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help with African Cichlids


theman1973

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I have 12 African Cichlids in a 150L tank,

they are with me almost year. sadness they are all gone just with in 2 weeks.

3 weeks ago I bought 2 new fish from a local shop, one 8cm peacock red, and one 6cm , the new peacock red died after 3 days, and 3 demasoni died in following week, I check the water all Ammonia reading 0.0ppm, nitrites 0.0ppm and nitrates was around 20 ppm, I normal changed 50% water very 1 or 1.5 weeks and clean the filter every month.

last Saturday I checked the water again Ammonia reading 0.0ppm, nitrites 0.0ppm and nitrates was around 160 ppm that was almost 2 weeks from last water changed, them I change 50% water nitrates was drop below 40ppm, on Sunday afternoon I checked 50% water one more time, and this mooring 8 fish died.

I also discovery there lot algae on my Texas holy rock and it been there almost 2 months. pic attached.

I really don't know what make it happen, can any expertness African Cichlids master help me with this, what should I do.

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do you see anything on the fish? Are the fish rubbing against the rocks or gravel etc ? Are they bloated? Gasping for air? Checked for Ich (white spot)? Has someone bumped the heater and the water is too hot or too cold?

160ppm for nitrates is very high and dangerous to your fish over prolonged periods at those high levels..

High Nitrate often cause and fuel rapid algae growth in the aquarium.

Nitrates lower antibody production, affect the composition of the blood, cause kidney damage, decrease fertility, and also affect osmo regulation (ability to regulate fluids).

Nitrates, and the resulting decline in water quality cause stress on fish. Stress reduces the slime coat making the fish more vulnerable toward disease. High nitrates also contribute to lower dissolved oxygen levels in the water.

At the end of the day nitrates are a result of waste breakdown. How much are you feeding your fish?

Also with nitrate test kits you need to give the test bottle number 2 a good shake. it has a powder that settles on the bottom of the bottle. If the bottle hasn't been used in a while and not shaken then it may read higher than actual readings.

I would start with doing a 30 or 40 percent water change followed by another in a couple of days to reduce your nitrates. In this time I would not feed your fish at all. They can go for long periods of time without food on occasions. And have a good look at each fish and look for any symptoms.

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The 160ppm is very high as Chuckmeister indicated, I would be doing water changes every week. Its just good practice. (not more than 25%)

You have not indicated your KH,GH,PH. Generally this is not an issue but the town water supply can change and cause a problem.

A longer than normal delay between water changes might have caused a PH swing if the KH is low.

But it does comes down to checking your fish each day and watching for behaviour which does not match there norm.

The addition of new fish could be a red-herring.

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do you see anything on the fish? Are the fish rubbing against the rocks or gravel etc ? Are they bloated? Gasping for air? Checked for Ich (white spot)? Has someone bumped the heater and the water is too hot or too cold?

160ppm for nitrates is very high and dangerous to your fish over prolonged periods at those high levels..

High Nitrate often cause and fuel rapid algae growth in the aquarium.

Nitrates lower antibody production, affect the composition of the blood, cause kidney damage, decrease fertility, and also affect osmo regulation (ability to regulate fluids).

Nitrates, and the resulting decline in water quality cause stress on fish. Stress reduces the slime coat making the fish more vulnerable toward disease. High nitrates also contribute to lower dissolved oxygen levels in the water.

At the end of the day nitrates are a result of waste breakdown. How much are you feeding your fish?

Also with nitrate test kits you need to give the test bottle number 2 a good shake. it has a powder that settles on the bottom of the bottle. If the bottle hasn't been used in a while and not shaken then it may read higher than actual readings.

I would start with doing a 30 or 40 percent water change followed by another in a couple of days to reduce your nitrates. In this time I would not feed your fish at all. They can go for long periods of time without food on occasions. And have a good look at each fish and look for any symptoms.

the day before all the fish are very good they are very activated, there nothing can see on their body and they are eating good, I just changed 50% water.

I normally feed them either one or two times a day. I fond there lot green dot on my Texas holy rock as algae and lot tiny snails.

I check water condition again yesterday reading are:

ammonia: 0.0ppm

nitrite: 0.0ppm

nitrate 20ppm

phosphate +2.0ppm

GH: 143.2ppm

KH 35.8ppm

Ph: 7.2.

over last 11 months my GH & Ph always at 143.2 & 7.2

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Did not noticed him say he changed the sponge, at most he could change the fine white pad but every thing else should be at most lightly washed.

sorry for the confusion,

I do only changed all the Filter Foam Sponge (Cotton Pad Mat Media) every time I clean the filter. only clean the prominent Sponge.

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Not a good idea, as mentioned only the very find white filter should be replaced if needed, the others should get a light clean and be placed back in the filter.

By completely changing them each time your dropping the amount of good bacteria you have in the filter to convert your NH3(ammonia) to NO2(nitrate) and then to NO3 (nitrate).

As a result your will get a mini cycle causing each of the above parameters to spike and if they go high enough this will kill your fish and if not high enough cause them to be susceptible to disease.

The noodles or what ever else you have are only handle of percentage of the BIO filtration, the rest is done by the pads.

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So as I understand it your GH should 160 – 320 ppm and KH should 180 – 240 ppm, so in general you have those in the correct range. I do really think your problem is the NH3,NO2,NO3 levels, change your water every week (20 to 25 percent) and maybe look to increase your filtration.

You could setup an extra filter which just has media like matrix or lava rock and a few cause pads, this should need a clean maybe once every 6 months.

You do not need to purchase this have a look at the latest videos from 'The King of DIY' on YouTube. He also have other really good videos on filtration.

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Hi mjoconr

I am very appreciated your valuable reply, I already start monitor all the water conditions every send day.

my current filter is EHEIM classic 350 flow rate 600l/h. filtration setup as following (from bottom to top) - one layer 2cm bio ball - layer Cotton Pad Mat Media - EHEIM blue - layer Cotton Pad Mat Media - bag of noodle mix with de*nitrate removal - layer Cotton Pad Mat media - EHEIM Substrat Pro Biological Filter Media (take almost half the volume of the filer) - layer Cotton Pad Mat Media, carbon pad, ammonia removal pad & layer Cotton Pad Mat Media.

I am going to consider add some Crushed coral to help me build up the Ph and KH. what is your suggestion, should I add them into my filter or I replace some of my current grave with Crushed coral. if it add to filter I may need remove some either the noodle & de*nitrate removal rock or some HEIM Substrat Pro Biological Filter Media to make space for it.

please reply what is your recommendation.

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I've got some crushed coral in some stocking that I bought from the supermarket (women's pantyhose) that I just cut off one foot and filled it up and tied a knot in the ankle and spread it down flat across the top of one of my media trays. You could do that without having to remove any media from the tray.

Also for 150 litres I would be looking for atleast 1000lph filtration so you may need a bigger canister or install a bigger internal filter as well.

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my current filter is EHEIM classic 350 flow rate 600l/h.

So your tank is 150L, so a 600l/h you only getting 4 times change over per hour. (that's ignoring flow lost from other factors.) So I think you need at least 1200L/H so another filter is needed.

filtration setup as following (from bottom to top) - one layer 2cm bio ball - layer Cotton Pad Mat Media - EHEIM blue - layer Cotton Pad Mat Media - bag of noodle mix with de*nitrate removal - layer Cotton Pad Mat media - EHEIM Substrat Pro Biological Filter Media (take almost half the volume of the filer) - layer Cotton Pad Mat Media, carbon pad, ammonia removal pad & layer Cotton Pad Mat Media.

The ammonia removal is a little bit of an issue, it will reduce the ammonia but will mean your filter has less of the good bacteria available to handle the NH3 conversion to NO2 and NO3, also it wares over time and you would have no idea that this has happened. (its also a running cost) The same could be said for de*nitrate but if you keep an eye on the levels it maybe less of a problem because thats the end product of the cycle not the beginning.

I am going to consider add some Crushed coral to help me build up the Ph and KH. what is your suggestion, should I add them into my filter or I replace some of my current grave with Crushed coral. if it add to filter I may need remove some either the noodle & de*nitrate removal rock or some HEIM Substrat Pro Biological Filter Media to make space for it.

From the numbers I saw I do not think this needs to be the first thing you do.

I've been testing a filter product you you might consider, its call OF Hydro-Pure. Its an electronic ammonia removal system. I have an internal unit on a 2" and an inline unit on a 4". My thread on this is at 4ft tank using Hydro-Pure Filtration. It maybe just what you need.

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my current filter is EHEIM classic 350 flow rate 600l/h. filtration setup as following (from bottom to top) - one layer 2cm bio ball - layer Cotton Pad Mat Media - EHEIM blue - layer Cotton Pad Mat Media - bag of noodle mix with de*nitrate removal - layer Cotton Pad Mat media - EHEIM Substrat Pro Biological Filter Media (take almost half the volume of the filer) - layer Cotton Pad Mat Media, carbon pad, ammonia removal pad & layer Cotton Pad Mat Media.

Bioballs are designed to be colonised by aerobic bacteria that need oxygen, it is best used in a wet dry filter. In a canister filter the bioballs are submerged don't perform efficiently.

How long have you had the carbon removal pad in place? Carbon eventually will become saturated and start to leech the nasties back into the water.

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Did not notice the carbon in the list, that needs to be removed and only ever added if there is a need and generally there never is a need. I would replace the bio balls with Seachem Matrix Filter Media. This will be much more effective in the long term.

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It doesn't sound right. You've had the tank cycled for a year.

I would check that your test kits are working properly.

Also, have you introduced anything else other than the 2 additional fish 3 weeks ago?

Bug sprayed the house?

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It doesn't sound right. You've had the tank cycled for a year.

I would check that your test kits are working properly.

Also, have you introduced anything else other than the 2 additional fish 3 weeks ago?

Bug sprayed the house?

I thought the Bug is the source.

I have changed water 4 times in a week and cleaned the filter after the tragedy. the remained 3 fish are looking good now. the only thing I am worry about is the Nitrate, it seem easy to hoist, way?

I order a gravel cleaner and I will vacuum the gravel when I got it and I also bought a Hydro-Pure Filtration hope it works.

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