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About Karen Fields
Expertise
I own and maintain a large number of tanks with many various tropical fish species. During my fishkeeping past I have learned a lot of the myths and truths about tropical fish care. Currently I keep a wide range of species and have a lot of experience in; Severum cichlids, gouramis, platies, goldfish, bettas, tetras, paradise fish, Angelfish, Corydoras catfish, and many others as well as a couple of years with brackish water. If you have a question on tropical fish keeping I`ll be sure to answer it in the simplest way I can, and if I don`t know the answer, I`ll research the answer for you. Happy fish keeping!

Experience
I have experience in setting up fish tanks, what to feed certain species, compatible species in my experience, cleaning the tank,
and all around tropical fish care. I also have learned the truth of many of the myths of tropical fish keeping in the past.
Happy fishkeeping!

You are here: Experts > Animals/Pets > Pet Fish > Freshwater Aquarium > African Cichlids dying

Freshwater Aquarium - African Cichlids dying

Expert: Karen Fields - 11/5/2009

Question
Hello.. I have a 55gal tank with around 8 African Cichlids. I have had the tank for almost a year now, and have had all fish for about that long. I recently moved my tank to a new house, and over the past 2 months, they have been dying 1 by 1. Around 3 or 4 have died, all a few weeks apart. This has left me now with around 8. I notice that usually before each dies, that fish looks lifeless for a week or 2, dosn't eat much, and hangs out around the top near the filter not swimming much. For the most part the fish look fine, however the one who is currently not very lifelike does have what appears to maybe be fin rot. However like I said, no other fish really have anything like this and I don't remember seeing any physical symptoms on the other fish who died. The rest of the fish are pretty active in the tank and look good, however their appetite has seemed to decrease ever sense I moved also. I have tested the water (pH, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia) and everything was fine except the pH was a little low, and I have been adding pH increaser moderately however it doesn't seem to be helping much. Other things I have tried is salt (only added a little bit, less than recommended), multiple water changes, filter changes, and I started adding Maracyn-Two just today (for dropsy, septicemia, popeye,fin/tail rot). I find it odd that they get sick and die one by one when the others look fine. Is there anything you can think of to remedy this? Would the correct dose of salt do anything? I don't really have another tank to isolate the ones who start to look sick but should I just put them in a bowl so the others don't get it? I am just trying to figure out how to stop this from spreading and killing the rest of my fish. And like I said, water changes don't seem to be doing a whole lot and nothing really has changed since they were all healthy besides the source water (which I condition). Any thoughts would be appreciated and thanks so much for your time!

Answer
Hi Max,
I'm reluctant to say that this is truly a disease but I'd prefer to say this is an environmental issue here instead. Environmental problems are the number one cause of fish problems and are often the trigger of diseases. Its very interesting that this whole ordeal has occurred when you moved. Which makes me think the change of water sources means that the water quality is likely different from what they are use to and the change was very drastic for them. I'm not sure how you acclimated your cichlids to the new water when you re-setup your tank after you moved. But they may indeed be having a difficult time adjusting and are under shock.

There's not much you can do about this unfortunately but make sure that the ammonia and nitrites stay at absolutely ZERO all the time. And nitrates stay as low as possible (ideally under 10 ppm) Remember that changes in water chemistry can also disrupt the biofilter and cause ammonia spikes with the decrease of beneficial bacteria.

I think I'd hold off medication and salt for now. Especially if they haven't been accustomed to having salt in their aquarium previously. And use the pH buffer with caution. I really don't like using chemical pH increasers because they can be too sudden and may cause the pH to be very unstable. You might try (if you haven't already) adding crushed coral to the filter and calcareous rocks to the aquarium to raise and buffer the pH in a more stable way.

I don't think separating the sickly ones from the healthy would be necessary at this time because I tend to believe they are not truly ill.

All you can do is try your best and hope your remaining fish can adjust. Best of luck!
Karen~

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