Dead Fish

blue2fyre

blue2fyre

Blue Fish
Oct 7, 2008
4,440
3
0
43
Wisconsin
Real Name
Ashley
So what causes a fish to die with its mouth wide open and no other symptoms?

Parameters are good

Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:20
Ph: 8.0

Water flow is good, I have 2 canister filters one of which points near the surface.

Did a 25% water change yesterday after I found the first dead fish. Found another one today. No marks, no sign of disease. 2 other fish are acting slightly odd. They are not as active as normal but have no other signs of a problems.

The tank is an 80 gallon mbuna tank. It's been set up for a while nothing new has gone in the tank for 4 weeks.
 
any spawning activities?

Testing before & after?

Tap water chemistry changed/added new chemicals? Some may endure better than others.
I've experienced complications/death related to improper/unnecessary/massive water changes on many occassions.

Have you checked the return water to see if filters require maintenance/cleaning?

Could it also be other possible gases released from deep substrates?
 
They haven't been spawning.

I didn't test before the water change. I skipped last week's water change due to company so I figured that was the reason. I don't really consider a 25% change a massive or unnecessary change.

The filters are still running really well. They were last cleaned about 2 months ago.

The substrate is only about 1 1/2 inches deep with MTS and lots of digging activity.

I have't tested my tap water recently but my other normal water changes occurred without any problems.



In the tank my snow whites are my most sensitive fish and they are still acting normal. It's my F1 msobos that seem to be affected.
 
blue, might be worth a tap water check as water systems often change chemical mixes between cold & warm seasons. Don't know what good the information would do you as the only alternative would be to schlep many jugs of distilled home from the store, but at least it might let you plan for the future.

sorry about the deceased. :(
 
I dont think 25% is out of ordinary either, especifially for Af Cichlids.

I doubt weather is that warm in Wisconsin although water co may have added something new which you can find out from local supplier.
Are you on your own well?
Although it is more work and space is required, I always had reserve (few hundred gallons) circulating for all pwc.
When my local supplier adds agents which is supposed to keep the water pipes cleaned, I used to experience excessive algae boom due to phosphate in the agents.

Just Msobo? I dont recall any diseases which are specifically related P (M) msobo.

Did you happened to changed their diet/food? Perhaps given something new as occassional treats?

Although bloating of malawian did not occur as often as Lake Tang's Tropheus Sp when wrong and/or too much foods at one time were given, even malawians displayed similar symptoms causing troubles/death from time to time.

Unfortunately we can not pin-point the reasons for all the death .

I just hope tank settles down w/o further complications/death.

Keep us posted!
 
Yeah it hasn't gotten too warm here yet just in the 70s. I'm on the city water so it is possible that something has changed. Though no one on the local fish forum has mentioned any problems.

Yeah for some reason it's just the msobos, though this morning my male acei is a little lethargic. Today is the fast day so I don't know if he's eating or not.

No changes in diet, they eat NLS and Ken's veggie flakes every day. Sometimes they get fresh zucchini though I haven't done it in a while.

I also wanted to mention that I have a UV sterilizer that runs all the time.

I hope it settles down too. I'm sick of dealing with problems with this tank.
 
Sorry to hear about your losses blue. I hope everything settles down and you don't lose any more of your wet pets.Keep us posted and best of luck.

f-n-c
 
"I also wanted to mention that I have a UV sterilizer that runs all the time. "

How is UV hooked up and what wattage/GPH circualting thru UV?
 
Although i am not sure which one you have, but depending on flow rates, UV will serve diffrent killing zone.
For algae, usually higher flow rate, next slower flow rate is for Bacterial/viral and slowest flow rate for parasite, particularly protozoans. If too fast, it may defeat the whole purpose of running UV. As you probably know, Chain store's staff is not the most confident staff when it comes to accurate/proper info..

From Brochure or google searching, you should be able to figure out proper flow rate to suit your needs. Hopefully you can maximize the efficiency of your UV thru bit of searching.

Anyway, keeping the fingers crossed for your fish.....
 
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