# Fish are dying one at a time weekly



## Donzi (Apr 2, 2008)

New to cichlids. Set up a 55 gal. in my office about 8 weeks ago. Let water run filtered for about 1 week then added two packets of Biospira waited 2 days and added the following fish all about 1.5 inches.1 Yellow Lab 1 Blue Johanni 1 Yellow Acei 1 Albino Peacock 1 Fryeri 1 OB Peacock and a catfish. Everything went well for the first 3 weeks then the Albino peacock seemed to stop eating started hanging out up by the intake and I found him dead after the weekend. Added a Brichardi to the mix same size. The next week the OB peacock did the same thing. Found him dead on Monday and he looked like he had been attacked. I decided perhaps the Johanni or Fryeri were stressing everybody out though the Fryeri looked like he had been nipped at too. Removed them both on Weds this week. Now today I noticed my Yellow lab hiding behind my main rock formation all day and now he is hovering up by the intake just like the others. This is every Friday like clockwork - I leave knowing I will be coming in to a dead fish on Monday. I am at a loss. I check water parameters every 5 days and other than nitrates @40 right before the weekly 20% water change which I treat with Prime and let sit for at least an hour before putting into the tank. I skipped the water change last week but still lost the OB Peacock so I am unsure what the cause may be. Any suggestions or ideas?


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## mdog (Dec 10, 2002)

How did you cycle the tank? I'm not sure about the biospira product but is doesn't sound right to add 7 fish at once to a new tank. You said you checked the parameters weekly, so has the tank actually gone through a cycle? Also, I'm curious about what happens in the office over the weekend when the fish die? Any cleaning services using chemicals? Does the temperature change dramatically? Any power outages that you might not know about? I remember having a tank in a basement and the power was connected to the light switch and I didn't know it! Everytime I went down there (I turned the lights on from upstairs) the filter, heater and lights were fine. When I went out of the room (and turned the lights off) everything stopped. It took a while to figure it out. Just a thought.


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## boostspike (Apr 3, 2007)

well, you should of added the fish right after adding the Biospira. The bacteria in the Biospira will die off if no fish is added.

In a 55g you should of added no more then 2 fishes, you added way too much at once.

Johanni are are really nasty fish, might be a cause to your injured fish.

Your nitrates are mad high, what are they now?? What are you water parm. as of now..


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## Donzi (Apr 2, 2008)

Actually I did add the yellow lab and Acei at the same time as the Biospira. Got an ammonia spike the next day ,on the following day it was lower and after the second full day I added the rest of the fish. After about a week I had a slight nitrite reading and ever since both have been at zero. The nitrate are usually at about 20. The 40 was this week because I did skip a water change to see if that was somehow the problem. As far as the weekend everything is fine. All the electric and heat runs continuously. I know the cleaning people do not even go near the tank when in my office so I doubt it is that. If the tank did not cycle properly would the fish die one by one over the course of several weeks with the majoity behaving normally? I thought new tank syndrome would cause an immediate loss of several if not all of the fish at once when the spikes occurred. It just seems strange that the fish exhibit strange behavior, stop eating and die in a matter of days.


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## lovemycichlids805 (Apr 11, 2008)

I think that it didn't have anything to do with the tank. I have never had a Johanni, so I wouldn't know about that. But when I first got my new tank..I let it go for a week without putting anything in it. Then I put 8 fish. 6 cichlids and 2 clown loaches. None of my fish died at all until I got an ich problem then it killed the 2 loaches. But I (knock on wood) still haven't lost a fish yet and now my fish tank has cycled completely. But the fish were in there when it cycled and they were fine. You must have had a problem or something was wrong with the fish when you bought them.


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## barbarian206 (Apr 2, 2008)

i have a 55 gal. tank also but i waited 2 months while cycling my tank before i added all 8 of my fish at once none of my fish died maybe on the weekend someone is doing something to yuor fish maybe a cleaning person is putting there hands in the tank or you feed them to much for the weekend dont really know if this helps but i took the long cycle route before i added fish i was told by freinds to wait atleast two months for full cycle to allow spiking to accur the y have saltwater tank i took there advice dont know if this helps


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## acreal (Jan 18, 2006)

What are your parameters ? Also do you do any tank cleanup on Friday in prevision of the WE coupled with a bit more food given maybe (or only one of the two) ?


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

I'd suggest doing 50% water changes weekly. Nitrates aren't suppose to get over 20, so they say. If they are 40 changing 50% should bring them down to 20 (makes sence). Then maybe do a 25% change mid week.

That's what I do anyway. I was changing 50% weekly and still getting up to 40 in nitrates by weekend so started doing a midweek change too. I'm way overstocked though too.


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