# well water killing African Cichlids



## jfgino (Apr 1, 2009)

I have a problem introducing new Mbuna Cichlids into my tank. I have well water that is very hard (>400ppm) with a high PH (>8.6). I know this is perfect for these fish but when I take them home from the store and put them into the tank they die within a day or two. I think going from tap water at the store to the well water is shocking them. I put one into a different tank, slowely increased the hardness and got it to transition into the main tank but I would like to have a better understanding of the problem. Has anyone ever had a problem like this? Could it be something other than the hardness? I regularly do water and filter changes in the main tank and have a Pictus Cat that has been in the tank for months without a problem. So far Yellow Labs, Ice Blue Zebras and Red Zebras have died.


----------



## gnomemagi (Jun 13, 2009)

This isn't anything strange. Fish need to be acclimated to changes in water like this as you have guessed - if the store has a much lower PH or hardness, its quite a change from what they are used to.

The best you can do is either transition them slowly as you have done (slowly change the water in their fish bag over several hours from their bag water to the tank water, or even in a quarantine tank over several days) or find a fish shop that mirrors your water supply better.


----------



## jfgino (Apr 1, 2009)

That's good to hear. The transition seems to require days. I'm worried about getting new fish from a different store. I have soft water at my tap and I'm not sure where to start with new fish. I started with 2 parts soft to one part hard with the fish that lived. Is there ever a problem going from hard to soft water?


----------

