Frustrated with cichlids dying

[Cichlid Guy]

This situation has happened to me now on 2 occasions. I do my usual weekly water change and at the same time I add the Seachem salts that simulate those of lake Malawi. Well, my guess is that some of the fish ingest the particles of salts that are put into the tank.The next thing I notice is that I have several going thru respiratory distress(rapid movent of the gills). The last time this happened I lost one fish.

1. How can I avoid this? (I dissolved the salts beforehand for a few minutes)
2. What can I do once I find a fish that is in distress from this?

 

[rus]

sounds like ph shock. what ph is your tank, and what ph is your tap water, and how much water do you change all at once? also are you declorinating the water? is your tap water hard or soft? to my knowledge salt is not going to hurt your fish.

 

[Cichlid Guy]

Ph is around 8.0 and I do a 30% water change once a week.The tank size is 55 gallons.

 

[rus]

is 8 the ph of your tank or your tap or both? and do you declorinate the water?

 

[Cichlid Guy]

8 is the ph of my tank, not the tap. I don`t always dechlorinate.

 

[rus]

if you dont declorinate then your asking for problems. also if your ph out of the tap is low then it is going to stress the fish and cause heavy breathing and gasping at the surface. mayby you should try 15% twice a week.

 

[fish_freak]

Originally posted by Cichlid Guy
I don`t always dechlorinate.

I would say that is your problem. Even a small amount of clohrine can send your fish into respritory distress.

 

[Faramir]

I disagree. I don't think that chlorine is the problem here. Death from chlorine poisoning apparently occurs some hours or days later, IIRC.

What's the pH of the water immediately before it's added to the tank?

 

[JSchmidt]

The gasping immediately following a water change sure sounds like chlorine/chloramine poisoning. I would guess the time between exposure and death would be directly related to the concentration of chlorine. Since chlorine irritates the gills and interferes with the oxygenation of blood (leading to suffocation), the concentration of chlorine would be pretty important.

I know our water levels of chloramine fluctuate, and I would guess that chlorine levels might be even more volatile. Two important factors would be the percentage of water changed and the levels of chlorine present in tap water. If chloramine is being used in water treatment, a dechloriminator is essential.

HTH,
Jim

 

[SoulkeepeR]

try adding crushed coral in the tank to stabilize the tanks PH, Africans need a really high PH and a constant one at that, if your tap comes out soft and low, then cut down on how much water you change out to avoid a rapid PH swing.

Personally I always try and just get fish compatible with my tap water, because it’s so hard and high, I keep Africans, if you try and fight it you will only run into problems. I doubt the chlorine is the problem, I never do this during a water change and they are fine, but I live in Colorado where the water is crystal clear, so I could be wrong in your case.

Just watch the ph closely, and be sure to not do to much during a water change, I would do about 20-30 % water change/gravel cleaning every 2 weeks. To make sure this is your problem, take some tank water out of your tank and fill a bucket up half way, then run the GH, KH, and PH tests, then fill up the other half of the bucket with tap water and then run the tests again and see how much they change.