In Need Of Serious Help

L

livewyr25

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Sep 21, 2004
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Ive been fishless cycling a 29 gallon cichlid tank for a good two monthes. all my tests have been great. I have a cichlid mix substrate and i have a few texas holey rocks. I was ready to go get some wish. i did a massive water change and first got a common pleco to clean up all the algae. He is doing fine. I bought a couple of electric yellow labs and a demasoni. I introduced them into the tank very slowly. after about 2 hours there were in the water and doing great. the next morning i wake up and all my fish were dead. i was miserable and i brought all my fish back with a sample of the water to the fish store that i bought them at. he tested my water with a hagen test kit and said that my nitrates were through the roof. i had to argue with him at that point because with my aqua pharm master test kit, my nitrate test says that i have less than 10 ppm in my tank. so i asked him to test my water again using another test kit of his ( i dont remember the brand). and that test kit came out in my favor as well. so being the nice guy he is gave me a store credit. i went home and did more massive water changes and bought Prime by seachem to detoxify nitrate and nitrite just in case his test was right. a week later i decide to get some zebra danios as target fish and also to make sure my water is ok for the cichlids to live in...the danios are doing great... all my tests are perfect.... so i decided to go back to this store and use my credit for some more cichlids.....introduce them slowly ( i only bought 4 this time) and same thing that happened last time, i woke up in the morning to see all of them but 1 were dead.....now im really getting frustrated cuz i dont want to loose these fish im paying good money for.....i need serious help...

ph - 8.2
ammonia - 0 ppm
nitrate - <10 ppm
nitrite - 0 ppm

the only thing i could possibly think of is my water is too hard with all this rock and cichlid mix...........please help!
 
how did you clcyle your tank? After the cycle did you start to introduce fish or wait? The common will out grow that tank also. How did you introduce fish into your tank? How old is your test kit? sorry lots of questions but we don't want you to loose any more fish.The Ph of the store water may be a lot lower than the tank your putting them into so the should be aclimated even slower.
 
i cycled my tank my adding pure ammonia to the tank until it reached between 4-5ppm, until the next day it read 0 ppm, then i just added a little ammonia to keep those bacteria living while the nitrifying bacteria grows, until the nitrites read 0 ppm.

i know the common will out grow up, i do plan on getting a 75 gallon once i move.

I introduced them by floating the bag for 30 minutes so they can adjust to the temperature, then around every 20- 30 mintues, slowly adding some of my tank water into the bag. after 2 hours i empty the bag with the fish in it into a bucket and then fish them out and put them in the tank.

my test kit is is only a few months old. i bought it when i got the tank. its a master test kit ( aqua. pharm). there are no expiration dates on any of the bottles.
 
looks like you did every thing by the book- (RE: clcyle). I would aclimate by using the drip method, this way you can aclimate them slower, have one end of the bucket sitting on something so its tilted. You need a piece of air hose long enough to go from the tank to the bucket, you tie a not in it to regulate the flow. Every 15 or so empty half the water out and repeat for 45-60 min or longer if you'd like. Next guess I'd find out what PH the fish are in at the store. If this is way diferent from yours then slow down the aclimation process. I'm sorry for your losses Everyone here will make sure you can get fish in your tank.
 
i kinda understand what ur saying with teh drip method, i just wnat to make sure i do it right....i should have the bucket on the floor with one end tilted and then empty the bag with the fish from the store into it and then set up the drip from the tank on my counter??????

Loosing fish is really bothering me.....i dont know what is wrong with my water....how can my LFS nitrate test show toxic levels and my test show normal levels???

also i cant picture it being my holey rocks, i soaked them in bleach and water when i got them, then left them out until i could not smell the bleach anymore......

how can my pleco and zebra danios stay alive while lal my cichlids die???
 
did you add declornator (sp?) to the water to neutralize the bleach??? this could be the problem. if it is the problem its a big one. But it can be fixed. Large water change add declornator add water, and repeat. large water changes usually help everything so they won't hurt.
 
well i soaked the rocks in a sepearte buck with regular tap water and bleach, i then let it sit out on the floor until i could no longer smell the bleach. i do but water conditioner that removes chlorine and chloramine in my tank with every water change.
 
that should take care of the chlorine problem from now on but it may have been part of the problem. Now you just need to see what ph the water is at the store.

and he drip method is like you said.

sorry if I'm not being to helpful but it seems like your doing everything right.
How often do you do water changes and what %?
 
but what i was thinking if it was a bleach problem, it would effect every fish in the tank, not just the cichlids......hmmmmm

just wanted to thank everyone for the help, im very appreciative
 
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