# Are my cichlids going to die?



## JackD81 (Aug 18, 2009)

Hello everyone. I am new to this forum and new to being an aquarium owner. I have a 55 gallon tank set up with a penguin 350/75 gallon biowheel filter and a 300 watt Hydor Theo submersable heater. I treated my water Tetra Aquasafe, tested the water and found my ammonia levels were around 1 and 2 ppm. I used some Prime ammonia remover and nitrite and nitrate detox. My ammonia still tested around 1 and 2 ppm, but the test kit instructions said this would happen as the ammonia is not really removed, but changed into a non-toxic form that will still test positive. The Nitrite was at .25 ppm and the nitrate was around 10ppm. Now these readings were from a new/fishless setup.

So, I purchased two african cichlids. let the bag set in the tank for about 15 minutes, then transfered the fish to the tank. They have been swimming around for about an hour now, but they seem like they are agitated. They're kind of swimming back and forth and then up and down the glass. I don't know if this is because they are stressed from being in a new environment, or if they are trying to tell me that the water is not right for them. Does anyone have any advice they can give me on this behavior?


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## JackD81 (Aug 18, 2009)

P.S. I have let the tank cycle with the filter and biowheel for 10 days before testing and adding fish.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

At this point, it's probably stress from being in the new tank...

But, the tank still should have been cycled before you added the fish you intend to keep long term! (I suggest reading the articles on the nitrogen cycle in the library here.)

You shouldn't have any readings above zero for a newly set up tank. :-?

I strongly suggest learning about the nitrogen cycle, and not adding anymore fish.

What type test kits are you using? Strips or liquid reagent?

Do you know anyone who has a well established tank (disease free, of course) that you can get some filter media from? This will give you an instant cycle.


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## bntbrl (Apr 23, 2009)

i dont understand the ammonia levels in a tank taht is new, without adding ammonia for a fishless cycle. You can cycle it fishless if you want. If you are adding two small africans then they are likely to be okay as long as you go light on the feeding until your bio filter/filtration catches up. Dont add any more fish until your established with your filtration though. Keep checking the water quality still until it is fully cycled and you get readings that are better.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

JackD81 said:


> P.S. I have let the tank cycle with the filter and biowheel for 10 days before testing and adding fish.


Unless you added ammonia to the tank during this time frame, you didn't cycle your tank.

And if the filter was an established filter, you lost all the beneficial bacteria because you didn't add fish immediately.

Get ready to do alot of water changes if you don't know anyone with established (healthy) filter media...

And don't add more fish until the cycle is complete!

I am also wondering why you were experiencing spikes BEFORE adding fish...


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

Just letting the water circulate and come up to temperature is not cycling. Without a source of food (amonia) the two requires types of beneficial bacteria cannot grow.

While starting with just a few small fish to start the cycle does work and was used as the main method for many years, it is very, very hard on those fish physicaly and it will greatly reduce their life expectancy and their overall vitality (if they survive the cycling)

Depending on your water conditioners, some tests will still show amonia even if it has been bound to a non-toxic form. However, unless you get a test that can show you the amounts of toxic and non-toxic amonia, you will never know which kind you have. Personally I use Prime as my water conditioner/dechlorinator. I use the API master test kit (liquid reagent) and it will show no toxic amonia. But if I were to get a spike it will show me. Check with the manufacturer that stated that your tests may be in accurate. You may just need to use a different test kit.


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## JackD81 (Aug 18, 2009)

Ok, I didn't add anything to the water accept tetra aquasafe and Prime ammonia, chlorine and chloramine remover. It seems I did not cycle my water properly. It has been over 2 days since my post and my cichlid's are doing fine, but because of my lack of preperation, they might not be doing fine for the long term. I am using an API Freshwater master test kit (liquid). I don't know why my readings are so high, especially coming from a fishless tank. I've done two 25% water changes so far. For some reason my ammonia level keeps reading around 1 and 2ppm. I used the recommended dosage of Prime to remove ammonia. I guess my only option is to do daily water changes, unless somebody has something else they can suggest. thank you to everyone who has offered advice. I hope my fish survive. I would hate to see two beautiful fish die because of my ignorance.


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

You say its a fishless tank, but then in the same post you talk about being worried for the fish. I am confused?


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## JackD81 (Aug 18, 2009)

I said in my original post that my tank started out fishless for the first ten days. then I added two cichlids. They are doing fine now. But I realize now that I did not cycle my tank properly. My fish seem to being doing just fine now. Healthy appetite, no aggression towards each other, but I don't know how long that will last because of my lack of preperation. Just wondering if there is any thing else i can do, besides daily water changes to lower ammonia levels, to help these little guys out.


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## ricksconnected (Oct 18, 2008)

in the saltwater world we add a piece of shrimp to start the cycle on tanks. 
we dont add a fish for this as it is very harmful to the fish.


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## mthigpen_02 (Dec 29, 2008)

You can always see if they LFS will take the fish back until you get the tank cycled. If you can that gives the option to do a fishless cycle or to cycle with cheap fish you can take out once the cycle is complete.


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