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 sick cichlids
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| Author | Topic: sick cichlids |
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Travis New Member  Posts: 3 |
posted 03-16-2004 11:08 AM
 
I have had an assortment of african cichlids for about 8 months, and I must have done something wrong. I changed about 20% of the water because the nitrate was high, and now two of my fish are dead, and none of the others are acting right. I was told to use new products (of course everyone recommends something different every freakin time). I added mela fix for anitbacterial remedy and then seachem Liquid neutral regulator this morning. I also added a new pump with bio filters since my original filter never had bio filters or wheels. I have been using stress coat and/or stress zyme to treat the water when I add it to the tank, along with salt. The ph from the tap is about 7.5. What have I done wrong? any help is great, but I am on a very limited budget, so costly repairs aren't feasable right now. plz throw me a bone here so I don't have to flush my favorite one of all (bumble bee) IP: Logged |
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cichlids small Jaws Member  Posts: 255 |
posted 03-16-2004 04:08 PM
do you treat with walt every time you do a water change? and how much salt even though africans can be ok in salt its not good for them. ani bactearias would kill your benefisal bacteria so now you will go through a mini cycle with ths the amonia will spick and Nitrite will spike after wards. did you declor the water when you added it? did you add cold water? what size tank and how many fish in it? IP: Logged |
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gr8fuljames Member Posts: 277 |
posted 03-16-2004 06:21 PM
o.k. Melafix will not harm your bacteria colony as long as you use the correct dosage. I have used it several times with no problems. Why were you using it? Did the fish show visual signs or act differently after the water change? Are you getting 7.5 out of the tap or out of the tank? ------------------ IP: Logged |
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Travis New Member Posts: 3 |
posted 03-16-2004 06:52 PM
I have a 38 gallon tank. The nitrate has been high for a while, and it seems to go up after each cleaning. I was dechlorinating the water with stress zyme, then started using stress coat. the fish have not been too well for the last week. I just put a new pump that has both charcole filter and a bio filter. I could see a difference within a couple hours. I have been using a bucket, and put one teaspoon of water treatment and a little more than a tablespoon of salt with approximately 2.5 gallons. when I test on the multi strip, it usually is hard. I usually wait a couple hours and check it again. the tap water ph level is about 7.5. I did have 6 cichlids, 3 died after the water change. they are doing better now, just not back to normal health. yes, I have been treating the water every time. maybe someone could recommend the best way to treat the water, and if I should treat before or after I add it to the tank. unless otherwise instructed, I plan on adding one teaspoon of mela fix each day, and doing 10% water change every other day. would this be a good idea? I'm am concerned if there is a problem from using too many different water conditioners. Stress zyme didn't seem to work well, and neither did stress coat. my old pump is still running with new filters I put in last night, but it does not have bio wheels. the new pump I put on today has a bio filter, if that works the same, then I might be heading in the right direction? any help is gr8. thanx IP: Logged |
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Travis New Member Posts: 3 |
posted 03-16-2004 07:00 PM
btw, an hour or two after the water change is when I noticed all the fish were not normal. two were floating around the tank, twitching, uncontrolable. my bumblebee turned black, as did another fish that often does when aggressive or disturbed. I changed more water last night, and this morning, none of them were swimming. mostly lying on the bottom of the tank, dying. that's when I took a sample to the store and bought the two treatments. the fish have eaten today, but they have not had much of an appetite. the test results at the store showed that the nitrate was high, at about 30ppm, instead of where it was yesterday, at 50. I discovered that I was indeed overfeeding them, which is the cause of nitrate and ammonia to be high. both have come down quite a bit, and I am thinking that wednesday evening would be time for 10% change again. IP: Logged |
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t_chelle16 Member Posts: 501 |
posted 03-16-2004 09:29 PM
quote: Despite what the lable says, Melafix really doesn't have any antibacterial/antifungal properties. The only thing it's good for is helping abrasions heal quickly (but it does a wonderful job of that). So unless your fish have cuts/scrapes, I would quite using it.
quote: I would quit using this stuff. Even though people will say fish prefer such & such pH, a vast majority of fish can tollerate anything from 6 - 8. Fluctuating pH (from trying to adjust it with chemicals) is actually more harmful than a pH that isn't quite perfect. And actually, african cichlids' ideal pH is pretty high so the 7.5 out of the tap is just fine.
quote: Stress Zyme is not a dechlorinator. It is supposed to be live beneficial bacteria, but it is not refrigerated so by the time you get it, all the bacteria is dead. So basically, don't waste your money on it. Stress Coat, however, is a dechlorinator (among other things). Anytime you add new tap water to the tank, treat it with the Stress Coat or some other brand of dechlorinator.
quote: African cichlids are not brackish fish so there is no need to add salt (they can tollerate some salt, but long term exposure is not the best thing for them). The only time you should use salt in a freshwater tank is if you are trying to treat an illness (such as ich). Stop adding it and by doing your small, frequent water changes, that should slowly remove it from the tank w/o shocking the fish.
quote: What is the nitrAte reading of your tap water?
quote: What are your ammonia & nitrIte readings? What brand/model filters do you have? When you do water changes, are you making sure the temp of the new water is close to the temp of the tank water? -Chelle IP: Logged |
Hooben Moderator Posts: 199 |
posted 03-17-2004 07:25 AM
Travis, in your original post you said that you had your tank for 8 months then you did a water change. Does that mean you went 8 months with no water change? Just making sure. IP: Logged |
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