Cichlid dying one by one

E

eylk

AC Members
Aug 5, 2007
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Hello,

40 gallon tank housing 12 malawi chiclids. tank is established. substrate is currently removed, I have an eheim pickup running with and two plastic containers poked with holes. Eheim substrate pro is in 1 of the containers, crushed coral chips in another.

My cichlids have been dying one by one. This continues to happen even after I remove and quarantine the moment I notice initial symptoms on the single sick cichlid.

initial Symptoms:
Cichlid will seem 'dizzy', erratic swimming, easy to catch.
Scales on certain parts of body seems 'raffled'
heavy breathing. loss of appetite

treatment used:
I tried 2 methods. both are the same except step 1.

Step 1: Salt dip OR API general cure
Step 2 : Dose and redose daily with Pima and Melafix

During the execution of step 1, sacles 'raffle' become worse and tail rot begins.

I have lost 2 fishes without a tail.
The closet to success was after I used general cure, fish's tail completed rotted away. I dosed with pima and melafix , but just when tail starts to regrow, the fish died.

HELP!!
 
How about some pics of the tank and some shots of individual fish..it would help immensely. Also, post ammonia/nitrite/nitrate readings from a good liquid test kit, please.
 
Send me the prima and melafix, I will dispose of them properly........

Sounds like ammonia posioning/extreme stress. In which case, melafix is the worse thing you can do (coats the gills, makes it harder to breath). Maybe another toxin in the water? Are any of the other fish showing any signs of stress? Spooky?
 
Pimafix and Melafix are not medications as such. They are more of a holistic remedy and do little good to "cure" a problem. As to whether they are of any value, we can discuss at a later date. Right now the main issue is to get real medication.

RBishop is correct in stating we need water parameter values and temps before a true diagnosis can be guessed. Decent picture help immensely. From your description, you may have more than a single problem.
 
hello, api test kits for
ammonia nitrite nitrate : 0 , 0, 5
kh 3
sera test kit for
gh 10

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=199717
the above link shows my cichlids in its 60 gal, i moved it to a 40 gal and removed the gravel, and rocks. I removed the sand and the rocks because I was suspecting a parasite problem.
1) Also, I thought the rocks were causing some sort of water acclimation problem. The cichlids with the strips used to have bright and defined colours, black and yellow (picture). Now all of them have their colours washed out and some of them even turn black or blue. (from the 2nd and 4rd picture from the top, you should be able to spot one of the cichlids that already has this problem)

2) I used to add API chiclid mineral salt but not anymore. I do not understand why the GH is still so high.


used to be running on a eheim classic external filter, now its an ehiem internal pickup. As mentioned in my 1st post, I have eheim substrate pro and crush coral chips. I do not see the cichlids rubbing on objects.
3) only once so far in the 1.5 months after reloaction

also, I understand them some of the cichlids are... incompatible. Im afraid that giiving them away or refunding to LFS is not a choice but our LFS culture is different - im from singapore.

As you can see there used to be a lot of them.. now its only a handful left.
4) I understand that aggression is going on.. should i relocate them to a smaller tank?

5) Latest symptoms of fish in QT. Fish seems lethargic. rest on bottom of tank. fins are still clamped. not responsive to food

lastly, I noe the discussion on the effectiveness of pima and mela fix is not the focal point here , but I must point out that it has worked very well in removing fugus. However, I did not know it will cause additional stress to the fish. Perhaps that is why my previous/latest fish died. As mentioned ealier, I can see its tail regrowing but one morning i woke up to find that its no long breathing. Perhaps the daily redosage of pima and mela was too much for it to take. Also, it went without food for about a week. It didnt eat, though.

Please advise!
 
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Do you know your Ph? I don't think the Kh and Gh are high at all. Mine are off the charts high and I have no problems with my mbuna.
How often are you changing the water and how much?
Yes you have quite a few very aggressive mbuna. It sounds like you have an aggression problem that is leading to secondary infections/diseases and deaths. Putting them in a smaller tank will most likely make it worse. How many fish do you have left? I see you have many auratus. They are capable of killing every fish in the tank. You said you removed the rocks? Do the fish have places to hide or get away?
 
oh I left out the PH.. its 7.6

I change 20% every week.

Wont crowding them in a smaller tank reduce their aggression? I removed every thing because I was afraid the rocks were containminating the water.
 
Overcrowding does cut down on aggression but putting them into too small pf a tank will increase it. They need a certain amount of space to be able to get away from each other. I would add some hiding places so they can hide from each other. This will most likely reduce their stress level. What kind of rocks did you have? Most commonly found rocks are ok.
 
ok. that is not a problem.

any idea what the disease is?
i do not think they are sick because of the aggression because they do not recover even after being in a QT tank.
 
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