Update

[13stingeln]

So I came home to another dead fish. This time I'm at tears it was my ob peacock... The prettiest one in there. And I have no idea why. My jewel cichlid was the one acting funny. But anyways. Do u think there's a disease in my tank? I have four cichlids left and there starting to have aggression again. And I want to add more fish in but not if there's a disease. Please help me!!!


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[Fishy Smell]

What did it look like? Not asking you to perform an autopsy or anything, just whether you noticed whether it was disease or injury related?


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[13stingeln]

Well his mouth wasn't open it was shut and he didn't look injured or anything. It just happened all of a sudden..... I'm confused. And the one that died the past to that have died have came from the same store so not sure if that's the problem or what...


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[Fishy Smell]

Not sure whether those type of cichlids are considered hardy, I only really keep Americans, but most of those are hardy. If you only get them die from one store, use others. I've had higher mortality rates in the past from certain stores that I no longer use. Double check for ammonia and nitrites. Do you have surface aeration from the filter or an air stone?


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[dalto]

When fish die without outward signs of issues it is typically caused by water quality or stress.

Can you remind us again what your water is like? Hard/Soft, pH, etc...

Where did the fish come from?

 

[CoronaBlue]

I know your checking the water, what temp is the water? I had a heater malfunction and killed a few fish because water was too hot.

 

[13stingeln]

Yeah I feel that's all I do is check my water, everything seems normal I am really good with water changes once a week 30%. I feed twice a day what they can eat in 20 seconds. And now my jewel is out and about and I'm so happy but confused! And I've bought the three that have died at petz place on the south side(my town store) and I bought my first one from Walmart which is still alive and doing well, and all my others are from Massillon petsmart. I'm really hoping it's the store but I am deffiantly wanting another ob peacock. I think I'll wait and see what happens for alittle bit before I add any for disease wise...and my water is at 79 degrees?


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[xwing]

Feeding twice a day produces more waste. If your going to do that you will need 2 wc a week.

OB peacock is a reef cichlid from lake Malawi

A jewel cichlid is a river cichlid

Point is they need different ph levels mbuna and peacocks prefer a high ph 7.8 or higher. Jewel cichlids prefer softer lower ph around 7.2 or lower.

We need to know what your ph levels are coming out of your tap water. What are your ph levels are in your tank.

Anytime you have a death you need a wc it throws your nitrites way up. You had a dead body for who knows how long.

It doesn't sound to me like your even keeping a stable ph level are you using a buffer or your just changing the water and crossing your fingers

Love to help you more but the more information you can give us the better we can help


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[gilpi]

There is so little info on your tank... Is this on ongoing thing losing fish? How many fish and type in the tank? Tank size? We know you keep up with water changes. Why fish die.... Diseases, not necessarily from your tank but also from wherever they came from and could be spread throughout the tank. Stress from water parameters/temp. Aggression from other fish, cichlids are notorious for that.

 

[13stingeln]

My ph from my tap water is 7.5 so I don't add anything in. But I did try to add mesh bags full of crushed coral shells to raise it. Didn't even do anything I don't think. But anyways I was planning on changing my gravel to sand. And I've had my tank for less than 6 months. I have a mixed variety a zebra obliquen a jewel a johanni and a acei.


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[xwing]

For a stable ph level I use Texas holy rock. Others put crush coral in the filter but if my tap water ph changes too much I add this buffer

It's up to you how you keep a stable ph but here are some options


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[xwing]

I had the same problems when I started with cichlids I lost some cichlids
I didn't buffer I was told at first I didn't have to. I have since realized for me keeping a ph at 7.8 my cichlids do a lot better. I also have a jewel who is still doing good.
So for me when I started keeping a high ph level I had no more deaths like that.

Everyone depending where you get your tap water from will need a slightly different formula.




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[13stingeln]

Okay, sounds good thanks guys. I made a topic awhile back about my Ph and people were telling me 7.5 wasn't bad and stuff but I'm thinking and hoping if I higher it a bit it'll help with not anymore deaths. Lol


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[13stingeln]

But one more question if I raise my ph will that hurt my jewel??


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[xwing]

Do it vary slowly with the buffer I recommend I do a spoon and half per day until I get the ph I want. So if you buffer at 7 am you buffer at 7 am everyday give them 24hr to get used to it.
I have a jewel with my peacocks and he does fine but it's not recommended because they are not from the same lake from a rivers really. But see my guys here at 8.2 ph


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[13stingeln]

Oh wow there beautiful! Ok thanks!


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[dalto]

But one more question if I raise my ph will that hurt my jewel??

If we believe that raising your pH will positively impact your rift lake cichlids than you have to come to the logical conclusion that raising your pH could negatively impact your West African riverine cichlids.

Personally, I don't think either of those things is true in your specific case but it can't be just one or the other. IME, GH/TDS has a greater impact on fish than pH, especially if you are talking about a pH in the mid-7's.

 

[notenoughtanks]

I switched to sand about a year ago never going back lol , easy to clean and looks good ..


125gal Waiting for C/A cichlids , 55gal African Cichlids , 75gal "wet pet "oscar , 75 gal empty setting up for ????10gal & 56gal column cycled but no stock

 

[xwing]

If we believe that raising your pH will positively impact your rift lake cichlids than you have to come to the logical conclusion that raising your pH could negatively impact your West African riverine cichlids.

Personally, I don't think either of those things is true in your specific case but it can't be just one or the other. IME, GH/TDS has a greater impact on fish than pH, especially if you are talking about a pH in the mid-7's.

If we were using the same tap water I can see your point.
I tried with tap water ph with Texas holy rock it didn't work for me and I know a lot of guys here swear it doesn't matter to keep ph in the mid 7s I just kept losing fish so I raised ph it worked for me.

Also explain what you mean by IME GH/TDS keep in mind she is new


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[dalto]

Also explain what you mean by IME GH/TDS keep in mind she is new

My experience that with a stable neutral(7) or near neutral pH most aquarium fish can adapt as long as they don't come from severe extremes in pH. Moreover, mbuna in particular seem relatively tolerant of neutral pH.

Where I have had more difficulty is acclimating fish to large variances in GH which measures the mineral content in the water or total dissolved solids(TDS) which measures the amount of dissolved matter in the water. GH and TDS are usually correlated meaning that you will usually have high TDS if your GH is high and vice versa. This is not always the case but it usually is, especially in source water.

Now, we have no idea how hard the OP's water is so I can't really comment if it is an issue in this specific case or not.