dead fish...why?

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fishums

Small Fish
#1
Aug 3, 2009
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#1
I Have a 55 gallon tank with african cichlids they are all about two inches long. I also have a small pleco in the tank thats about three to four inches. Iv had the tank up and running for about a month and its decently established. The ammonia levels are as low as the meter goes and its not dirty at all. I HAD six cichlids in it and they all got along fine but i looked in tonight to feed them and one of them was dead. The only sign it showed was not eating last night other than that it was fine. Im assuming the pleco ate most of it after it died because it had no skin left on it. Do any of you have an idea why this happened or what lead to its death?
 

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nikcasper

Medium Fish
#2
Aug 14, 2009
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#2
was the bottom of the cichlid red at all, somethin that could of looked like a redish rash or sore?
when it didn't eat did it have any problems swimming up?
 

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fishums

Small Fish
#3
Aug 3, 2009
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#3
not sure about the rash, and it didn't even try to swim up and eat. Tonight i found another dead one. Im now down to 4 from 6. The only thing i can assume is that i might have the water level to high because when it comes out from the filter it don't make many bubbles and i don't have an air stone in the 55 gallon tank. Before i would leave the water level a few inches low so it would oxygenate the water. Im really not sure what to do at this point but i dont want to lose any more fish. Any suggestions?
 

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stoddern

Large Fish
#4
Jul 26, 2009
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Vermont
#4
you said the ammonia is as low as the METER goes, are you useing an intank meter that you can look at when ever you are at the tank? those are very in accurate from what I've read if thats what your useing get a drop test, is your tank cycled?
 

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nikcasper

Medium Fish
#5
Aug 14, 2009
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#5
well i had the same thing sorta happen to a green severum of mine and i guess it was from a internal infection or something, but i noticed it dieing before it wnet and i threw it in a bucket with a air stone so nothin would happen to my other fish. But get a air stone alot of cichlids and fish in general need oxygen-rich water.
 

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fishums

Small Fish
#7
Aug 3, 2009
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#7
The test kit i have i think is made by API (i think) and its the kind with a vial for water you fill to 5 and has two dropper bottles and a chart to compare color to. The ammonia level matches the tint of the lowest level on the chart. Im not shure about Nitrites or Nitrates because i dont have a test for those. I have an air stone in my other 55 gallon tank i could switch to the Cichlid tank but im not shure if i should because i have 2 small oscars in it and im not shure if they would suffer without it. its been a few days now and my other four africans are fine so im very confused about it. I diddnt change anything.
 

unwritten law

unwritten law

Superstar Fish
#8
Sep 2, 2008
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DC
#8
If its only been running for a month and you've had fish in there from the start, I am pretty sure your problem is nitrite which is even worse than ammonia. Do a water change, and get the API test kit for nitrite.
 

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fishums

Small Fish
#9
Aug 3, 2009
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#9
Went shopping yesterday and got a duel air pump so i have two airlines in the tank now so oxygen is no longer a problem. I also got another test kit and the readings were as follows.
ammonia-0ppm
Nitrate-80-160ppm
Nitrite-1.0ppm
Hardness-300ppm
Alkalinity-300ppm
PH-8.4

The test kit is made by jungle its the one with 25 dip strips (only one they had) Any suggestions or pointers on how to lower the Nitrates and Nitrites? I live in the country and use well water so that's why the hardness, alkalinity, and PH are so high i think. Is this a bad thing? If so how should i go about lowering them?
 

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