Stephanie wants to know:
Ok, so a couple of weeks ago I set up my tank and got it running for about a week, checking the levels daily and adjusting as needed. I’m using Stress Coat, Stress Zyme, Microlift Nite Out II, and Microbelift Special Blend and to make the water brackish I used aquarium salt, all chemicals and salt as instructed by pet store. Then I introduced some baby African Cichlids, they survived a few days but as I kind of expected they died. I figured I didn’t have the tank running long enough. I called the pet store I got them from to get some advice because I am (wanting to be at least) a new cichlid owner. Everything they told me was pretty much what I already knew and they advised me to let the tank cycle for about another week. I did for a week and a half. So yesterday afternoon I went to the same pet store and got 4 baby african cichlids (my tank is 16 gallons by the way). They were probably maybe an inch if even. When I got home I set the bag in the tank floating and I checked the pet store’s water levels and specific gravity. The spec. grav. of their water was 1.009 and mine was 1.016 so I added a little of my water into the bag as I was told to do. I did a quick 25% water change to filter out some of the salt and get the spec. grav. down. I got it down to 1.011. I continued letting the fish acclimate adding a little more water every 10-15 minutes for about 45 minutes. 6 hours later 3 of them were dead. This morning the 4th one was dead. I just checked all my levels and here is what they are using the Mardel 5 in 1 test kit:
Spec. Grav. 1.011
Nitrates 20
Nitrites 0.5-1.0 (somewhere between there)
Total Hardness 250 about maybe a little more
Alkalinity 240 maybe a little more
pH 7.6
Ammonia 0.5
Ok, so a couple of weeks ago I set up my tank and got it running for about a week, checking the levels daily and adjusting as needed. I’m using Stress Coat, Stress Zyme, Microlift Nite Out II, and Microbelift Special Blend and to make the water brackish I used aquarium salt, all chemicals and salt as instructed by pet store. Then I introduced some baby African Cichlids, they survived a few days but as I kind of expected they died. I figured I didn’t have the tank running long enough. I called the pet store I got them from to get some advice because I am (wanting to be at least) a new cichlid owner. Everything they told me was pretty much what I already knew and they advised me to let the tank cycle for about another week. I did for a week and a half. So yesterday afternoon I went to the same pet store and got 4 baby african cichlids (my tank is 16 gallons by the way). They were probably maybe an inch if even. When I got home I set the bag in the tank floating and I checked the pet store’s water levels and specific gravity. The spec. grav. of their water was 1.009 and mine was 1.016 so I added a little of my water into the bag as I was told to do. I did a quick 25% water change to filter out some of the salt and get the spec. grav. down. I got it down to 1.011. I continued letting the fish acclimate adding a little more water every 10-15 minutes for about 45 minutes. 6 hours later 3 of them were dead. This morning the 4th one was dead. I just checked all my levels and here is what they are using the Mardel 5 in 1 test kit:
Spec. Grav. 1.011
Nitrates 20
Nitrites 0.5-1.0 (somewhere between there)
Total Hardness 250 about maybe a little more
Alkalinity 240 maybe a little more
pH 7.6
Ammonia 0.5
I know the ammonia probably isn’t good, but I’m not sure about the water hardness or alkalinity.
I will take any advice that anyone will give me! HELP!
March 9th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
The problem is that your tank hasn’t cycled properly. African cichlids are hardy, only in the proper conditions. Cichlid fry are very sensitive to water quality, so it’s very important that they are introduced to a fully established aquarium.
I introduced three yellow lab fry that I bought from my local fish store to a 10g aquarium that I only cycled for two weeks, but I made up for that by using a product to establish the beneficial bacteria colonies. The product is “Stability” which is manufactured by Seachem, and I highly recommend it. You’re supposed to use it for eight days, and fish can be introduced at anytime, provided you keep dosing the tank with the proper amount (one capful for 20g on the first day, half that amount the next week) for eight days.
The ammonia and nitrites is what killed them, unfortunately. You’ll only be able to introduce them when you have 0ppm of ammonia and nitrites.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:53 pm
African Cichlids don”t live in brackish water. Forget this whole salt thing.
You need to read up on the natural habitat of african cichlids. Very clean water, which means no ammonia, nitrates or nitrites. The PH can be 7.6 but should actually be in the 8 +
Testing water from the pet store (from the bag) will give you a very different result and is not accurate at all.
The first you need to do is cycle your tank. This is most likely the reason why you are losing fish.
Go to somebody with an established tank and ask them for some established bio media or let them squeeze a sponge (from a running filter) in a bag full of aquarium water. Dump this water in your aquarium, your tank should be cycled instantly and you will be able to add fish. However, keep monitoring the water parameters.
As for the 16 gallon tank size. They are babies right now but african shouldn’t be housed anything smaller than 33 gallons (for dwarf cichlids) Haps and peacocks minimum 55.
March 14th, 2010 at 7:47 am
THANK YOU. African rift lake cichlids are NOT brackish. This is a stupid little rumor, and as best I can figure out started because there is a group of products known as “cichlid salt”. Which has very little SALT (as in NaCl) in it.
It’s not your fault (well, you should have looked it up first), but your fish salesperson doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
To condition your water for African rift lake fish, a much better “salt” is this combination:
Per 5 gallons of water:
1 tbs Epsom salt (increases GH)
1 tsp baking soda (increases KH and pH)
1 tsp MARINE salt (adds a bit of sodium, and more importantly, trace elements)
This ratio is completely dependent on your native water conditions, though, so be sure to do a test run in a 5 gallon bucket, and test.
Then, of course, cycle your tank first. But that’s been covered already.