# Need help with my Auratus



## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

I've had my tank set up for about a month now and the melanochromis auratus was one of the first fish I got. It seemed to be doing really good at first but a bit aggressive. But now it just hides out in the corner behind a plant or inside a little rock thing that I have in the tank. Its been like that for a few days now and I have no idea why its acting that way.
Also I dont know if it means anything at all but it also cleared out all of the gravel that was inside the rock thing.. I'm hoping someone can help me out here thats one of my fav. fishes and I dont want anything to happen to it.


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## xalow (May 10, 2007)

I would conclude it is aggression if you still have the same fish as before, though testing the water when something strange is happening is never a bad idea. Have you added anything to the tank recently?

Are either your Metriaclima Lombardoi or Psuedotropheus Crabro around the same size as the Auratus? Those two would be the most likely bullies

One important thing about aggression is that even if you watch the tank a lot you won't necessarily see it. At one point a lot of the fish with my Lombardoi were getting mysterious torn fins and once I moved her to another tank it immediately stopped. This same fish had been completely peaceful for well over a year.


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

I tested the water just yesterday and everything was fine but I actually just tested it again (I have the 5 in 1 strips) it shows that the nitrate is high at the 3.0 mark. I actually just bought some stuff to make the PH stay at 8.2 and I also added another fish, another Acei. 
The Crabro isnt aggressive at all, yet, but the lombardoi was pretty aggressive to begin with but has surprisingly calmed down alot. I was actually going to get rid of it but it hasnt been attacking any of the fish anymore, not even when I added the new Acei.
To start out the lambardoi and the auratus were the aggressive ones.. Actually the auratus was the largest in the tank until I got the new Acei. The are all juveniles with the largest being only 2" (both the auratus and acei) the rest are about 1.5" or smaller.
And the auratus has had no torn fins or anything like that. The first thing that I thought was because of the aggression but I cant see any physical marks on it so I dont know for sure.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

what size tank u got?....with these aggressive fish maybe the one getting poicked on has nowhere to run?


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## ABangtson (Apr 25, 2006)

Are you sure it wasn't nitrItes at 3.0 instead of nitrAtes? 3.0 is high nitrIte, but low nitrAte. NitrIte poisoning could have something to do with it, but I would expect more than one fish to be affected.


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

I have a 55. I know I'm not able to watch the fish every second of everyday but I havent seen any of the other fish pick on it, not even the lambardoi.
I meant to type nitrites, sorry about that. That was one thing that I was confused about also, if it had anything to do with that then all the fish would be acting different right? And I'm actually not positive what I should put in there to bring the nitrites back to normal either, I'm gonna have to go get something but I'm not sure if it will just say to lower nitrite or what?


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

do water changes asap everyday until ure at zero


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

will do thank you very much


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## bigpipe (Jun 18, 2009)

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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

OK What did I do wrong.. I changed the water today and now its even worse... The Nitrite is up in between the 5.0 and the 10.0 mark.. Which says Toxic... Is there anything that I can do tonight to get it lower its after 10 and all the fish stores are closed.. Should I try to change the water again or will that make it worse??


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## xalow (May 10, 2007)

If the water's nitrite reading went up suddenly after you changed the water then there may be nitrite in you water supply, have you tried testing it straight from the source?

This article has a useful graph: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cycling.php

A healthy fish tank should have 0 nitrites and 0 ammonia in it, what did your nitrate and ammonia readings show?


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## SoDakJeep (Mar 21, 2009)

does your water company use cholamine (sp) that would cause the reading of everything to go up. I have a problem with my tap being treated with that chemical and so far no problems I just add tetra aquasafe with each water change. If you look at these pics you can see the tank water has less of everything nitrates ammonia well you get the picture. I guess I really dont know the cause of your problem though but that would be what I would check out.

Tank water on left and right out of the tap on the right
Ammonia








Nitrite/trate








PH


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## SoDakJeep (Mar 21, 2009)

SoDakJeep said:


> does your water company use cholomane (sp) that would cause the reading of everything to go up. I have a problem with my tap being treated with that chemical and so far no problems I just add tetra aquasafe with each water change. If you look at these pics you can see the tank water has less of everything nitrates ammonia well you get the picture. I guess I really dont know the cause of your problem though but that would be what I would check out.
> 
> Tank water on left and right out of the tap on the right
> Ammonia
> ...


Also these were taken early on when I was just setting everything up as it was cycling. It has fully cycled now.


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

Okay I tested the water straight from the source and it ready 0. So I guess thats not the cause of it then. Now when I changed it I didn't put anything in the water except some stress stuff and I know your suppose to when you do water changes. I went to the LFS 4 days ago and they told me to buy 3 things and change the water again but with putting these things in after the change. (aquarium salt, ammo lock, and tap water conditioner) So I did that and the nitrites went down to 5.0 then the next day was down to 3.0 but has stayed at that and I have already had 2 fish die.. The auratus and my first acei. The rest seem like their doing alright but none seem as active as they were before.
I dont know if they will all keep on dieing or if they will get better because its at least down to a 3.0. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Anything else I should buy to put in it?? Anything whatsoever.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

juss keep doing waterchanges.....WC's are the number one thing to keeping and maintaining a healthy tank...almost anything thats going wrong can be helped if not by alot at least a little by water changes....unless like suspected earlier theres already a reading out of the tap....in ure case u confirmed not so no worries.


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

okay thanks a lot.. Now how often should I do the water changes? I've never had a prob like this before so I'm not sure what a good amount.. Like every day, every other day??


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

well i do a 25% WC two times a week...this works great or u could do one big WC like 50% once a week ...;.those are the minimums ....u can do one everyday if you want....i doubt ud be able to keep up tho :wink: ....since ure having problems id do one eaither every day or every other day untill u see an improvement or find out what ure dealing with and treat it appropriately....also make sure ure vacuming ure substrate like gravel or with sand once in a while stirring it to reduce the build up of toxins under the substrate.


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

alright, I havent vacuumed it yet so maybe that will be something I do tomorrow (since it is 2 AM right now lol) So I'll do another WC and vacuum and hopefully it will get better, I really dont want anymore of my fish to die.. I've noticed that here in the last hour 2 more of my fish are staying up toward the top of the tank, which is actually the opposite of what the other 2 did but its something new going on so I'm guessing its not good.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

well be sure to vaccum only half the gravel at once since im guessing its been a while since uve done it....also if ure fish are moving twards the top that probably means there is little oxygen in the water....try adding an airstone or lowering ure water lkevel so the filters create more water aggitation....what temp is the tank at?


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

its at 76 F.. I'll try lowering the water level and see what that does.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

ok ...the only other reason that i can think of that makes fish hang at the top is if they are being picked on....notice any agression?


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

Well up until the other 2 fish got sick my kenyi was the aggressor, he/she (not sure how to tell if its male/female) picked on everyone in the tank but now my new Acei (which it is the biggest) has been picking on the other fish, that started the day my auratus died. Do you think it has anything to do with the stress levels being up that my acei all of a sudden became a bully? I've had it for a week and half maybe 2 weeks and it seemed to get along with all the other fish until a couple days ago.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

well the 55 was a little small for an auratus as far as aggression....*** never really owned acei but im pretty sure they are supposed to be very docile like the labs....i do know that stress can make fish easier to surcome to disease .....what is ure full stock list again?.....also u need to have a deffinative WC schedule vaccuming the substrate every other time....and be sure to do at the least 25% of the water this will greatly improve the overall health of ure tank....i would just watch over the tank and look for signs of aggression if thats what ure thinking is the cause...it couldve been a number of things however if ure water quality was on the poor end. Im not an expert at this whole disease thing...im just trying to help u out with what i can :thumb:


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

my tank includes: Lombardoi, Crabro, Acei, and then 2 smaller ones that I do not have an ID for. I took a water sample up to my LFS yesterday and now the ammonia and nitrates are on the rise to. She actually thinks it may have to do with the filter that I have, its an aquaclear and not a very good one at that.. She recommended a rena, do you have any idea if they are any good?? If you dont know is there any particular one that you might recommend, thats around the $60-$70 range?


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

i use the emperor 400s for my 75 and thats about what ull pay 60 - 70 bux......and yes the crabo and kenyi that u have IMO as well as otthers is a bad idea for a 55G....they just get too aggressive for other fish in a tank that small....i have a good feeling that if u keep them in there u will experience quite a few aggression problems.


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

well so far my tanks been pretty good since my other water change and the vacuuming but I've been looking around and found a 75 for only $100. She said that it has a Rena2 pump with it and I've tried looking it up and havent found it anywhere (if I buy the tank I wont have enough money right now to buy a new pump so I'm hoping its a good pump). I'm thinking thats a really good idea to get especially because I dont want to get rid of any of my fish (I've gotten myself attached) and they should be alright in a 75 right?
One more question how many different types of African Cichlids would be alright to have in a 75? Would it be best just to keep the types that I have and just add more of them? I'm new to having cichlids but I'm learning with as much help as I can get.
Thanks again for all the help.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

with a 75 i would recommend 4 species with 1 male and 4 females....this is the same setup i have in my 75G....u can even add some other fish if u desire.....*** got 5 syno multicats and 2 BN plecos and 1 common pleco in my 75.....as far as keeping ure current fish they are very aggressive a quite large growing so i think u may still have problems with mixing crabo and kenyi...get rid of one of em and id feel more comfortable as far as aggression gos......u can also go to all male route and put together a really cool looking tank :thumb:


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

now I'm still not sure how to tell the difference between the males and females so how am I going to know which they are? I might go ahead and keep the tank I have now to and split up the cichlids so I could keep both the crabo and kenyi without them being together.
Well the 75 that I was looking at fell through but I'm still looking for another, I told the lady that I wanted to see the tank with water in it before purchasing it to make sure it didnt leak or anything and then she wouldnt contact me back anymore..  
I'm looking all over I was even going to drive 2 hours to get one but he wanted it gone sooner than I could get there.. I guess I can just wait it off and hope that I can come across a good deal.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

Im sorry to hear that....is she stopped contacting you beacuse u wanted to see if it held water its probably a good thing...*** never resealed a tank but it sounds like a *************** for first timers....anyways....i think you need to research on what species u are trying to keep and then we can go from there.....telling the sex depends on monomorfic and demorfic (spelling may be wrong)....some timews color is different sometimes its very close between male and female....but yes if you can look on the cookie cutter section in the library and compose a list of the species that u would like to keep and what is available to you well go from there.


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