Fury007 Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Had my malawi cichlid tank running for about two months now, its a 5ftx2ftx2.5ft high tank (700litres approx), the past week my fish have been very quiet just hanging around the bottom of the tank not doing much, apart from the dog tooth non of them appear to be eating! The current stocking is 1X DogTooth 1X Electric Blue 3x OB peacocks 1X Tangarine peacock 1x Blue Moorii and two unknown (all silver with some black stripes, look like peacocks from the body shape etc) Checked the levels 1hr ago the ammonia and Nitrates were 0 Going to be buying a new pH test tomorrow as my current one run out last water change and the LFS didnt have them in stock, but will check this tomorrow! Could this be the problem? The current temp was 29.5degrees Celcius, while it is abit higher than recommended for Cichlids, this is the same tempt that they had in the smaller tank before i rehoused them! I found with the lower temp they were more quiet and didnt look as happy...... or might this be the problem now ive rehoused them? Ive already turned down the thermometer to 27, but will take 2-3days due to the water volume to get down and stable again! Ive been doing 20% waterchanges every 10days, and did another one this afternoon after checking the levels!!!! Any View/Opinions/Feedback/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Ill post the results of the pH tomorrow! aswell as the new Ammonia/Nitrate levels!!!! **EDIT** Just checked thro my record book, the last pH check was 12days ago and the Ph was 8.2 what is middle of the range for cichlids.....could this be the case??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Hey mate, Welcome to the forum. Its never a good sign when they arent eating. Did you cycle the tank before adding the fish? Is there any sign of disease, whitespot, parasite etc on the fish? Cheers Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fury007 Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 Yeah cycled the tank with some Gold fish for about 2months before slowly adding the fish over the past two months, Once more than half of them were across moved the filter from the old tank to the new one!! its got a eltham (cannot remember the number, yet its 500l/ph) and a Jebo 830 for the filtration Nah there is no signs of disease etc They might still be feeding as i cannot see any of the food! yet they are not racing to the top of the tank like they use to be etc!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tropifish Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 hello, Do you have any tank decos? rocks? caves? maybe try rearranging things a bit, who knows?!! if there's no disease, perhaps a new environment would stir things up a bit?!! And what sort of food have you been feeding them? i normally feed mine with a mix of flakes, pellet, vegetable flakes, and blood worm every 2nd day. Hope they will be doing well soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fury007 Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 Added about 25k of Texas Holy Rock to one end of the new tank, at the other end where the background has abit of a ledge out, added there exsisting rocks from the old Tank as they suited the background alot better than just the Holy rock!!! and was also hoping the mbuna would just stick to his little territory, what was sucessful as he leaves the other fish along and hides in his rocks! I hope they get better soon aswell, kinda depressing watching a very quiet tank!!! Feeding them on a mix of Pellets and Flakes, not home atm so cannot get the names of them for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fury007 Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 OK so its been a while, been doing some regular water changes of about 90-100L every 4days (about 15%), the tank is slowly recovering, they are more active, eating a little bit, but still abit down on there usual colors, except the Mbuna, who just likes to hide in his cave area... Checked my Levels again tonite, and they were as follows: Ammonia - 0 Nitrite - 0 Ph - 8 Nitrate - 20ppm KH - 150ppm GH 320ppm Temp - 26.5 Are these levels ok? the LFS said my GH was abit high but nothing to be concerned about and that i should try and raise my Kh to around 200ppm... Just to add a note, lost the remainder if the smaller/junior cichlids, mainly the OD and the hybrid peacocks that were under 1", so remaining fish are: 1X DogTooth 1X Electric Blue 1X Tangarine peacock and two unknown (all silver with some black stripes, look like peacocks from the body shape etc) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theantmac Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 sometimes it just takes time mate. fish can go for weeks without eating so just keep your water parameters the way they are and your fingers crossed and they should start eating (by rights). especially if youre feeding them the same food (which i assume you are). your parameters seem fine to me. having said all this i once bought some 15cm male elec yellows and they did not eat when put into my tank when everything else in there was fine.... hope this helps... ant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fury007 Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 Cool, was just abit worried, as they wernt feeding, and not moving much, and had lost a few of them just suddenly overnight. And was finding it VERY hard to get a guide to what the levels should be in the tank! Does anyone have any suggestions to as why these fish might have died, or why my levels just went hay wire basically over night? They are more active today! going to keep up the waterchanges and checking the levels. Hope to add over the next few weeks slowly, probly one a week or as the bank allows (if the levels and fish activity keeps up) some yellow labs [Labidochromis caeruleus], a sulpher crest [Nimbochromis venustus] , again another blue dolphin [Cyrtocara moorii], and maybe some Aulonocara Benga/SP?? Yellow & Blue Malawi Giraffe [Nimbochromis venustus] albit getting mixed views about adding the last one... whats peoples opinioin??? B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foti Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Added about 25k of Texas Holy Rock to one end of the new tank, at the other end where the background has abit of a ledge out, added there exsisting rocks from the old Tank as they suited the background alot better than just the Holy rock!!! and was also hoping the mbuna would just stick to his little territory, what was sucessful as he leaves the other fish along and hides in his rocks! I hope they get better soon aswell, kinda depressing watching a very quiet tank!!! Feeding them on a mix of Pellets and Flakes, not home atm so cannot get the names of them for you. not to sure about texas holy rock could that of given them a shock in ph ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fury007 Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 not to sure about texas holy rock could that of given them a shock in ph ??? Yeah didnt think about that, just doing some reading up about the effects of the leeching from the rocks! would have it happened in such a short time 2-3days??? as my ph was already reasonably high varying between 7.8 and 8.2 usually at a readable 8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foti Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 [i would say take the rock (just a guess) 2 -3 rocks ] out for a few days to get ph back down then add one rock at a time i do hope its just that good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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