead more than 2 hours. I kept counting the fish, and 1 is MIA. So far, 1 Maylandia Estherae "Blue/Red", 1 Pseudotropheus Socolofi, 1 Nimbochromis Venustus, and 1 Female Melanochromis Auratus have died in the last 24 hours. I still have not found the body of the Maylandia Estherae but I know that he must have died. The Auratus died this morning, I found her when I woke up but she couldn't have been dead that long because her color had not started to fade and her fins and body were still intact.
I can't figure out what is killing these fish. I have examined all of the fish and none of them have ich. They all look perfectly healthy, swimming around like normal, eating like normal, digging holes in the sand. There is plenty of airation: 2 air stones (one in each of the back corners), and 2 maxi jets that pulls air into the tank. I am at my wits end with this. We have searched the tank but can't find the body of the MIA fish but tonight we are going to pull everything out until we find it. I took a water sample into the lfs because I thought maybe my readings were off but they weren't and they said that the water parameters shouldn't have killed the fish since they are so low and we are doing daily pwc. The fish have already gone through the worst of the cycle and it's starting to taper off. They aren't showing any kind of stress, the aggression has actually decreased lately.
Please, help. I don't know what to do. I don't want to lose anymore of my precious fish. I have become very attached to them. Most of them we have had for about a year. I would have thought that if it was poor water conditions, the baby yellow labs would have died, not the adults. The body of the fish haven't bloated. We're feeding flake as staple, blood worms, brine shrimp, zuc, peas, algae wafers (for pleco's), and tubiflex worms. I alternate between the foods to give a variety but always feed flake. I feed twice a day, once in the morning, once before bed. If anyone can shed some light onto what is going on, I'd greatly appreciate it.