# Fish Dying Suddenly On Established Tank



## SICKLID CRAZY

First post here. I've had great luck with my Cichlid tanks for a couple years now. I have a 26gal with one blue jack dempsey and one royal pleco & 55gal with 13 african cichlids and one high fin pleco. 26gal is fine but fish started acting crazy, then a drowsy unbalanced state then starting dying all in one day. Three died last night three more this morning. I moved the live ones to the 26gal and they started acting fine. I just did a 50% water change in the bad 55gal and is clearer but not sure if it's safe to put fish back in. The only recent change was a fish food I had never heard of that a local pet store swore by and off brand filters for my Penguin 350 he gave me since I gave him some of my new babies. That was about two weeks ago. Yesterday when they started dying (using test strip): Nitrate-40 / Nitrite-.5 / Hardness- 75 / Alkaline- 300 / pH- 8.5 / temp- 79. I was also getting the white build up on my glass that looks like algae. I'm new to the details here and need to research more but needed some immediate advice. Thanks!


----------



## GTZ

First priority is to limit nitrite and ammonia exposure to the fish by performing water changes with a quality dechlorinator that detoxifies ammonia/nitrite. Next, test ammonia, either with new test strips or buy a liquid test (these are more accurate and preferred over strips). Sounds like you've had an ammonia and/or nitrite spike. Both should read 0 in a cycled tank. 
Did you remove the dead fish right away or were they in the tank for a while? What media did you replace in the filters?


----------



## SICKLID CRAZY

The only thing I pre-treat my tap water with is Tetra Aqua Safe Plus which doesn't appear to treat ammonia. The test strips I have don't test for ammonia so I'm planning on buying the full liquid test kit this time. I always bought the actual Marineland filters but a local petstore gave me filters from a company called Ginger to try. It was actually a week or two after that when they started dying. I had four more die since my first post. I always watch my tanks so the dead fish were removed immediately. I feel like I should have my tank cycle for a while before I buy any new fish...maybe even break it down completely and start over again.


----------



## cichlidaholic

You said you'd had 'great luck for a couple of years' now. Was this a new set up?

What is your normal tank maintenance regimen?

I would definitely go with a good quality declorinator. Prime is my choice - it seems a bit more expensive but it really isn't, since it is more concentrated than other brands.

Any new fish added recently?

Have you treated the tank with anything?

Was the substrate disturbed? How often do you churn and vacuum it?

We need a lot more information in order to help, so be as specific as you can. My main concern is that you said you need to let the tank cycle before adding new fish, but if the tank has been set up for 2 years, it was cycled...The problem could lie in lack of tank maintenance, so we need to try to figure out what caused this. It DOES sound like an ammonia spike.


----------



## SICKLID CRAZY

I have the Penguin 350 that came with my tank. I change both filters with the Marineland replacement filters every two weeks...sooner if needed. Looking at other tanks I think I might need a canister filter as well. I have an Emperor 400 on the way now. I was thinking of getting the HOT Magnum filter to go with it but see so many bad reviews. I vacuum once a week to make up for only using the Penguin 350. This seems to be what actually keeps my tank clean. I don't do extra water changes since I vacuum on a regular basis...which ends up being about a 25% water change each time. No new fish, nothing else new in the tank besides the off-brand filters and new food I tried for a couple days that they wouldn't eat. It was cichlid pellets from a brand I never heard of...I gave it back to the store...forgot the name. I only treat the water with the Tetra Aqua Safe Plus. If I had to guess at this point, my guess would be not pre-treating or testing for ammonia. Since my tank has been set up, all my fish have been healthy, bright, active, eat well, and no problems at all. I've had two different fish breed successfully too. Only other significant thing I've noticed is that the ones that are still alive developed medium size blotchy white areas on them. Thanks for your replies!


----------



## SICKLID CRAZY

I also just read that extra food they don't eat can cause an ammonia problem. They wouldn't eat any of the new pellets, then I tried Omega One flakes that they wouldn't eat either. For some reason, the only food my African Cichlids will eat is the Tetra Cichlid Crisps. During the 3-4 days they wouldn't eat, there was a significant build-up of food due to my gf adding more and more food when I was at work. I would vacuum it up, but this went on for about 4 days until I bought the Tetra Crisps again. Then, they would eat a little but not the normal feeding frenzy at all. Some started flashing a lot, some started shutting down barely swimming, one even jumped out of the water and knocked himself out on the lid. Until today, they looked normal until the point they died. Now they have the blotchy white spots and fins look tattered.


----------



## NZSIC'S

Sorry to Say but at the point of your last post even if you put them in a quarantine tank straight away.. no light, no carbon in the filter and lots of Melafix.. they still might not have made it.

Your last post says it all.. an ammonia spike due to your GF over feeding causing the water to go toxic. Your fish got Fin, Body rot due to the toxic ammonia levels..


----------

