Sudden multiple death!!!

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yk387

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Jun 6, 2003
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I have 46g bow front with Malawi for about 7 months. I have about 13 fish in sizes from 1in to 4in. I have plenty of filtration: Eheim 2213 as bio only and two AquaClear 300 with sponges and crushed corals for pH buffering. I change about 25-30% water every 7-10 days to keep my Nitrate around 20-40 ppm. I condition water for 24 hours in a 20g garbage pale with correct temp. Then I add 1 tsp of each" Cichlid chemistry, baking soda and epsom salt to about 15g of water in that pale. I vacuum clean the gravel only once a month, the rest of the time - just drain water and pump from the pale over 20 minutes. Something happen yesterday. After I added new water, I noticed fish was staying at the top. This morning demasoni, yellow lab and pseudo are dead and 2 more smaller fish are laying down - ready to go. The larger fish came to eat this morning but the smaller once did not even came from the rocks. I checked the water this morning: Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 20, pH - 8.0. I do the same routine every week. Fish always healthy and have a nice color. The only several deaths I had before is when the new fish was attacked by old ones - usually within the first 3-4 days. What could go wrong? I am puzzled.
 

scholar

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Nov 27, 2002
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with multiple or even single sudden deaths. do 50% water change right away as precaution. or better yet, put them in the all new prepared water for awhile. do not feed them for a couple of days and then very little.

You may have a spike of ammonia.
 

yk387

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Jun 6, 2003
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Could I have an Ammonia if my Nitrite=0 and Nitrate=20? I did not even think of checking ammonia after Nitrite test. The water seems a little cloudy this morning.
 
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